NASCAR time
 

Daytona speed weeks are near. I may be the only Cup fan here but I am posting this up just in case someone else watches .

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Looking forward to it myself Jack, seeing as TV is about the only entertainment I can afford these days.

I used to watch every minute I could, was a big Bobby LaBonte fan, and then a Jr. fan. I don't seem to have much reason to watch anymore, maybe I have aged out of knowing/caring about any of the current drivers. I will watch the (Busch) clash on Sunday and see if I can get some excitement going again.

I do not really care for restrictor plate races but I will watch. I record most races and watch late at night. FF all the ads and most caution laps. Certain tracks have great racing and some, not so much. Thats the beauty of the DVR. Last year the 78 was fast every week and I liked watching to see who could compete. Chevy has a different body and that could change things up. Looking forward to see what happens.

I'm actually looking forward to hearing Jr as a commentator. Between he and Jeff Gordon they're getting some current driver input from these guys, rather than the old guys like Waltrip and Dale J.
Some of the strategy needed to win the restrictor races is pretty interesting to see.

I agree. Time for some fresh commentary from someone still in touch.

Short track fan here

Martinsville, my favorite track.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...s/beerchug.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...s/beerchug.gif

Thanks for the heads up. NASCAR beats the hell out of the endless basketball games...

Never been but would love to go.

Been to Bristol for Nasccar and an Oulaw race. Outlaws turned faster laps on dirt than Nascar on pavement.

I grew up watching dirt track in sw ok. Tulsa Shootout with the mini sprints is on my short list. 1000 lbs and 400 hp.

Always wanted to go to the August Bristol race (of course with ear plugs and headphones) and see the carnage.....rubbin is racin !

Year by year it has been getting difficult to follow. I have always VCRed it now DVR it to eliminate the commercials. Only tracks I got to go to was Pocono for about sixteen years, always had free tickets, Watkins Glen not too far from home with free tickets and now have a retirement home near Charlotte and always some free tickets floating around. Mi SIL used to work for JGE the pre race promotion company with the big rig for the band and driver intros. And my FIL was friends with Cal the guy from Wheels Inc. that had a lot of wheel contracts with teams.

Started watching back in the days with Buddy Baker calling the race. Can not stand that boggity crap at the start of races any more. NASCAR needs to get some more excitement going and not bog it down with so many rules and get the cars back to individuality and not just templates.

If they can't mix it up I might go back to watching Formula E.

Terry

I used to be a big fan of CrashCar........My wife used to work Sundays. If I was home, I was out in the garage with the TV on the race.

Rarely watch anymore......Watered down rules where a guy that missed 1/2 the season could win the Championship? Really. The final nail was last year when the started the same race 3 times. Called it "Stages" I think?

Anymore, I might record the road track races and Tallegada only. FF thru the boring parts and watch a 3 hour race in 20 minutes.........Way too much hype and no substance.

There are four things that have cut my followship.

#1 13 cars in a 12 car chase, common guys, respect your own dang rules!

#2 No Ride height rule, a "stock car" should at least have some ride height and suspension movement.

#3 Wacky rulebook, I have to read, and re-read to try to understand some of this stuff. At least they've stopped naming rounds and just call them by how many aren't eliminated yet.

#4 Scripted commentating on TV(Only driver name, car number, all sponsored items much be mentioned every time, EVERY TIME!. If not sponsored, don't mention it.)

Well, actually, there are five that are an abomination in the sight of Terv, the fith is the fines handed out to drivers for honest commentary on the car and race. Now they won't answer quickly and honestly anymore. There is a moment of hesitation to decide to deflect, lie, or dumb it down.

I went to both Bristol races last year. Ear plugs won't cut it. You can rent a scanner at the track for $50. It's still loud with the headset. There were lots of empty seats at both races.
I'm looking forward to Daytona next weekend
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1. The whole chase system sucks. always has.
2. I'd like to see the cars a bit more stock all around.
3. Too many rules in general. Need to leave some room for creative competition.
4. Some play by play guys are better than others. Sponsors pay for air time so they get in there one way or another. Part of it. Still better than most of whats on TV.

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I'll watch Daytona, speed weeks, etc... I was a die hard NASCAR fan that fell off the wagon. Point system, playoff, EFI... It's not for me anymore. We are planning a trip to Talladega this year, RV, inside wall spot. We shall see if the fire returns.

Went to Daytona to watch the 500 but got there the wrong day and watched the Busch 300. Thank goodness we did: it was simply the most boring motor race I've ever seen, and the pre-race commentary was frankly laughable, eg,so and so uses such and such car polish so will be faster than the other cars.
It was difficult to tell what car marque each car purported to be from as they were so bedecked with decals and livery as to camouflage the shape(I was well aware that they were tube frame specials and had little if any relationship to road cars).
Went to Mooresville on business about 2003. Was impressed with the scale and organization of the place, but the actual engineering was as crude as anything seen in a racecar shop in England in the early 1950's.

N. Wilkesboro, even Rockingham ;)...but back when, the Twin 125s were my favorites at Daytona...went to a bunch...

Breaking the races up in to small races is stupid.

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!