tripping the rift!

[mac miller]

As a racing technoid all of my life, I am dismayed as I watch all of the top levels of racing heading toward spec cars...........It is becoming increasingly difficult to find even a small wrinkle or crease of totally unregulated technology, in the rule book, to seek a technical advantage.

Over the past couple of years, I have studied several, as yet untapped, sources of help, searching for new technical tricks that could be applied to racing cars.

The first area I studied was “cartoon physics”. Two particularly interesting phenomenon that take place in the cartoon world that would be helpful in racing is “instant acceleration “ and “instant deceleration”.. Another interesting thing that happens in cartoons, that I haven’t found a use for in the racing world, is ”levitation”. That is when the coyote runs over the edge of the cliff and “levitates”, indefinitely, until he realizes that he is standing over the edge and drops like a rock.... Unfortunately, most of this technology belongs to some outfit named “ACME”, which I have been unable to contact..... Exhaustive experiments have yielded no discernable results in transferring elements of “cartoon physics” into the real racing world.

Discouraged but not defeated, I moved on to another area of research....... “video game physics”!!!! One thing stood out here as a great idea to apply to real life racing. It is the “reset button”. In “video game physics”, you can total your car a number of times during an event and just hit the ”reset button” to , instantly, reassemble the car and continue on..... This would be a great advantage to guys like paul tracy, ryan briscoe, etc....... Unfortunately, following more exhaustive experiments, I have made no progress in bring this technology into the real racing world.

As I was about to give up on seeking any further alternate technical advantages, I was struck with a great new idea !!!! “Decal and paint job physics”!!! This idea is good because all of the elements for experimentation are readily available.............. There must be a color that is faster than other colors???? There must be a certain stripe angle or layout that can increase or decrease downforce, drag and/or stability???? There must be certain logos that, depending and size and/or placement effects the handing of the car????
nascar must be aware and afraid someone will eventually exploit this technology because, for years, they have mandated the size and location of contingency sponsor decals on all of their cars..................................




Congratulations to all of you, out there, that think this the most ridiculous post you have ever read! It is!.......................... but no matter how stupid it is, it is not even close to being as stupid and ridiculous as turning the INDY 500, one of the truely great arenas of technical innovation and “crackpot” ideas in history, into a single chassis, single engine, single tire, spec car race.

[Radny]

I think the problem is that in the "good old days" cars couldn't drive as fast a a man could drive them. A man could stand quicker speeds than a car could deliver. As time went on, finally the machines won - they could go faster than any driver could handle - so they had to slow them down. As a result,the cheaper innovations to make a car go faster (turbo boost, displacement, wing size, wing angle, tires, etc) became regulated. In the end all that was left was really expensive esotoric stuff that made the cars no more interesting at all, but lots more expensive. (As compared to true innovations like the turbine engine, now we are stuck with slightly better mirrors, or shock absorbers, springs, etc). So it became more and more expensive to squeeze out the extra mph. Too expensive for all but a few teams. W/O control on technology, we could have ended up with no one being able to afford the sport, like America's cup racing or something. So it was not physics, but sociology (or socialism?) that lead to this situation.

[Z28]

From a technical standpoint I think you are correct Radny. Looking at it as a continuing business in the old days there were sportsmen who stayed in the sport because they loved it even though they could have made better use of their money in other businesses. The problem today is there are fewer weathly individuals involved and the scene is dominated by people who are part of or reliant on corporations that don't have that complete authority over their money even if they love the sport. Also in the old days if a few teams were outspending the competition those sportsmen owners stayed on and ran mid pack because they had racing in their blood. Today with them being gone and the dollars being so much greater when the few teams get the funding to outspend the others the lesser funded owners can't find the money to run without being competitive and the front of the field looks great and the back of the field shrinks.

Unfortunately keeping the field of competition as level as possible makes it more likely that more people will get involved. New blood is less likely to join the sport of they know they can be outspent. So keeping the equipment virtually the same for everyone eliminates cuts inovation but also spending in order to keep up with the one supplier who throws money at the situation to get ahead. It is a romantic notion to wish that some would be Smokey Yunick can come up with a new car and engine in his two car garage to blow the competition away but what would happen is some manufacturer would spend whatever it took to beat that guy and drive three other owners from the sport. Great gain in technology and innovation but the sport suffered with a smaller field.

I'm all for tradition and nostalgia but if looking back means you're ignoring what's going on now and not planning for a future a past is all you'll be left with.

[Dick Ralstin]

Hey Z28,

I am pretty well satisfied with the past, I was extremely lucky and fortunate enough to be a small part of the "Golden Years" of open wheel racing,

As for the future, I am not worried to much, it all depends on which way the wind is blowing when they dump my ashes out of the sack.



I've got the perfect girlfriend, I couldn't ask for more.
She's deaf and dumb and over sexed and owns a liguor store.

[TommyDaComic]

I've got the perfect girlfriend, I couldn't ask for more.
She's deaf and dumb and over sexed and owns a liguor store.

Dad?

Is that You!?!?!?!

[SportscarBruce]

Attention please, Innovation has left the country.

[Benson477]

Attention please, Innovation has left the country.

Innovation in American style OW racing priced itself out of existance.

Take a quick think on why NASCAR can keep a full field and spares lined up.

[gofastturnleft]

Brilliant Mac! One of the more entertaining reads in some time.

[SportscarBruce]

Innovation in American style OW racing priced itself out of existance.

Take a quick think on why NASCAR can keep a full field and spares lined up.

And turned racing into a soap opera entertainment show. So they're making money as a series, there's plenty of other pursuits that are profitable and yet I have no interest in. I hope this single-make situation is only a temporary fix, Honda probably feels the same way.

When you see GM and FoMoCo go under the waves of bankruptcy just remember that the engine of Innovation left them too, and NASCAR became the oversized anchor.

[Benson477]

And turned racing into a soap opera entertainment show. So they're making money as a series, there's plenty of other pursuits that are profitable and yet I have no interest in. I hope this single-make situation is only a temporary fix, Honda probably feels the same way.

When you see GM and FoMoCo go under the waves of bankruptcy just remember that the engine of Innovation left them too, and NASCAR became the oversized anchor.

Entertainment of a sort it certainly is but NASCAR has one tremendous audience and support seems to just keep forthcoming. Not only that but they keep growing and spreading out and prospering.

One of the biggest innovations I've noticed in the past few years is they can jack up a car with one stroke now.