F1 - bad....no, *catastrophic* news from America
- Thread starter JRS
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I know but I have a proper hate on for F1 these days. I've seen F1 drivers spin a car end over end & then jog down the track to jump in another for the race restart, they are Well hard.
Proper gets my goat though when people dismiss Nascar as the racing during a Nascar race makes F1 look tame. Pack racing at 200mph rules.
None.
Then again you said :
Which Montoya has done on a number of occasions. Montoya hasn't won an oval race ... yet, but then again stock car racing is a different disclipline so I'm giving him benefit of the doubt. He's proved he's got the raw speed at Sears Point etc.
Montoya will do better at oval racing than one of the Busch lads in a leading F1 car round Monaco.
Soldato
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These are naturally aspirated engines that produce in the region of 750BHP at 9000RPM from under 6 litres, for hour after hour at wide open throttle, pushing the cars up to 210MPH on the right tracks.
They're extremely well developed and the basic specification hasn't been changed......because it's so good.
The number of gears in a transmission in no way relates to it's level of technology - they only have 4, because they only need 4 and anything else would be excess weight, complication and reciprocating mass....all about the performance.
Contrary to popular belief Nascar is a hotbed of technology with millions being ploughed into R&D to get that little extra edge where ever possible. For example, Haas CNC racing has just finished this 'rolling road' where they can run the cars up to 180MPH to test various aerodynamic changes and more.
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Do they really need 4 gears? What on earth do they use them for? Do they change down to like 3rd in order to make an overtake? Surely with that much horse power and torque they could get away with 1 gear?
NASCAR has never striked me as caring about "excess weight, complication and reciprocating mass". If anything my impression of it is the complete opposite!
NASCAR has never striked me as caring about "excess weight, complication and reciprocating mass". If anything my impression of it is the complete opposite!
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Yea, they need four gears so they can keep the engine at peak power when accelerating out of the pits, from behind the safety cars, through turns and for overtaking and top speed. Gotta keep it on the boil 
Race V8s like these, despite their displacement, are pretty peaky beasts because they're set up to sit at the top end of the rev range, so they can't just waft along on the usual wave of torque, they do have to get the rpms up and on the go
It allows them to fine-tune the availible ratios to match the track as well - i.e. taller gearing on the top ranges for high-speed tracks, shorter ratios for smaller and so on....
Race V8s like these, despite their displacement, are pretty peaky beasts because they're set up to sit at the top end of the rev range, so they can't just waft along on the usual wave of torque, they do have to get the rpms up and on the go
It allows them to fine-tune the availible ratios to match the track as well - i.e. taller gearing on the top ranges for high-speed tracks, shorter ratios for smaller and so on....
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And? What's a typical NASCAR circuit then? Bristol is nothing like say Talladega apart from the fact they both turn left.
I'm not disputing that. The NASCAR formula works for them, and all credit to them for keeping the racing close via whatever methods.
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Not another Scott Speed?
How can you test aerodynamics on something that's stationary?
I have this fantastic image of the engine seizing and the car suddenly being catapulted through the far wall
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Haha, I'm not sure they run the engine whilst it's on there, more likely run the road up to 180MPH - the 'road' is a millimeter thick steel belt. The rest of the tunnel isn't finished yet, which is why it looks like it does at the moment - I think they're moving the installation into the finished building soon
The reason the 'moving' road benifits the aero testing is that most rigs don't simulate the effect of the road surface passing by, so that's the reason for adding this type of rig to the tunnel.
The reason the 'moving' road benifits the aero testing is that most rigs don't simulate the effect of the road surface passing by, so that's the reason for adding this type of rig to the tunnel.
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Haha, I'm not sure they run the engine whilst it's on there, more likely run the road up to 180MPH - the 'road' is a millimeter thick steel belt. The rest of the tunnel isn't finished yet, which is why it looks like it does at the moment - I think they're moving the installation into the finished building soon
The reason the 'moving' road benifits the aero testing is that most rigs don't simulate the effect of the road surface passing by, so that's the reason for adding this type of rig to the tunnel.
Those pictures look like they are from the Windshear Inc. tunnel in North/South Carolina (or some other state, can't quite remember where it is).
They don't run the engine whilst its in the tunnel - and the reason its important to have a moving ground plane is that I'd say a good 75% of the downforce on one of those cars is created by the interaction of the car floor and the ground.
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I have no interest in oval racing whatsoever, be it Indy or Nascar, but this Kyle Busch (whoever he is) sounds like a complete plonker...
I say, bring him in to F1 as soon as possible! We need a universal figure of fun, now that Ralf Schumacher has finally been discarded.
I say, bring him in to F1 as soon as possible! We need a universal figure of fun, now that Ralf Schumacher has finally been discarded.
Wow.....I actually managed to stimulate some kind of interest in NASCAR for once.
Yay me!!!
Yes, he is. But despite that.....the kid can really, really drive. That's what makes it so irritating!
/hugs MagicBoy.
You get it! Bristol is not 'Dega is not Pocono is certainly not Darlington is not Charlotte etc.
Hell, Darlington is the best one to take as an example for how hard it can be. Looks for all the world like an oval track. An egg shaped oval track, but still an oval with left turns only. Except the groove you can actually race on competitively is veeeeeeeeeeeeeery narrow. The precision involved in racing there for 500 miles is just staggering, and yet you can still overtake despite there really being very little room to do so. No-one leaves there without getting their "Darlington Stripe", i.e. getting up close and personal with the wall off Turn 2 or 4
Yay me!!!
Yes, he is. But despite that.....the kid can really, really drive. That's what makes it so irritating!
/hugs MagicBoy.
You get it! Bristol is not 'Dega is not Pocono is certainly not Darlington is not Charlotte etc.
Hell, Darlington is the best one to take as an example for how hard it can be. Looks for all the world like an oval track. An egg shaped oval track, but still an oval with left turns only. Except the groove you can actually race on competitively is veeeeeeeeeeeeeery narrow. The precision involved in racing there for 500 miles is just staggering, and yet you can still overtake despite there really being very little room to do so. No-one leaves there without getting their "Darlington Stripe", i.e. getting up close and personal with the wall off Turn 2 or 4
reminds me of conversations I often have with some of my friends around here....always claiming drag racing has no skill as it's just a few second run down a strip.
There's a bit more to it than that....controlling a monster that goes 330mph in 4.5 seconds takes skill...just as going "around circles" at 200mph takes quite a lot of skill/
There's a bit more to it than that....controlling a monster that goes 330mph in 4.5 seconds takes skill...just as going "around circles" at 200mph takes quite a lot of skill/
CART and Indy is where its at
I'm a tiny bit more interested now since Danica finally won a race. But still....the last full season I watched of Indy Car racing was '93, and that was only because Mansell was over there
Compared to engines developing the same power with half the capacity revving to 19,000RPM that have to last two races before a rebuild. I'm not a massive fan of F1 but in terms of engine technology, NASCAR is distinctly unimpressive.
In terms of spectator interest, unfortunately F1 has become almost as boring
