It ’s difficult being a crew chief on the NASCAR circuit. Stock car racing in the twenty-first century is as much a science as it is a sportswoman . The days of dirt rails and drivers a generation removed from running contraband liquor under the cover of night on country roads is conk out forever . Today , everything about the mutation is eminent - close , from the 100,000 - seat raceways to the wireless communication organization between the drivers and their crews . Even some of the thermic - auspices materials used to prevent high temperature accumulation in a car ’s cockpit were originally develop for NASA [ seed : NASA ] .
Thermal protection is only one of the many pinch and modifications NASCAR car undergo to gain that elusive edge over the other drivers . The slight modification – suspension system changes , the car ’s system of weights , minor adjustments to the front buffer – can radically alter the elbow room the railcar will handle at extremely high f number .
Any NASCAR fan can tell you that each rails has its own unique characteristics . Some tracks , like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , chew through tire . Atlanta Motor Speedway is the riotous cart track on the circuit , which means that number one wood must adjust horsepower to advance an advantage . All of these considerations – and more – have to be sort out through by each car ’s crew foreman before every single wash .
We have n’t even mentioned the forcible change the trail undergoes during the race . If you want to lie with more , show the next varlet .
Changes in NASCAR Tracks During Races
Whenever you put 43 cars on a track , all putting out about 750 horsepower apiece and travel about 150 ( 241.4 km / h ) mph for 500 straight mile ( 807.6 km ) , a luck of energy is blend in to be transferred to the track . As a event , the track ca n’t help but change a bit .
While all NASCAR tracks alter during a wash , the most pronounced changes are seen onasphalttracks . This is significant because 28 of the 31 official track used in NASCAR races are paved with asphalt ; the other three are concrete . Technically , the asphalt tracks are concrete as well ; the full term concrete refer a mixture of loose gravel ( also called aggregate ) harbor together with a binder , typically cement . cementum is a popular ligature because it remains unaltered during races [ source : Cheney Lime ] .
This is not the pillow slip with mineral pitch , which is in aviscoelastic(more liquid state than solid)state . Asphalt is made of the heavy oils left behind after the lighter oils in unrefined petroleum have evaporated . The consequence of this evaporation is a sludgy material that ’s solid at elbow room temperature but liquefies with little heating system . Asphalt does n’t have a melt point , but at temperature of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit , it will begin to behave more like a liquid than a unanimous . These temperature are well reached during a race thanks to the forces of friction .
When a NASCAR tire move across a track ’s airfoil , it does so through applied strength in the var. of torque from the elevator car ’s engine . This applied strength pushes the automobile fore while the rolling clash push in the opposite management . As a event of this clash , heat build up , diminish the asphalt ’s viscosity and make it more limpid than hearty . This shit the running feel oily and slick and can make it difficult to handle , particularly at the corner ( one understanding why the corners at Martinsville Speedway are concrete while the repose of the track is asphalt ) . Recently - pave tracks are a practiced place to discover slickness lead from friction - heat up mineral pitch . Eventually , trickery and track wear become less marked as the lighter hydrocarbon found in mineral pitch are withdraw over time [ reservoir : Leslie - Pelecky ] .
As the mineral pitch binder is wear away , the aggregate still remains . This exposed aggregate account for the other physical change NASCAR cart track – both concrete and asphalt – undergo during a race . Because of the heat from the friction between the tyre and the racetrack surface , racing tires become tensile . As a result , the aggregate can rapidly wear tires down , tear off diminished piece of music of the synthetic rubber that flummox to the running . The type and historic period of the aggregate has an effect on how much arctic a track claims . The track at South Carolina ’s Darlington Raceway used seashells as an aggregate and it ’s traditionally been know for chewing tire up . With 43 cars running on any given track , that can add together up to a lot of claim safe . That means drivers go through more tyre , but since rubber provides excellent adhesive friction , it ultimately mean a benefit for the drivers .
The natural rubber does n’t dumbfound around perpetually , though . After a heavy rain , it ’s washed away , leaving the track green , yet another alteration NASCAR tracks undergo . Not to occupy ; after a few circuit the track will get rubbered up again , spread the gate for gamey - speed racing .
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