#76
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It used to be that a cup car was substantially slower than an A-Sedan around a place like Sears Point. The TA cars would hand them their ass every time, hell American Iron cars would often be more than a match. There used to be tales of Griggs' Old Blue Fox Body whipping the lap times of those big budget teams. The issue was the weight, with the cup car around 3600# if memory serves. The TA cars were going to be 1000# lighter. That's a pretty big deal on a road course where transient handling is at a premium and whoa-ing that extra weight down adds a lot of distance to the braking zones. No amount of big-budget engine programs can make up for that. I honestly don't know if that's the case anymore. I'm pretty sure they're running watts links in the rear now, and the brakes are substantially better than they used to be. I think they're still running truck arms even on the road courses, which is a major disadvantage in the braking zones due to their propensity to wheel hop. Though I imagine they've managed to mitigate it some with their advanced level shock valving. Was it Boris who went to Australia?
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Old'n'Slow |
#77
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It was one of the current guys just this past season. They made a big deal about it on the ore-race but I forget who.
Boris Said used to coach the cup guys for road racing. He and a few other Trans-Am guys would occasionally do guest drives at the road courses until the regulars figured out how to go fast on road circuits. BK
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HED Wheel afficianado Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter. |
#78
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I believe Kyle Larson did some midget racing down under in the off season, are you thinking of that?
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inner Fred |
#79
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Chisholm's Custom Wheels Qui Si Parla Campagnolo Last edited by oldpotatoe; 02-21-2020 at 06:51 AM. |
#80
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I don't question the drivers ability, the tech in the car, or the teams engineering.
The problem is that the cars are too equal, so you end up with two cars as a single aero unit being more efficient than one on the speedways. It is a guarantee of a major wreck, given that a slight off center push does what we see happen annually at Daytona Taladega and Charlotte. The powers that be need to find a solution to this. Introduce a chicane or use the infield road course. No one thinks the infield at Daytona is particularly challenging during the 24, but it keeps most of the cars on the terra firma. |
#81
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They did manage to turn it into IROC, for the most part.
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#82
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Hard to judge now, in this day and age when drivers are locked in to mostly one form of racing by contract, but, in olden times, when drivers were drivers (heh), I can't think of any Nascar, or stock car driver who was successful in any other type of racing they attempted, but Indy and sports car drivers used to drop into Daytona or some other fast track and walk away with the prize. It's why I respect Andretti more than most, he's the only driver to win Daytona, Indy 500, and F1 championship. Pretty remarkable, and he killed it in Sprint cars, and, if it wasn't for a stupid mistake at Lemans while he was leading, he'd have that trophy, too.
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It's not a new bike, it's another bike. |
#83
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There was a show on amazon about someone moving up to F1. They were showing him on a bicycle, riding at 400 watts.
Not sure he ended up doing that well as a driver, but his cycling was pretty impressive |
#84
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Greg |
#85
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Always loved how Foyt called LeMans "nuthin' but a little old country road" The French weren't happy.
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It's not a new bike, it's another bike. |
#86
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W. |
#87
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The 2021 Cup cars will be a lot more modern, closer to what they sell today. IRS, and different ways to make down force....so air can go under cars again....giving some cooling to cars behind.
Then in 2022....rumor is no more push rod engines. Current push rod engines have evolved so far....they hardly ever blow up anymore...with HP levels between maybe 450 and 900....depending on intake size. Rumor is overhead cam V6's and maybe some hybrid tech like the coming Indy engines. Problem is making that tech last 500-600 miles at max RPM on some of these tracks. Ford, GM, Toyota, and Honda all make V6 3.5 L 4 valve engines. Rumor is Honda may join. Even Chrysler could build a race engine off their 3.6 V6. The current push rod engines can run 8000-9000 (or slightly more) RPM's all afternoon long and survive. You can watch them bump off the rev limiter around 9600 on TV. An amazing engineering feat for a big engine....even for old tech. NASCAR has some amazing new tech based on 1960's tech. Watts link solid rears, with camber and toe adjustment on rear...how do you do that on a solid axle car? They do it. Last edited by Ralph; 02-21-2020 at 11:10 AM. |
#88
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they had to do something. Sounds like some interesting changes. Turning Charlotte into a semi-road course wasn't it, IMHO.
It occurs to me that a supermajority of NASCAR fans probably get to races in pickup trucks. They aren't driving cars any more. |
#89
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They lost a lot of long time fans, myself included, by turning into little more than a spec racer series. Not only that, but they also prioritized "close finishes" over good strategic racing. It's their sandbox and they can do whatever they like, but to me, modern NASCAR is a big meh. I'll go to my local Saturday night track. The last I saw, they were using de-cambered rear ends with the tubes coming off the pumpkin at a slight angle. These would be welded in place as a fixed assembly, but, in top level series they can swap and entire rear end in about 15 minutes. These have been around for decades for road race sedans with solid axles, I think they're even being used in LeMons racing now.
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Old'n'Slow |
#90
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Semi-spec racing works well in Indycar, where dampers are really all that's left. But they're open wheel so you actually have to pass, can't lean on folks.
When Nascar became spec we started to see the bump drafting and trains. |
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