I know it has been a while, but I needed to take a deep breath after the Chicago weekend. Faithful followers of this column will know that Chicago of last year was my final as a race engineer for RGM. In honor of that anniversary I went and ran a different kind of race. And instead of it ending in tears or emm-effs like just about every race I did with the 7, this race ended at a brewery. Of course I am taking about the Boilermaker 15K road race in Utica New York. It is actually one of the biggest 15K races in the country, and more than 10,000 people ran it. It was a beautiful morning to run, and the community came out in force to support the runners. I ran through little neighborhoods where Irish bands, high school rock bands, belly dancers, and old ladies handing out popsicles lined the streets. Nine point 3 miles and an hour and forty minutes later, I crossed the finish line, watched my partner Kerry reveal her bloody toes from her left sock, and saddled up to the Saranac beer truck for a 10am happy hour.
The start of the Brickyard is just hours away, and you cannot help but get wrapped up in the pageantry of any event held at Indy. The place is so huge and steeped in the shadows of the people that have competed there in the past hundred years, that you can practially breathe the tradition. When you finally get to run a race there, you feel as though you have arrived. I only did one race there in 2007, but it was certainly memorable. We wrecked our primary car before qualifying (dubiously), and had to go to a backup. It was hot as hell that day, and my inner thighs were begging for some Gold Bond by the end. We qualified really bad and ran like a turd in the race, but you could not beat the atmosphere of the event. Take the feeling you get when you play your rival in a high school sporting event, multiply it by 200,000, and that will get you pretty close to what it feels like to walk down Gasoline Alley on the way to the pit box before the race.
So what have teams been working on to dial in their cars for Indy? Just about every team has tested there this year as a result of Goodyear holding about 5 tire tests. So all of the teams (even the really small teams like Tommy Baldwin) have data off their cars. The engineers and crew chiefs have been pouring over the data, and the 7 Post operators have all made really good track maps to test their cars with. The track is really smooth now, so the shock settings can be optimized to keep the car low and out of the air instead of having to control bumps. Since all the teams have had so much time to test and 7 post, you will see the fast cars with the splitter on the ground all the way around the track this afternoon. The two key areas of the track are the exit of 2 and the exit of 4, since they lead onto the longest straights. The team that can get their car to maximize their exit speed of those two corners will be formidable.
Predictions. Juan has not had a top 5 yet this season, but I think that will change today. The Ford's are still struggling, so I don't anticipate them being a factor. I think the top 3 will be some combination of the 14, 9, and the 42. I think the 7 will do better than their qualifying effort, and there could be a spot in the 15-20 range if they don't beat themselves on pit road.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Pass Heard 'Round the World
This week, I laid a pass on Kyle Busch…and it wasn’t in NASCAR ’09. It was not in the Arby’s drive through near the Gibbs shop, and it was not in the aisles of Target either. Now that I think about it, I didn’t really lay a pass on him, so much as he wrecked, and I drove around the wreck. Then I wrecked and he drove back by me one corner later. Actually, it seems as though Kyle has caught the RC racing bug, and he was in my race at one of the local RC tracks in the Charlotte area. Even the 34th bast NASCAR drivers have insanely packed schedules, so it was pretty flattering to see one of the best drivers on the circuit to come out and race toy trucks with the rest of us dorks. And the coolest part was that he was 2s off the pace of the fastest guys. Just don’t mention that I was 3s off the pace.
I have been racing RC cars since I was a teenager, and it’s one of the influences that led me to a career in motorsports. My dad was intelligent enough to realize that we did not have the bucks to blow on a go-kart and a toter home to race “proper” cars. So, shortly after he quit smoking two packs of Winston’s a week, he decided that he wanted to be my crew chief. He placed a call to Sheldon’s Hobbies in California with my mom’s Sears credit card, and a week later, our RC10CE (gold chassis) came in the mail. It took us as while to get it together, but by the time the snow melted in Massachusetts, we were at the local RC dirt track in Hoag’s Corners, NY (wherever that is). Racing at any level is very difficult, and it took a few months to get the car tuned and for me to be comfortable driving. Eventually we won a few races and lost a bunch more. I guess the point of the exercise was that you can sit in front of the tube watching David Ragan zing around Texas Motor Speedway, but I guarantee you will feel way better about yourself if you go out and achieve your own glory, rather than relish in victories that you had no part in.
Enough preaching. On to the races. Chicago is not one of the crown jewels of the season, but I feel like it just might be in the next couple of years. Chicago was the last race that I did before I got 2 weeks of severance and 3 months to dominate Mario Kart Wii. We ran both a Nationwide and a Cup car for Robby, and with the tracks proximity to the big commercial center of Chicago, there were a bunch of Mapei and Beam big wigs in town for the race. There was a ton of pressure put on us by the boss to have an awesome race and impress the sponsors. So what did I do? I helped the Nationwide crew chief run that thing out of gas in the first stint, which was totally my fault, but we were running like ass anyway. I don’t remember the Cup race specifically, but we probably tripped on our dick. Then I came in to work on Monday really hung over, and I was packing my bags by the end of the week.
Chicago is tricky because of the banking. It looks like Charlotte if you look at it from the space station, but it is banked far less. What this means is that keeping momentum in the corner, and keeping your mid corner speed as high as possible is key. You are not going to dominate here with an awesome motor. A low center of gravity, and optimized tire camber will take you a lot further up the grid.
Predictions. Qualifying is over, and the Red Bulls seem to have something figured out. But for all their poles, they seem to fade into oblivion when the rag drops. Roush is a bit out to lunch at the moment, and I do not think they will rebound here. I will go for the 24 to get another win if they can figure out how to out fox the 48. I will pick the 17 for a top 5, as he seems to be wiley here. The 7 has never been good at Chicago, and I don’t know why this week would be different. About 28th to 35th is about as good as it will get.
I have been racing RC cars since I was a teenager, and it’s one of the influences that led me to a career in motorsports. My dad was intelligent enough to realize that we did not have the bucks to blow on a go-kart and a toter home to race “proper” cars. So, shortly after he quit smoking two packs of Winston’s a week, he decided that he wanted to be my crew chief. He placed a call to Sheldon’s Hobbies in California with my mom’s Sears credit card, and a week later, our RC10CE (gold chassis) came in the mail. It took us as while to get it together, but by the time the snow melted in Massachusetts, we were at the local RC dirt track in Hoag’s Corners, NY (wherever that is). Racing at any level is very difficult, and it took a few months to get the car tuned and for me to be comfortable driving. Eventually we won a few races and lost a bunch more. I guess the point of the exercise was that you can sit in front of the tube watching David Ragan zing around Texas Motor Speedway, but I guarantee you will feel way better about yourself if you go out and achieve your own glory, rather than relish in victories that you had no part in.
Enough preaching. On to the races. Chicago is not one of the crown jewels of the season, but I feel like it just might be in the next couple of years. Chicago was the last race that I did before I got 2 weeks of severance and 3 months to dominate Mario Kart Wii. We ran both a Nationwide and a Cup car for Robby, and with the tracks proximity to the big commercial center of Chicago, there were a bunch of Mapei and Beam big wigs in town for the race. There was a ton of pressure put on us by the boss to have an awesome race and impress the sponsors. So what did I do? I helped the Nationwide crew chief run that thing out of gas in the first stint, which was totally my fault, but we were running like ass anyway. I don’t remember the Cup race specifically, but we probably tripped on our dick. Then I came in to work on Monday really hung over, and I was packing my bags by the end of the week.
Chicago is tricky because of the banking. It looks like Charlotte if you look at it from the space station, but it is banked far less. What this means is that keeping momentum in the corner, and keeping your mid corner speed as high as possible is key. You are not going to dominate here with an awesome motor. A low center of gravity, and optimized tire camber will take you a lot further up the grid.
Predictions. Qualifying is over, and the Red Bulls seem to have something figured out. But for all their poles, they seem to fade into oblivion when the rag drops. Roush is a bit out to lunch at the moment, and I do not think they will rebound here. I will go for the 24 to get another win if they can figure out how to out fox the 48. I will pick the 17 for a top 5, as he seems to be wiley here. The 7 has never been good at Chicago, and I don’t know why this week would be different. About 28th to 35th is about as good as it will get.
Pass Heard
This week, I laid a pass on Kyle Busch…and it wasn’t in NASCAR ’09. It was not in the Arby’s drive through near the Gibbs shop, and it was not in the aisles of Target either. Now that I think about it, I didn’t really lay a pass on him, so much as he wrecked, and I drove around the wreck. Then I wrecked and he drove back by me one corner later. Actually, it seems as though Kyle has caught the RC racing bug, and he was in my race at one of the local RC tracks in the Charlotte area. Even the 34th bast NASCAR drivers have insanely packed schedules, so it was pretty flattering to see one of the best drivers on the circuit to come out and race toy trucks with the rest of us dorks. And the coolest part was that he was 2s off the pace of the fastest guys. Just don’t mention that I was 3s off the pace.
I have been racing RC cars since I was a teenager, and it’s one of the influences that led me to a career in motorsports. My dad was intelligent enough to realize that we did not have the bucks to blow on a go-kart and a toter home to race “proper” cars. So, shortly after he quit smoking two packs of Winston’s a week, he decided that he wanted to be my crew chief. He placed a call to Sheldon’s Hobbies in California with my mom’s Sears credit card, and a week later, our RC10CE (gold chassis) came in the mail. It took us as while to get it together, but by the time the snow melted in Massachusetts, we were at the local RC dirt track in Hoag’s Corners, NY (wherever that is). Racing at any level is very difficult, and it took a few months to get the car tuned and for me to be comfortable driving. Eventually we won a few races and lost a bunch more. I guess the point of the exercise was that you can sit in front of the tube watching David Ragan zing around Texas Motor Speedway, but I guarantee you will feel way better about yourself if you go out and achieve your own glory, rather than relish in victories that you had no part in.
Enough preaching. On to the races. Chicago is not one of the crown jewels of the season, but I feel like it just might be in the next couple of years. Chicago was the last race that I did before I got 2 weeks of severance and 3 months to dominate Mario Kart Wii. We ran both a Nationwide and a Cup car for Robby, and with the tracks proximity to the big commercial center of Chicago, there were a bunch of Mapei and Beam big wigs in town for the race. There was a ton of pressure put on us by the boss to have an awesome race and impress the sponsors. So what did I do? I helped the Nationwide crew chief run that thing out of gas in the first stint, which was totally my fault, but we were running like ass anyway. I don’t remember the Cup race specifically, but we probably tripped on our dick. Then I came in to work on Monday really hung over, and I was packing my bags by the end of the week.
Chicago is tricky because of the banking. It looks like Charlotte if you look at it from the space station, but it is banked far less. What this means is that keeping momentum in the corner, and keeping your mid corner speed as high as possible is key. You are not going to dominate here with an awesome motor. A low center of gravity, and optimized tire camber will take you a lot further up the grid.
Predictions. Qualifying is over, and the Red Bulls seem to have something figured out. But for all their poles, they seem to fade into oblivion when the rag drops. Roush is a bit out to lunch at the moment, and I do not think they will rebound here. I will go for the 24 to get another win if they can figure out how to out fox the 48. I will pick the 17 for a top 5, as he seems to be wiley here. The 7 has never been good at Chicago, and I don’t know why this week would be different. About 28th to 35th is about as good as it will get.
I have been racing RC cars since I was a teenager, and it’s one of the influences that led me to a career in motorsports. My dad was intelligent enough to realize that we did not have the bucks to blow on a go-kart and a toter home to race “proper” cars. So, shortly after he quit smoking two packs of Winston’s a week, he decided that he wanted to be my crew chief. He placed a call to Sheldon’s Hobbies in California with my mom’s Sears credit card, and a week later, our RC10CE (gold chassis) came in the mail. It took us as while to get it together, but by the time the snow melted in Massachusetts, we were at the local RC dirt track in Hoag’s Corners, NY (wherever that is). Racing at any level is very difficult, and it took a few months to get the car tuned and for me to be comfortable driving. Eventually we won a few races and lost a bunch more. I guess the point of the exercise was that you can sit in front of the tube watching David Ragan zing around Texas Motor Speedway, but I guarantee you will feel way better about yourself if you go out and achieve your own glory, rather than relish in victories that you had no part in.
Enough preaching. On to the races. Chicago is not one of the crown jewels of the season, but I feel like it just might be in the next couple of years. Chicago was the last race that I did before I got 2 weeks of severance and 3 months to dominate Mario Kart Wii. We ran both a Nationwide and a Cup car for Robby, and with the tracks proximity to the big commercial center of Chicago, there were a bunch of Mapei and Beam big wigs in town for the race. There was a ton of pressure put on us by the boss to have an awesome race and impress the sponsors. So what did I do? I helped the Nationwide crew chief run that thing out of gas in the first stint, which was totally my fault, but we were running like ass anyway. I don’t remember the Cup race specifically, but we probably tripped on our dick. Then I came in to work on Monday really hung over, and I was packing my bags by the end of the week.
Chicago is tricky because of the banking. It looks like Charlotte if you look at it from the space station, but it is banked far less. What this means is that keeping momentum in the corner, and keeping your mid corner speed as high as possible is key. You are not going to dominate here with an awesome motor. A low center of gravity, and optimized tire camber will take you a lot further up the grid.
Predictions. Qualifying is over, and the Red Bulls seem to have something figured out. But for all their poles, they seem to fade into oblivion when the rag drops. Roush is a bit out to lunch at the moment, and I do not think they will rebound here. I will go for the 24 to get another win if they can figure out how to out fox the 48. I will pick the 17 for a top 5, as he seems to be wiley here. The 7 has never been good at Chicago, and I don’t know why this week would be different. About 28th to 35th is about as good as it will get.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
And The Wheel Goes 'Round
Last week I learned an important lesson about tires. I went to the Mini dealership for my regular service appointment. I expected to get my oil changed and a car wash and be out of there in an hour. However, it got ugly in a hurry. The service chick came over to me and said, "We got your oil changed and the rest of your car serviced, but you have a problem with your tires. There is a chunk of your right front tire wrapped around your axle, and it will be $800 to replace the front tires." Whoah...I asked to have a look at it, and sure enough, a 1 inch wide slice of my RF tire had delaminated and wrapped itself around the axle like ribbon on a Christmas present. Unfortunately, the car was really unsafe to drive and I had to suck it up and get some new tires. I drive 30+ miles to work each day on the highway, and you cannot take chances when you drive a small car.
Speaking of tires, it looks like the Indianapolis tire issues have finally been resolved. For those of you who are not Jayski junkies, NASCAR has had about 4-5 tire tests at Indy in the last 3 months to sort out the tire debaucle of last year. The first 2 tests were a disaster, and the tires were only living for about 10 laps like last year. However, after the Indy 500 was run, they brought 8 or 9 cars out there and some new tire compounds. Normally there are only 4 cars at a tire test, but they wanted to lay down a lot of rubber and see how much less the wear was with track conditions more representative of the race weekend. That was two weeks ago, and an engineer friend of mine said that his car was good for atleast 30 lap on a set of tires. A fuel run is about that long, so they essentially had the issue resolved after that test. However, a whole new fleet of cars went up there on Monday and did all again. The early reports that I have been hearing from that test suggest that the tires will be just fine and the race will not be the joke that it was last year. We shall see.
If you are a Robby Gordon fan, the season starts this week. Optimism springs eternal for the fans and team alike when the circuit visits the road courses, and why not. You have a shot at the pole, you are high up the practice speed charts, Lindsay Czarniak is hanging out in your pit all weekend, things are good. Until you realize that Sonoma is a fuel mileage race. In 2007 RG had the pace to win and led 50+ laps. However, the cautions never came, and some cars could run 15 more laps on fuel than RG, and he got smoked. Then last year they made an ass out of themselves by running out of fuel in the first half of the race, and finished two laps down. In fact, RG does not even have a top 10 at Sonoma in the last bunch of years. There is no way the 7 will win a fuel mileage race at a road course. The only course of action is to try to dominate the pace of the race, and hope the pit strategy works out. At the very least, don't come without being remarkable.
Predictions for this week. I will go for a maiden victory for the 47 followed cloesly by the 14 and the 18. Marcos ran so good last year that I think he will be unstoppable with a better peice under him. I will pick the 7 for a 5th. It is hard to be compete for wins, when you don't compete for wins. I just think the pressure will breed a mistake from either the driver or the crew, and victory will elude them.
Speaking of tires, it looks like the Indianapolis tire issues have finally been resolved. For those of you who are not Jayski junkies, NASCAR has had about 4-5 tire tests at Indy in the last 3 months to sort out the tire debaucle of last year. The first 2 tests were a disaster, and the tires were only living for about 10 laps like last year. However, after the Indy 500 was run, they brought 8 or 9 cars out there and some new tire compounds. Normally there are only 4 cars at a tire test, but they wanted to lay down a lot of rubber and see how much less the wear was with track conditions more representative of the race weekend. That was two weeks ago, and an engineer friend of mine said that his car was good for atleast 30 lap on a set of tires. A fuel run is about that long, so they essentially had the issue resolved after that test. However, a whole new fleet of cars went up there on Monday and did all again. The early reports that I have been hearing from that test suggest that the tires will be just fine and the race will not be the joke that it was last year. We shall see.
If you are a Robby Gordon fan, the season starts this week. Optimism springs eternal for the fans and team alike when the circuit visits the road courses, and why not. You have a shot at the pole, you are high up the practice speed charts, Lindsay Czarniak is hanging out in your pit all weekend, things are good. Until you realize that Sonoma is a fuel mileage race. In 2007 RG had the pace to win and led 50+ laps. However, the cautions never came, and some cars could run 15 more laps on fuel than RG, and he got smoked. Then last year they made an ass out of themselves by running out of fuel in the first half of the race, and finished two laps down. In fact, RG does not even have a top 10 at Sonoma in the last bunch of years. There is no way the 7 will win a fuel mileage race at a road course. The only course of action is to try to dominate the pace of the race, and hope the pit strategy works out. At the very least, don't come without being remarkable.
Predictions for this week. I will go for a maiden victory for the 47 followed cloesly by the 14 and the 18. Marcos ran so good last year that I think he will be unstoppable with a better peice under him. I will pick the 7 for a 5th. It is hard to be compete for wins, when you don't compete for wins. I just think the pressure will breed a mistake from either the driver or the crew, and victory will elude them.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hail Caesar
Before diving into the Cup talk this week I have to tell you about an excellent culinary adventure I had the other day. For the first time in my life, I made my own salad dressing and it came out awesome. I made a fresh Caesar dressing. MMM..mmmm.The fresh ground garlic just gave it a sublime quality that is unmatchable by the packaged stuff. It was so easy and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm not sure why I got motivated to do it, but it was a fantastic experiment.
I digress. Dover proved to be an excellent race. It is great when there are fast cars that are all on different tire and fuel strategies. Tony's resistence was admirable but was always doomed to failure due to the amazing pace of the 48. The Hendrick cars (the Stewart/Haas cars included) are so dominant just at the moment, you just can't bet against them. I know there has been a lot of critiscism of Dale Jr. recently, but he will have his day again. It is amazing that the other 5 cars are in Chase positions. Kudos to them.
I normally rant and rave that Pocono is a boring race, but I am very curious to see how this one plays out. This is the first week of the double file restart rule, and that will throw a significant enough monkey wrench into mix to make it interesting. I have read a decent amount about how this rule works, and I still cannot wrap my head around how the lap down cars play into it. The way I understand it is that they will let lap down cars get back on the lead lap so long as they don't pit under caution. If that is the case, it will be interesting to see under what circumstances teams will gamble and stay out on old tires just to get their lap back. It should make for a bigger speed differential between the cars, and will probably lead to more wrecks. Not to mention the better racing at the front of the field. This rule pretty much gives Kyle a liscensce to dominate even more races.
As far as setups go, Pocono is pretty extreme. You need a ton of motor to get down the long straights and have a chance of running people down. However, like at any track on the circuit, corner exit speed (especially off of turn 3) needs to be high to get a good lap time. So you almost need to run a short track suspension setup to get through the corners, but you also need to keep the attitude of the car low on the straights, so you don't kill your straightaway speed. So this may require shocks with a lot of damping (like you would run at Charlotte) combined with a spring package that would run at Phoenix.
Predictions for this week. I am going to go for a Kasey Kahne win. The new Evernham engine seems like it is pretty stout, and I know they have a hot shit new low center of gravity car, so I think he will be a force. I will look to the 2 car to have a top 5 and continue their excellent season. As far as the 7 goes, this is the weekend that makes all of the team members cringe. RG is running the Baja and he will have to start dead last with zero miles in the car before the green flag. Luckily it is hard to go a lap down at Pocono, so it might not be as bad as it would be at other tracks. I will go for a hard fought 30th
I digress. Dover proved to be an excellent race. It is great when there are fast cars that are all on different tire and fuel strategies. Tony's resistence was admirable but was always doomed to failure due to the amazing pace of the 48. The Hendrick cars (the Stewart/Haas cars included) are so dominant just at the moment, you just can't bet against them. I know there has been a lot of critiscism of Dale Jr. recently, but he will have his day again. It is amazing that the other 5 cars are in Chase positions. Kudos to them.
I normally rant and rave that Pocono is a boring race, but I am very curious to see how this one plays out. This is the first week of the double file restart rule, and that will throw a significant enough monkey wrench into mix to make it interesting. I have read a decent amount about how this rule works, and I still cannot wrap my head around how the lap down cars play into it. The way I understand it is that they will let lap down cars get back on the lead lap so long as they don't pit under caution. If that is the case, it will be interesting to see under what circumstances teams will gamble and stay out on old tires just to get their lap back. It should make for a bigger speed differential between the cars, and will probably lead to more wrecks. Not to mention the better racing at the front of the field. This rule pretty much gives Kyle a liscensce to dominate even more races.
As far as setups go, Pocono is pretty extreme. You need a ton of motor to get down the long straights and have a chance of running people down. However, like at any track on the circuit, corner exit speed (especially off of turn 3) needs to be high to get a good lap time. So you almost need to run a short track suspension setup to get through the corners, but you also need to keep the attitude of the car low on the straights, so you don't kill your straightaway speed. So this may require shocks with a lot of damping (like you would run at Charlotte) combined with a spring package that would run at Phoenix.
Predictions for this week. I am going to go for a Kasey Kahne win. The new Evernham engine seems like it is pretty stout, and I know they have a hot shit new low center of gravity car, so I think he will be a force. I will look to the 2 car to have a top 5 and continue their excellent season. As far as the 7 goes, this is the weekend that makes all of the team members cringe. RG is running the Baja and he will have to start dead last with zero miles in the car before the green flag. Luckily it is hard to go a lap down at Pocono, so it might not be as bad as it would be at other tracks. I will go for a hard fought 30th
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Monster Myrtle
As was the case when I used to work for RGM, I took the 600 weekend off and went to Myrtle Beach for the holiday. The 600 is insufferably long and I can never get myself to stay in town for it. And, when your friend has a condo on the beach that he is letting you stay at for free, you go. You just go, and let all the other locals deal with traffic and hullabaloo. I remember two years ago I was at the beach, and I got a call from Robby at about 3.30 on raceday. He says, "Where are you?", and I go, "Uhhhh...Myrtle Beach." Then he says, "Can you get here and do the fuel mileage?" and I go, "No. I already talked to Gene, and he is cool doing it on his own." Yeah. A bit awkward, and I felt bad about it for about an hour. Then I got really drunk and danced with everyone in the beach house, and my chi was restored.
Obviously the big news this week in Robby world was the rear end confiscation and subsequent penalty. So, I guess it is time for a technical discussion about what was wrong, and how it could possibly come to be. First of all, I would like to comment on the penalty. I really thought it was going to be much bigger. After NASCAR threw the book at Carl Long for his minutely oversized engine, I assumed it would be doom and gloom for the 7 car. Especially since you could argue that rear end was probably more blatent and more of a performance advantage than the engine.
It has been vogue for about a year and a half for the Cup cars to run 1/2 an inch of toe in at the LR and 1/2 an inch of toe out on the RR. The picture below shows the difference between a zero toe and 1/2 toe in, toe out car as it drives down the track. The toe does two things, one aero and one mechanical. The aero effect is that the car will crab down the track, and the driver actually has to steer a little bit to the right to keep it pointed straight. The right side of the car is exposed to the air and creates side force (like downforce, except it pushes the car left towards the apex of the corner). The side force gets the car to turn better and keeps it stable. The mechanical effect is that it creates rear steer in the middle of the corner, which helps to alleviate the tight in the center condition that plagues COTs. When a monster truck steers, the front wheels point to the corner apex and the rears, point away from the corner. Rear steer is much more sensitive than front steer, and it rudders the monster truck so that it can go around sharp corners. The same principal applies to the Cup cars, and pointing the rear axle towards the stands steers the rear of the car.
Now, the toe measurement that NASCAR takes is relative to the chassis. There is some adjustment in the axle mounting bushings and the axle can be mounted such that a 1/2" housing can be rolled forward to make a 5/8" housing, or rolled back to create a 3/8" housing relative to the chassis. My suspicion is that the car went through tech, the rear end was measured and was just this side of being legal, and passed inspection. Then, in the race, the bolt that holds the axle mount must have loosened up enough so that it was just barely out of specification when it was post race inspected. So, in effect, this was sort of a similar penalty to a car showing low in post race inspection. Just a consequence of running laps at a track with high cornering loads or bouncing off the wall.
Obviously the big news this week in Robby world was the rear end confiscation and subsequent penalty. So, I guess it is time for a technical discussion about what was wrong, and how it could possibly come to be. First of all, I would like to comment on the penalty. I really thought it was going to be much bigger. After NASCAR threw the book at Carl Long for his minutely oversized engine, I assumed it would be doom and gloom for the 7 car. Especially since you could argue that rear end was probably more blatent and more of a performance advantage than the engine.
It has been vogue for about a year and a half for the Cup cars to run 1/2 an inch of toe in at the LR and 1/2 an inch of toe out on the RR. The picture below shows the difference between a zero toe and 1/2 toe in, toe out car as it drives down the track. The toe does two things, one aero and one mechanical. The aero effect is that the car will crab down the track, and the driver actually has to steer a little bit to the right to keep it pointed straight. The right side of the car is exposed to the air and creates side force (like downforce, except it pushes the car left towards the apex of the corner). The side force gets the car to turn better and keeps it stable. The mechanical effect is that it creates rear steer in the middle of the corner, which helps to alleviate the tight in the center condition that plagues COTs. When a monster truck steers, the front wheels point to the corner apex and the rears, point away from the corner. Rear steer is much more sensitive than front steer, and it rudders the monster truck so that it can go around sharp corners. The same principal applies to the Cup cars, and pointing the rear axle towards the stands steers the rear of the car.
Now, the toe measurement that NASCAR takes is relative to the chassis. There is some adjustment in the axle mounting bushings and the axle can be mounted such that a 1/2" housing can be rolled forward to make a 5/8" housing, or rolled back to create a 3/8" housing relative to the chassis. My suspicion is that the car went through tech, the rear end was measured and was just this side of being legal, and passed inspection. Then, in the race, the bolt that holds the axle mount must have loosened up enough so that it was just barely out of specification when it was post race inspected. So, in effect, this was sort of a similar penalty to a car showing low in post race inspection. Just a consequence of running laps at a track with high cornering loads or bouncing off the wall.
Off to Dover this week, and another track I can sink my teeth into. High banks, fast laps, and good wrecks....MMMM..MMM. Dover is Roush country, and I will pick the 99 to get his first win, with the 16 nipping at his heels. After his strong run at Bristol, I will go for Ambrose for a top 10. This will be the first time in a while the RG will get to qualify the 7 at the first Dover race, as he is usually in Baja. Even with other people qualifying the car, he has done decent here, so I will go for an 15th for the 7.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Bump and Run
What a superb race at the weekend. There was something to cheer about for everyone. Each manufacturer had a stint in the lead, rookies came to the front, plenty of wrecks, different pit strategies, and many different drivers had a dominant stint of the race. Can you believe that I fell asleep with 30 to go? What a great day for Hendrick too. Their engines and engineering support were behind each car in the top 5. They are the classiest operation in Cup racing and proved it in a big way at Darlington.
Now it is back "home" to Charlotte for 2 weeks. From a logistical standpoint, the Charlotte races are fantastic. The track is half and hour or less from most crew members houses and race shops, so you can sleep in your own bed after the practices and the race. And, if you happen to wreck a car it is easy enough to send body or fab people from the shop if the damage is major.
One of the uniquities of Charlotte from a chassis tuning point of view, is the bump at the entry of turn one. Right at the fastest point of the track, the driver has to start braking and turning the wheel to address turn 1. The front of the car starts to load up, the springs compress, and then the car hits the bump. The car gets light and uncomfortable, and the driver will sometimes panic and back off too much and screw up the corner and the lap. Obviously, you cannot move the bump, so you have to do something to the car to give the confidence back to the driver to get over it. One tuning tool that helps this is "bump steer".
When the front of the car goes down and compresses the springs, the tires do not stay in a straight line. The tires will actually steer to the left or the right a little bit, and this is due to the lengths and angles of the suspension and steering arms. Since the tires only need to turn about 3 degrees to get through the corners at Charlotte, a little bit of "bump steer" feels like alot. The crew chiefs can control how much and in which direction the bump steer goes with the adjustment holes on the steering link. For alot of the tracks, the teams will set the cars up to have as little bump steer as possible to keep a consistent feel at the steering wheel. However, at Charlotte, they may setup the RF tire to turn to the right a small amount. I know the turn is left, but they will make it turn right. This will help stabablize the car over the bump and give the driver something to feel and pull against as he steers into the corner. It's a bit counter intuitive, but this was usually a gain for Robby at Charlotte and some of the other 1.5 mile tracks and I know it is for other drivers as well.
The All-Star race is so unpredicatable, which is why it is so fun. For the showdown, I predict the 55, 00, and 83 to qualify for the AS race (55 on votes obviously). For the main event I will go for back to back wins for Kasey. Charlotte suits him so well it is stupid. I think it was evident at Darlington that the chassis and engine is strong enough. Robby does really well at Charlotte and I think he will be close to one of the transfer places. I just think there is too much quality to get out of the Showdown, so I will go for a 5th in the showdown.
Now it is back "home" to Charlotte for 2 weeks. From a logistical standpoint, the Charlotte races are fantastic. The track is half and hour or less from most crew members houses and race shops, so you can sleep in your own bed after the practices and the race. And, if you happen to wreck a car it is easy enough to send body or fab people from the shop if the damage is major.
One of the uniquities of Charlotte from a chassis tuning point of view, is the bump at the entry of turn one. Right at the fastest point of the track, the driver has to start braking and turning the wheel to address turn 1. The front of the car starts to load up, the springs compress, and then the car hits the bump. The car gets light and uncomfortable, and the driver will sometimes panic and back off too much and screw up the corner and the lap. Obviously, you cannot move the bump, so you have to do something to the car to give the confidence back to the driver to get over it. One tuning tool that helps this is "bump steer".
When the front of the car goes down and compresses the springs, the tires do not stay in a straight line. The tires will actually steer to the left or the right a little bit, and this is due to the lengths and angles of the suspension and steering arms. Since the tires only need to turn about 3 degrees to get through the corners at Charlotte, a little bit of "bump steer" feels like alot. The crew chiefs can control how much and in which direction the bump steer goes with the adjustment holes on the steering link. For alot of the tracks, the teams will set the cars up to have as little bump steer as possible to keep a consistent feel at the steering wheel. However, at Charlotte, they may setup the RF tire to turn to the right a small amount. I know the turn is left, but they will make it turn right. This will help stabablize the car over the bump and give the driver something to feel and pull against as he steers into the corner. It's a bit counter intuitive, but this was usually a gain for Robby at Charlotte and some of the other 1.5 mile tracks and I know it is for other drivers as well.
The All-Star race is so unpredicatable, which is why it is so fun. For the showdown, I predict the 55, 00, and 83 to qualify for the AS race (55 on votes obviously). For the main event I will go for back to back wins for Kasey. Charlotte suits him so well it is stupid. I think it was evident at Darlington that the chassis and engine is strong enough. Robby does really well at Charlotte and I think he will be close to one of the transfer places. I just think there is too much quality to get out of the Showdown, so I will go for a 5th in the showdown.
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