McLaren in NASCAR

[legion]

Today during the F1 race they mentioned that Ron Dennis was at Indy to talk to NASCAR, and that McLaren was building a new electronics plant in Charlotte, NC.

I figured this could mean only one thing: Fuel Injection is coming to NASCAR. Looks like I'm right:

Ron Dennis advocating F1 partnership with NASCAR - NASCAR News - FOX Sports on MSN

Ron Dennis was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday to discuss several topics including the upcoming introduction of fuel injection in NASCAR.
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Dennis, 63, is the executive chairman of McLaren Automotive. He was the team principal of McLaren’s Formula One team until last year, helping win eight drivers' championships.

“I’m here representing my group of companies, specifically my (McLaren) electronics company,” Dennis said. “We have been supplying all of the Formula One teams for three years and all of the IRL cars for two years. Very proud of our record. We’ve never had an electrical problem on any of the cars in those five years, both testing, practicing or racing.

“We’re hoping the commitment to quality and excellence is something that will allow us to become selected by NASCAR in production for some of the fuel injection and some of the other safety benefits and ecological benefits that we can bring with some of the technology that we have.”

Dennis believes his knowledge of ethanol, methanol and other fuel derivatives could be beneficial to NASCAR.

“We only give opinions, we don’t give advice,” Dennis said. “This is a phenomenal motorsports event and we’re very respectful of everything that NASCAR has achieved. We’re here to be supportive and hopefully a selected supplier to NASCAR.”

Jack Roush met with Dennis on Saturday morning and discussed the transition of fuel injection in NASCAR. Roush said McLaren Companies has a proposal in to NASCAR to bid on fuel injection. But Roush believes the change will come with a price.

“Don’t think that it’s going to be less expensive,” Roush said. “It’s going to put a burden on the teams. Any time you bring in a new technology that is complex, there’s a cost. And there will certainly be a cost for the teams.

“It’s likely to occur sometime in 2011. I think we’ve all heard the same thing. I don’t think it will be more than a handful of races. Maybe start with the (Budweiser) Shootout. That would be my suggestion. They might do that, then look at the end of the year and see what they think about it, then full time in 2012.”

[URY914]

About time...

Believe it or not there a lot of ex-F1 engineers already in NASCAR.

[Zeke]

It wouldn't matter if McLaren or NASA set up shop for this, be ready for traction control whether overt or covert. Keeping electronics out of stock cars has been an important aspect of keeping costs down.

You can throw all that out the window net now. I'll wager fuel mapping alone for all the tracks will cost the teams an extra million a year. Not that means anything to the top 3 teams. Kiss Robby Gordon and the like goodbye.

[DUK]

Hate to tell ya Milt, but we've had T/C for years.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by DUK

Hate to tell ya Milt, but we've had T/C for years.

It's not that I don't believe you, but I hear all the time, "I spun the tires off the corner (or the restart) and he just got around me."

That and I seem to remember that the NASCAR officials would grab the MSD boxes regularly and not give them back. They'd just hand you a new one (or 2) in the sealed box.

So, if you know, tell us. Otherwise..............................

[DUK]

They have made it harder to get away with, but it's still there.

They made us run all wires and components on top of the dash. The wires have to be visible and accessible everywhere, as far as ignition switch, a-b switch, coil wires, and boxes.

The MSD boxes aren't "handed out" we source them from vendors. And they have clear bottoms on them and Nascar compares them to a known legal box. So it's hard to conceal there but believe me it's still there.

The best part is the premiere teams aren't the ones using it. It's mostly the lower echelon teams and mostly at short tracks.

[nynor]

FI will make it possible to absolutely define HP and performance. correct me if i am wrong.

[Joeaksa]

Wonder if it will have crash built in?

[nynor]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Wonder if it will have crash built in?

LOL! and mystery debris at the end of the race to tighten things up.

[James Brown]

With speeds at Indy today way over 200 mph, officials can now fine tune every track not just the restrictor plate tracks. Speeds should come down till teams figure out how to "tweak" them. But how about the green angle of switching to FI, look for a bunch of green commericals AND 100% ethanol, the new NASCAR.