nascar

[vbroom]

someone explain nascar to me

whats the appeal in it? besides cars going round in circles?
are they on the very edge of traction as they go round the corner? are they ever so slightly sliding round corners? is it a just a series of slipstreams and slingshots around for a few laps? enlighten me with the technicalities of it...

[shan]

Sliding on the edge of oblivion

[Desmo]

Round and round and round ad nauseum.

[firewrench]

180+ mph on the straights, sliding through the turns. Did you see the driver get flipped and airborne last weekend? Brad Keselowski (?) pissed off Carl Edwards and got a little love tap. Ended up on his top on the wall. Now that's entertainment. One giant left turn but still fun, especially if you're at the track.

[=Stevo=]

The great ones are the street circuits, barely a lap goes by without a crash... restart, restart, restart.

The guys who actually have real track experience such as the ex-V8 / F1 guys pull away from the pack at a ridiculously quick rate...

[Professor Redfern]

Isnt a lot of the Nascar series actually on tracks with more than one corner?

I could be wrong though.

[Dr. Venkman]

nope from memory there are 3 "road" courses in the series, Montreal, Watkins Glen and Sonoma

[vbroom]

ah ok so they're sliding....
so besides that, major crashes...and sometimes flight like last weekends incident, there's really not much more to it?

another question, do the ever touch their brakes at anytime during the race?

[Dubs]

long straight, turn left, short straight, turn left, long straight, turn left, short straight, turn left

Rinse, repeat

Dubs

[thro]

someone explain nascar to me

whats the appeal in it? besides cars going round in circles?
are they on the very edge of traction as they go round the corner? are they ever so slightly sliding round corners? is it a just a series of slipstreams and slingshots around for a few laps? enlighten me with the technicalities of it...

Try watching it.

The racing is super close and generally always goes down to the wire.


I enjoy it, (will watch it "if it is on" when i'm looking for something to watch, which isn't often) despite the excessive hick quota.


Like drag racing - if you are ignorant you may think it is simple. Like drag racing, there's a lot more to it than you may think if you never bother watching it.

Its a lot more exciting than motoGP has been in recent years.

[firewrench]

Sometimes they do touch the brakes, of course they maintain the throttle pinned wide open while doing it. Keeps the revs up while slowing slightly.
It's probably like cricket is to us, ?????????????. Not to say that it's dumb, just don't understand the whole shebang. For those that do, it's probably entertaining.
On the plus side for Nascar, Danica Patrick started driving in the Nationwide series, which is like the minor league team right below the majors. Maybe by next year she'll be in the big cars.

[=Stevo=]

is she hot?

[Lord Farquaad]

She's not bad. Bit of a man face but a good body

[vbroom]

yeah i'm not implying its a dumb sport...just wanting to understand what there is to it more than just what it appears on the surface.

i spose its like the us equivalent of super speedway type thing here.

[Desmo]

nope from memory there are 3 "road" courses in the series, Montreal, Watkins Glen and Sonoma

And have you seen the carnage that ensues?

[MuNch]

I agree with you VBroom.

As soon as i see it, i switch channels.

[Shady7/8]

There's very tight specifications on the cars.

If I recall they run standard pump gas, and all have the same engine. It's more focussed on the driver than the cars.
But even most Americans I've spoken to agree it's their ultimate redneck sport - just like V8s here

[thro]

^^ yeah thats it.

no denying its a redneck sport, but the specs are tight, min weights are high and restrictor plates are run on the big ovals to keep horsepower levels down.


... all that means that the budget to make a competitive team is nowhere near as high as it would otherwise be - thus, there are a lot of competitive teams.

within the restrictions (carbs, pushrod v8) there is an amazing amount of R&D that goes on though.... those pushrod motors they're using can rev to over 8,000rpm...

a large amount of speed is gained on the restrictor plate tracks by drafting and teamwork (between cars).

if you haven't watched daytona at least once, i'd suggest giving it a chance, you may be surprised.

[Barfrangipani]

Yes, it is a category aimed at making cars as equal as possible, much the same as the V8's here. But the main difference is on an oval overtaking is easy, as opposed to some of the tracks we have here where they just follow each other all day, and the only overtaking is stuffing it up the inside and shunting the other car out of the way.

I don't mind watching it, but find the commentators to be fucking annoying, so it's usually on mute

[Lord Farquaad]

^^ yeah thats it.

no denying its a redneck sport, but the specs are tight, min weights are high and restrictor plates are run on the big ovals to keep horsepower levels down.


... all that means that the budget to make a competitive team is nowhere near as high as it would otherwise be - thus, there are a lot of competitive teams.

within the restrictions (carbs, pushrod v8) there is an amazing amount of R&D that goes on though.... those pushrod motors they're using can rev to over 8,000rpm...

a large amount of speed is gained on the restrictor plate tracks by drafting and teamwork (between cars).

if you haven't watched daytona at least once, i'd suggest giving it a chance, you may be surprised.

Actually, I watched a bit of a doco on one of the top teams, and there's a crazy amount of money spent on the team. They had something like 500 staff for a team with 4 or 6 cars.