Edwards, Carl
Pocono: Slightly Shifty
The big news for Pocono is that drivers can shift…again. Which brings up the obvious dual questions of: Why would you want to? and Why didn’t you before? […]
Cars
Engines
The Math of Fuel Mileage
I guess when you have people feeding you all the numbers you need through your earpiece, you think they’re easy to come by. That’s the only explanation I can figure out for the snarky comments by television commentators about crews not being “smart enough” to figure out how much gas to put in the car so that it doesn’t run out before the end of the race. There have been a lot of fuel mileage races the last few weeks. Pocono is traditionally also highly likely to be a fuel mileage race, so let’s clarify how easy (or hard) it is to not run out of fuel. […]
Aerodynamics
turning left, shifting right: why drivers move to the right to get air to the engine
Jack asks: “I’m curious as to why the rear cars are offsetting to the right, when offsetting to the left would let the rear driver see what is happening ahead of them and keep the radiator in cooler air, since the exhaust on these cars is on the right. I know that all those drivers and crew chiefs are smarter than I am, so I must be missing something.” […]
Cooling
Popping Off: Breaking the Two-Car Draft by Heating up the Engines
In a NASCAR car, the pop-off valves open and route the escaping steam and/or water through a tube that passes up near the right-hand side of the car’s windshield. When you see a car “pushing water”, the maximum pressure has been exceeded and the pop-off valve opened. […]
Engines
NASCAR and E15: The Scientific Facts
The United States faces two problems when it comes to transportation:Â getting fuel and the by-products of burning it. The United States imports over 2/3 of the petroleum we use for transportation, primarily because most […]
Engines
How Mobil1 Goes in a ‘Quaker State’ Engine
Got a number of questions today about how a team that uses Hendrick engines – Hendrick having Quaker State as a sponsor – can have sponsorship from another oil company. The questions were along the lines of “Will Stewart-Haas have to drain the oil pans when they get them from Hendrick?” Here’s a quick answer, since I’m in the middle of a cross-country move and just about everything I own is in boxes: […]
Aerodynamic Forces
Qualifying Trim vs. Race Trim
Ever wonder about the difference between race trim and qualifying trim? Here’s a video blog to help you figure it out. […]
Drayson Racing
How many…uh…cows…you got under that hood?
When you think about saving energy, you probably don’t think about your engine oil. The folks at G-Oil do. […]
Engines
Eight Issues for NASCAR in 2010: #6 Get Serious About Being Green
I’ve gotten a little behind in my blogging. My Mom was diagnosed with cancer in February and passed away last week, which threw me for a bit of a loop in terms of catching up. […]
Browne, Josh
Pit Road Speeding Explained
The black helicopters were out over Indy on Sunday, or so suggest some Juan Pablo (a.k.a. Juablo) fans. This happens every time someone leading a race (or contending for the lead) gets a pit road […]