Las Vegas Motor Speedway

The Science of …Tires (Part I)

LetÂ’s start by pointing out that tire performance is a really, really complicated issue. There are a lot of variables involved. This post ended up getting way too long, so IÂ’m going to address the […]

Announcements

The Science of …Tires (Coming Soon)

Hey y’all from New Orleans. I’m at the American Physical Society meeting, where I gave a talk today to a bunch of physicists about NASCAR. It was part of a great session that included the […]

Grey Areas

The Science of …Vibration Harmonics

Roush Fenway Racing came out with a statement about the missing oil tank lid on Wednesday that just begs to be deconstructed scientifically. “The bolt holding the lid in place failed in its purpose as […]

Grey Areas

The Science of …Missing Oil Tank Covers

Danny LaDue asks: Can you explain the location of a NASCAR oil tank reservoir and how the lack of one could improve aerodynamics? Thanks for the question, Danny. I can–with a little help from Josh […]

Engines

The Science of …Setting Pit Road Speed

Early in the Las Vegas race, Elliott Sadler, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle were all caught speeding on Pit Road. NASCAR has a speed limit on pit road for safety reasons. At Las Vegas, it’s […]

Building Cars

The Science of… Daytona Engine Failures

Another Daytona 500 watched from a hotel bar, thanks to the long standing tradition of the American Association for the Advancement of Science to schedule their meeting opposite the Daytona 500. I would have loved […]