A counter point on the race segments,
it does make for less cruising till the last twenty laps. They actually pick up the pace and race to win each segment. Making for a bit of excitement thruout the race.

My sister in Az is a big NASCAR fan. So for the last few years I've watched some races with her, trying to get into it, with little success. Did gain respect for their close quarters driving skills.

Cheers Richard

I did not watch any race on TV last year, I did attend Martinsville watching from Kurt Busch's pit box.

I do not think the segments added anything to the event, maybe it is different on TV. It did however take away the endurance strategy element of fuel/tires over a multi hour race, the fixed strategy resets took a lot of anticipation of who would be where at the end out of it.

I don't mind the segments, but I wish they'd get rid of the mandatory caution at the end of each one. I think that would liven things up a tad.

Now that you mention it, I was thinking about that last season. Cautions tend to cause more cautions.

Now the air guns are spec'd and handed out to each team.....:rolleyes:

https://sports.yahoo.com/pit-guns-issued-nascar-190010631.html


–A lottery system will determine how the guns randomly are issued before the race (this is similar to how NASCAR distributes its restrictor plates for race at Daytona International Speedway). The guns will be returned within an hour after the race.

–Pit crews will be limited in modifying the pit guns. The socket can’t be removed, but there are some adjustments allowed with grip tape and screws. Certain parts of the gun will be sealed to detect tampering.

–Air pressures for the guns will be mandated by NASCAR, and the pressure relief valve will be set by a digital gauge.

–Teams will be provided with three guns that are labeled as front, rear and spare.

–The guns will be tested regularly to ensure their consistency.

I guess I can say this now that it no longer matters, Gibbs was using special made guns where there wasn't a socket. The entire drive line and socket was one custom made piece, it eliminated wobble and increased reliability. For the most part, this equipment is bought/owned/maintained by the tire changers themselves.

A little mixed feelings, lots of equipment owned by tire changers just has become fancy scrap that they bought themselves. On the other hand, they won't have to buy it again or maintain it.

I wonder if nascar charges the crew members?

I do find some of the "its all low tech" comments quite funny, there is a lot of innovation that is kept out of eye sliding past the rules hidden in this sport.

Not a fan anymore, but that said, anyone who decries the lack of technology in NASCAR simply does not understand what is going on. For example, any pushrod small block that can rev to 9,800 rpm on every straight in a 500 mile race has something going on.

I saw pics of the Gibbs crews air impacts last year. Super design.

This has always amazed me. 800 HP motor getting beat on for a 500 mile race + qualifying and practice laps. Back in the day, they did not even race the motor they qualified with.
As a drag racer I find it more impressive because I see guys making less power that cant make a season running a car for 20 minutes a week.

That sounds a bit restrictive for teams to develop a competitive advantage during pit stops

When F1 went from fuel to no fuel pit stops I was responsible for the mechanical design of everything used in a pit stop for one of the top teams.

Guns were one area we really concentrated on, it would take very few impacts and 2.5 turns to put the nut on, We measured the number impacts with a strain gauged titanium socket and had a light to let the mechanic know when the nut was tightened.

We lightened the gun weight using carbon fibre parts, upped the preformance with low friction larger impellers, seals and ceramic bearings and wound the air pressure up until we started breaking the mechanics :D

This manufacturer was our weapon of choice http://www.dinopaoli.com/motorsport/ along with every other team on the grid

Pit stop time went from 4.2 secs to 2.5 secs, now its around 2 secs :eek:

I'd love to work on a NASCAR as I'm sure there is a high level of detail needed when trying to eek out the last bit of performance. Anyone know a NASCAR team that needs some help please send them my way.

You'd have to relocate and learn how to talk reaaal slooow ;). There were quite a few teams based from around here for decades....impressive operations they are. I think every single one has moved down the road near Charlotte...

.....I don't watch anymore....maybe a bit of Daytona, etc.....when I hear "segment", I just turn it off...no interest.

They did that in 2009, nine years ago.

I kinda wonder when it became known.

This true, lots of optimization within tolerances, but then there are the invisible stuff, parts within parts. It looks like a regulation part, but it isn't.

It ain't cheatin'...unless you get caught ;)?

....ahem....competitive advantage :)

If a regulation/homologated part is modified for extra performance that's cheating to me, the easy way of gaining extra performance, until you're caught

The harder way is to exploit 'grey gray' areas of the rule book and when you're found out they can't ban/disqualify you but can only rewrite the rules to stop you doing it again

One part within a part I designed a few years back was a flexi rear wing flap, rules state you could have no moving parts but didn't state what stiffness as there was no deflection test. Aero elasticity is a great thing :D

Our rear flap looked identical but deflected at a certain speed which stalled the rear wing making the car lose a huge amount of drag. We would make different flaps for different circuits so they stalled the wing at different speed to suit each circuit. We were fastest end of straight by a huge margin until the other teams caught on to what we were doing and there was rule change the following year that closed up that loop hole.

I don't have time for cheaters, fortunately most teams/people I deal with in motorsport want to win championships the right way.

Knaus used to be the best at working that gray area. I think now he just wants to get through tech. That has changed big time this year. No more templates. Just a bunch of cameras that can measure just about every surface on the body. :eek:

Every...static portion of the body. SmileWavy

The Chevy teams have a new car. I bet they are sweating tech big time. Tomorrow we will see how they do.

I just noticed, Cup practice is on FS1 in 1/2 an hour. If its not raining.

I'm just waiting for the commercial where someone (Chase Elliott?, Alex Bowman?) knocks the f out of Dewey Ryder. F him All the way up! All the way up! All the way up!