NASCAR fans - educate the Brit

[Sparks]

I'm off on travels again and watching hotel TV a lot and got back into watching NASCAR (Monday has a rerun of previous Sunday race).

Need to check a few phrases and stuff though:-

"wedge" - is that the same as chassis rake i.e. front to rear chassis angle ??

How many tires are they allowed per race??

On average how many miles will they run on a tank of gas?

Laps under caution don't count off the total

If you pit under caution then you come back onto the track in the order you cross the exit line of pit road - is that right? So if guys 1 thru 9 pit but 10 doesn't then 10 is race leader and 1 thru 9 take up track postion at the back in the order they leave pit road.

Why do the lapped guys start from the front but on the inside after caution ???

Last one I watched was Darlington - didn't seem a big track but still at 170+ on back straight - that's quick with no wings.

Thanks

Sparks

[Blue2]

Nascar.

My god they just go round in circles!!!! thats not driving.Thats being strapped in and let go!

Put your foot down turn the wheel a bit and bobs your uncle!

Motorcycle racing is the motorsport of real heroes.

[VWE]

These boards are full of biggoted stupid crap!

[Finrod]

Ah a convert, good!

Wedge: An adjustment to the chasis which changes the yaw of the body in the turn. Wedge can cause the car to become better at turning. You're correct, it adjusts the front to rear chasis angle basically.

Tires: In Nextel Cup there is no limit on tires used, in the Busch series there is a limit of 3 sets of tires for use when under caution.

Mileage: Varies from track to track, Bristol is a half mile track which allows for allot of laps for one 22 gal tank of fuel. Talladega is 2.6 miles and cars only have a 13 gal tank. Different engine configuartions also drive mileage.

Caution Laps: They count almost always toward the race total.

Pit stops: You're correct, this situation drives the whole question of whether to pit under caution or "stay out" to get the much vaunted track position. Some tracks are difficult to pass at and staying out becomes a major tactical decision.

Lap Cars: Love 'em or hate'em the rules state "lap" cars start on the inside row during restarts unless the race is at or under 10 laps from completion. When that happens the race is restarted single file. The idea behind this was to allow lap cars the opportunity to earn their lap back.

Darlington: A nasty track, all the turns are different, which is why you see cars low in 1 and 2 but up on the wall at 3 and 4. Badset-up earns you a "Darlington Stripe"

Watch the Sunday race at Homestead, FLA its the last omne and could get very exciting with the current points situation.

Go driver #8!

[Blue2]

Ok Ok lol but

This is an opinion about a sport.

I'm not slaggiing entire nations or spouting thinly veiled racism, take a look around the other threads.

[VWE]

Here is a good resource stuff

[Sparks]

Blue - bikes are good to watch,  Touring Cars are good to watch and so is NASCAR.

Close racing with big heavy cars doing silly speed close to very hard walls.

Thanks Fin

Definite that caution laps don't count toward total ?? - hmmm I'm certainly a bit confused then .  Race before last (out west somewhere) they had a caution last but one lap - they ran many laps under yellow before a last lap shoot out to the flag ??  Do they never finish under caution ?

Dale Jr was off the pace a bit at Darlington but it was a good race.  Seeing them get out of shape going into the turns as the track cooled and changed was great viewing. I can't imagine trying to catch a car that big with little downforce which gets loose at 170 mph.

[Finrod]

No Caution Laps do count except under a very few circumstances. Thats why drivers get agitated when they have a good car, are sitting in 4th place with 10 laps to go and the caution comes out. Those caution laps are going to take away time for them to get to the lead. If you get to the states try doing the Richard Petty driving experince. You get to take a race car out on the track and hang it out. Very cool!

[Sparks]

VWE - thanks

So WEDGE is actually changing corner weights by spring paltform heights - ah haaaa.

Fin - why would they run small tanks on big tracks and big tanks on small tracks ??

[Finrod]

Talladega and Daytona are tracks where NASCAR has placed something called a "Restrictor Plate" on the car's carborator to slow them down. Both tracks are configured in such a way that removing the plate would allow cars to reach absolutely ludicrous speeds (224mph in a recent test) for a 3200 pound stock car. The down side to the plates (FYI the four races held at these tracks are commonly called Plate Races) is everyone has very similar horsepower, causing cars to run in a large mob or pack. 185mph just inches apart, one guys mistake will cause "The Big One", a wreck involving many cars. NASCAR made a call to implement smaller, 13 gallon, fuel cells in the cars in an attempt to break the pack into smaller spread out groups due to increased numbers of pit stops. The ultimate goal being eliminating "The Big One". Sometimes (Daytona last year July race) it works, most of the time it hasn't though.

[john9001]

all NASCAR rules have the same purpose, to make all cars equal.

NASCAR wants cars to race for 500 miles and end up on last lap bumper to bumper.

thats why they use floor jacks and 5 bolt wheels on purpose built race cars that sort of look like "stock cars"

once upon a time nascar really raced stock cars that you could buy off the show room floor. but i guess that was too boring.

[Furball]

Originally posted by Blue2

Motorcycle racing is the motorsport of real heroes.

and Rally is the motorsport of real lunatics.

[indy007]

Originally posted by Furball
and Rally is the motorsport of real lunatics.

Gotta love a sport where if you hit a spectator... you just keep driving. His fault for standing on the outside of a blind, 5th gear corner.

I like F-1 myself. The absolute best race-cars on the planet. Just a shame the Ferraris are trouncing everybody else.

If anybody wants a real rush, cheap, check out Kart racing. Faster acceleration than sportbikes with the shifter karts. Made for short-tracks, but fast enough to post competative times vs. real race cars on road race courses. I spun out my friends on a short-track, 70mph, very beginning of 4th gear (shifted too late), tapped the brakes entering the corner, locked the rear axle (abs? it's in the same place as the power steering.. on my suv)... a few seconds of spinning 2" off the ground that was better than any carnival ride. Saving up to get my own now...

[rpm]

Sparks, Finrod pretty much nailed it.

For the NASCARhater's, the reason they quit running "stock" cars was for safety concerns. They are about to make another change to the cars for 2005. The driver will be more centered in the car to prevent injury in side impacts.

As for euro style races I think WRC is the best out there. I also enjoy watching the euro truck races. Back in the 70's and 80's they had Great American Truck Races here using basicly stock equiptment. I remember seeing this brand new $100,000 Kenworth disintegrate in seconds at Charlotte after a blown front tire at 120MPH. An old 60's GMC with a 671 Detroit worth about $6-7000 won the race. Great stuff.

[john9001]

Originally posted by rpm

For the NASCARhater's, the reason they quit running "stock" cars was for safety concerns. They are about to make another change to the cars for 2005. The driver will be more centered in the car to prevent injury in side impacts.

 

i don't hate nascar , i think it's silly, if they are going to race full race cars, why don't they stop calling them fords and chevys and pretending the cars are "stock".

i already know the answer, $PON$ER MONEY.

" in the race today , chevys finished 1, 2, 5, fords were 3 and 4"....yeah right.