Originally posted by rpm
Virgil, you just want to argue. You know as well as I do that NASCAR could come up with an aero package that would lower the risk. Have you ever heard of Venturi tunnels? I know you watch SPEED-TV, ask Wendi's Dad, he can explain the principle to you.
That's just one example of a way to remove restrictor plates without sacrificing safety. All restrictor plates do is bunch up the field and change it from a horsepower/driver race to a last lap, who survived the big one, track position race.
You can't tell me you would'nt love to watch a 1975 style Daytona/ Talledega race. Design a real COT that can run without restrictor plates and you double the fanbase. You could never design a totally safe race.
What I would love to see is a NASCAR rally race. Close off a hunk of Nevada and Utah highway and let them run flat out like FIA. Now that would be a race. 
It has nothing to do with wanting to argue. You simply cannot change the shape of the car enough to keep it on the ground. That's just a fact. The "car of tomorrow" has already strayed far enough that the cars are all EXACTLY alike and look NOTHING like the car they are supposed to be. How much farther do you want to go? For a guy wanting to return to the seventies, you sure are arguing on the side of going forward to the 22nd century.
I do not need a lesson on aerodynamics. Yeah, I know who Bill Venturini is. It doesn't matter. Without RADICALLY altering the roof shape, AND the bottom of the car, you cannot change the fact that turned sideways it is a WING, and it WILL FLY. The roof flaps would have to exceed the size of the roof to be effective at 225MPH. Further, the roof flaps DO NOT WORK if the car doesn't rotate more than 90 degrees from straight forward.
I suppose you think that GM, Ford, and Chrysler just haven't tried to keep the cars from flying, when they are sideways. And I suppose you think NASCAR hasn't either. The aero budget for any ONE of the big three would run several rural counties for a few years. Never mind what NASCAR has spent. They KNOW they MUST keep the cars out of the crowd. They fly NOW. If NASCAR could fix that, they would. That's a plain simple fact.
By the way, my friends in the dyno rooms (I sell Joe Gibbs oil, I'm a dealer, my rep is Lake Speed Jr.) say they've hit 850HP + on an unrestricted engine. Best estimate is that IF they could keep one on the ground, a current Cup car could hit 235 MPH at Talladega, and 230 MPH at Daytona, with that HP. If they go 50 feet in the air at 180 MPH, imagine how high they'll go at 230 MPH.
Now, if you say "use aero to slow the cars down" then you create a spec aero package, and everyone has the same HP. ALL the top teams are within 5-10 HP, set up makes the rest of the difference. IF you could create a spec aero package with enough drag to kill 30 MPH, all you do is use up the other 500HP. So now you have the same thing as a plate, it's just aero and not a plate. You have no solution.
By the way, just so you know, you're watching television, and the Venturini's are TV commentators. I work on race cars for a living. I talk directly to the people they interview. One of my customers has a son who is a NASCAR official, I have a direct inroad to what is going on. Actually several. A bunch if the NASCAR people, racers and officials, are from right here where I live, work, and race. A lot of the drivers and crew chiefs started up the ladder right here. The Greens, the Mayfields, the Waltrips, the Marlins, and the Hamiltons (on of the guys I race with every week, and buy my tires from works in Hamilton's shop) and several others. I'm not guessing about this stuff, I'm talking to the people who LIVE it.
