Goodyear
Tires and the COT
You all know Newton’s first law of motion (NASCAR version). A race car going 130 mph down the frontstretch at Bristol is going to keep going 130 mph down the frontstretch at Bristol unless a […]
The Building Speed Blog
Engines
Blown Engines: A Consequence of the Testing Ban?
Blown engines were a factor in this week’s Las Vegas race, just as they were in last week’s California race. Let’s look at why this might be happening. […]
Aerodynamics
Top Ten NASCAR Science Stories for 2008
I’ve gotten a couple requests to talk about the story, but the Elliott Sadler YoYo saga is why I’m sticking to science. Gravity is gravity, doesn’t matter who is driving for whom and not even […]
Center of Gravity
More on the Red Bull Sheet Metal Penalties
After getting in late from Columbus, I made the mistake of listening to the radio as I attempted to sleep. Listening to the comments about the Red Bull Racing penalties got me slightly riled. NASCAR […]
Center of Gravity
Acid Dipping to Shave Weight
The stock car science blog has been a little quiet lately, mostly because I’ve been working on a really exciting project I hope to be able to tell you all about in the very near […]
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Juan Pablo Montoya’s Shocks
Juan Pablo Montoya’s pole run last Friday at Kansas was disqualified when his shock absorbers failed tech inspection. The shocks and springs are important components of the supension. A car without a suspension would bounce […]
Aerodynamic Forces
The Scientific Way to Fix the COT
Congrats! If you’re reading this, it means that they turned on the Large Hadron Collider without creating any black holes…yet. If there’s one question I get when I speak it is: “If they were going […]
Goodyear
Mailbag: Tire Codes, Bristol Waves and the Science of Cheating
Just when you think things can’t get any busier, they do. It’s the end of the fiscal year at my university, which means getting buried in a mound of paperwork. We’re doing three workshops this […]
Dynos
Magnets and Dynomometers
I have never seen Robin Pemberton looking so disgusted as he did during an interview replayed on NASCAR Now Monday evening. (Well, maybe not since Daytona 2007.) NASCAR did a chassis dyno test after the […]
Goodyear
Goodyear Knows what went Wrong at Indy
Goodyear has figured out (or at least thinks they have a good idea) what the problem was with the Indy tires. They confirmed that the tire compound was indeed the one they intended to use […]