The Building Speed Blog

Drivers

The Virtual Reality of Racing Simulators

2014-06-13 dr. diandra 3

You are hurtling down the frontstretch at Michigan, your speed approaching 215 mph. Your seat moves up and down as you hit the seams, but your focus is squarely on getting into Turn 1 losing as little speed as possible. You squeeze the brakes and feel yourself moving forward, only to realize that you’re still moving too quickly. As the car starts to head toward the wall, you panic and squeeze the brake even harder.
The car snaps loose and the next thing you feel… is an engineer’s hand on your shoulder. You turn around to see her barely suppressing a smile. […]

R.I.P. Speedy Bill Smith

2014-06-03 dr. diandra 0

We lost a lot of racing people this week. Although I never knew him personally, Speedy Bill Smith was a big part of my racing education.  Bill passed away on May 30th at the age […]

Aerodynamic Forces

Knowing the COSMOS doesn’t mean you know NASCAR

2014-05-28 dr. diandra 9

Everyone’s favorite “planet” killer had a spare hour because COSMOS was pre-empted Sunday by the Coca Cola 600.  Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson edified us with some “NASCAR physics”. There were 43 drivers who had no […]

Centripetal Acceleration

NASCAR, Physics and the Cosmos

2014-05-27 dr. diandra 1

Okay. COSMOS was pre-empted Sunday in favor of the Coca Cola 600 and COSMOS host, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, decided to edify us with some NASCAR physics.   I bet 90% of NASCAR fans immediately […]

Goodyear

The Kansas Monozone Tire

2014-05-09 dr. diandra 0

OK, so ‘monozone’ is just a fancy way of saying it’s the old tire.  It’s all in the branding, isn’t it? Goodyear has been experimenting with multi-zone tires since last year.  Multizone tires attempt to […]

Goodyear

Camber Angle and Tire Wear

2014-05-01 dr. diandra 1

We’ve heard a lot, especially this week at Richmond, about tire wear. A lot of right front tires were wearing excessively. As seems to be usual at this point, teams would like Goodyear to use a stronger tire and Goodyear would like teams to dial back their setups, especially their camber. […]

A NASCAR-Splitter-Inspired Kayak?

2014-04-25 dr. diandra 2

The Car of Tomorrow in 2008 marked the first time NASCAR stock cars used a splitter to provide front downforce.  A splitter is simply a shelf that splits the air.  Some air goes over the […]

Graphs and Charts

NASCAR Announcing – A New Look at Sporting News’ Poll

2014-04-01 dr. diandra 0

Bob Pockrass of Sporting News  presented the results of a reader poll of NASCAR announcers.  By way of disclaimers, this wasn’t a scientific survey – it was a sample of people who feel strongly enough […]

Auto Club Speedway of California

California: The Good, the Bumpy and the Frustrated

2014-03-27 dr. diandra 3

I know this isn’t a picture of California.  But it’s a picture out my window, which is why this is a sort of short post. There seems to be a clear division between the people […]

Speedy Roundup

2014-03-16 dr. diandra 0

I’m falling down totally on keeping up with this – all due to some major changes in life that I’ll clue you in on soon – and the fact that I need to learn to […]