Pocono
Lightning Safety at Racetracks
A little late with this because I have been in New York City at a meeting. It was an important enough meeting that I missed the race on Sunday. I was sad to read Monday […]
Tracks
Pocono
Pocono: Infographics
If you mouse over the triangle in the upper right-hand side of the Pocono Raceway website, you can see the track dimensions. Those numbers give you a pretty good idea why this track drives crew […]
Aerodynamic Forces
200-mph Laps at Michigan Are Not Like 200-mph Laps at Superspeedways
People worry that 200-mph laps at Michigan International Speedway could make cars airborne, as can happen at superspeedways. Should they worry? […]
Michigan International Speedway
Michigan International Speedway Pole Speeds
There’s been a huge increase in Michigan International Speedway pole speeds this year. Is it the biggest increase ever? […]
Michigan International Speedway
Michigan: Don’t Believe the Speeds
All the talk at Michigan about high speeds and the hoopla over passing the 200-mph barrier prompts me to offer this caveat: Take the speeds you hear with a grain of salt because the average lap speeds are estimates, not measurements. […]
Engines
Pocono: The Shifty Triangle
NASCAR engines like to run at about 8000-9500 rpm (revolutions per minute); however, the tires on the car rotate around 2400 rpm at 200 mph. The gearing in the transmission and the rear end gear reduce the rotational engine speed, with different gears providing different reductions. When you talk about the size of a gear, you’re actually talking about the relative sizes of a pair of gears. The gear on the left in the diagram has 20 teeth, while the gear on the right has 10 teeth, so this gear would be a 2:1, meaning that the smaller gear rotates twice every time the larger gear rotates once. […]
Bristol Motor Speedway
The Reason for Decreasing Cautions
This was the first year that most people noticed a decrease in the number of cautions, but (as I’ve pointed out), 2012 is merely the latest in a six-year trend of decreasing cautions. The same downward trend is evident in the Nationwide Series. This year is perhaps notable for it being so extreme.
The data clearly shows the trend: The question, of course, is why?
Cooling
Engine Issues at Talladega: Vapor Lock, Gas Cans and Oil Coolers
An usual number of teams “ran out of gas” or had engine troubles during the Talladega race. The TV analysts had some ready answers for what might have caused these problems. Their extemporaneous theories tend to elicit sighs from engine builders, who know that problems can rarely be diagnosed at the track – and even more rarely by someone who hasn’t looked at the car.
A wonderful aspect of blogging is that we’re not called to have answers on the spot like the television broadcasters and we have the leisure of time. Let’s examine some of those theories. […]
Cooling
Plate Racing Rules: Getting Ready for Talladega
Most of the issues we were talking about at the start of the year regarding the measures NASCAR has taken to eliminate or reduce the two-car draft are still in play, so I thought I’d put the most important in one place as you start getting ready for Talladega this weekend. […]
Edwards, Carl
Richmond Redux: Relative Velocity
NOTE: Some clarifications added 1:00 p.m. 4/30/12. Thanks to all the commenters, especially @nateryan! I think Dave Moody did a good job breaking things down. The situation is confounded because there were so many different […]