Auto Racing - page 2
The top class of Stockcar Racing at most tracks is the Late Model class . At the local tracks these cars commonly use 350 to 450 horsepower V8 engines and are much faster than other class cars . The late model race cars are very expensive to build maintain and race . They are a steel tube chassis and roll cage assembly that is very strong , with the body metal added over the tubing . They are built very strong to protect the driver at the much higher speeds that they race.
__
Then there are racing leagues that run very fast and very expensive race cars such as Super Late Model and Super Modified race cars . These race cars run even more powerfull engine and are really fast . These race cars may use engine that are 500 to 700 horsepower or even more .
__
These racing leagues will travel to many different race tracks to race .
__
From the first stockcar race up to the 1980’s stockcars were basic full body cars like from the factory but with no interior trim or options etc . Roll bars and safety equipment added to them and the engine were modified within the limits of the racing league or race track . Most stock car safety regulations relative to the construction stock cars are based on regulations that began with NASCAR .
In the beginning , to use a model of automobile in NASCAR racing a specified number of that model cars had to be sold for street use before that model of car was allowed to race in any NASCAR events . Automobile such as Lincoln’s Cadillac’s Buick’s Oldsmobile’s Chrysler’s and Hudson’s were raced because the had bigger than the Dodge’s Ford’s and Chevrolet’s . The engine became larger as time passed and in the 60’s and into the 70’s all the top stockcar leagues were racing with engine that were well over 400 cid .
Though they were listed at about 425 horsepower , these engines were actually more like 700 horse power.
Stock cars were getting so fast that safety became a very big issue . In 1970 the 200 mile per hour mark was reached at Talladega Speedway .
_
New engine regulations were introduced to lower the engine size to 355 cid and then to 358 cid in an attempt to slow these race cars down . The engineers and mechanics continuously found way to improve these smaller engines and their power . Soon these smaller engines were producing over 700 horsepower . In 1987 a speed of over 212 miles was achieved at Talladega Speedway .
_
Restrictor plates were introduced to control the maximum amount of air that feed into the engines to slow the cars down on the super speedways .
Due to the extremely high speeds and the safety issues these race cars are now built from the ground up completely by the race teams . The chassis and safety cage are built as a unit to increase the strength and safety of the race car . The body metal is then add over top of the cage . All cars must be built to the same specifications and only the front clip is different , to distinguish the manufacturers brand and model . These race cars are now built so well that they one of the main factors in the fact that there have been no fatalities in NASCAR’s thee major series in well over 15 years . In 2008 a new and even safer car was introduced the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series .
_
The main objectives in all classes are safety and equality . Both these are easier to regulate is all cars in each class or series are built to the same regulations . This keeps the cars safer and very competitive with each other in each class or series . _
If all cars are built to the same regulations , the same chassis , the same engine size , the same tires , and the same carburetor size etc , then why do some drivers win a lot more than other drivers . The answer is race teams . A Race team involves many people , from the engineers to the fabrication shop that builds the cars , to the mechanics that do the setup’s and tune the car , to the pit crew and crew chief and the driver . All these people work together to build and set up race cars that will handle and run well at each track they race at . In NASCAR Sprint cup there are 22 different race tracks , but possibly 36 different car set-ups may be needed as the tracks that are raced twice a year will have seasonal changes from one race to the next . The set-up involve many things . Suspension , steering , alignment , brake systems , transmission and differential ratios , and aerodynamics are all involved is the set-up of a race car and any or all of these could be different from one track to the next . The racing season runs from February until November but the race teams never stop working . They are always working with new ideas on how to improve things and experimenting with these ideas . How to make the cars faster . How to make them a little better on fuel . How the make the cars handle better . So many other things too . And some where in the future many of the ideas that start in the auto racing garages will be used to make the automobiles you drive on the street , safer and better !
_
