After a great race under the lights at Daytona, its off the Chicago for the 3rd season of racing at the Chicagoland Speedway.

Here are the details.

Winton Cup race broadcast is on NBC at 2:30 (EDT), Sunday, July 13.
Chicagoland is a 1.5 mile tri-oval with 18 degree banks- see map.
This is only the third Winston Cup race at Chicagoland and Kevin Harvick has won the first two. Can he make it three!?!

Newbie Racing News

If you are new to racing, as I, then you may have heard drivers complaining that their cars are either too tight or too loose. But what does that mean? Here is how NASCAR defines those terms:

LOOSE
(Also referred to as "free" or "over-steer.") A condition created when the back end of the vehicle wants to overtake the front end when it is either entering or exiting a turn. In qualifying mode teams walk a fine line creating a setup that "frees the vehicle up" as much as possible without causing the driver to lose control.

TIGHT
Also known as "under-steer." A car is said to be tight if the front wheels lose traction before the rear wheels do. A tight race car doesn't seem able to steer sharply enough through the turns. Instead, the front end continues through the wall.

What I take away from this is that either condition for a race car in not good. In either case, a driver may have to back off the throttle (that's gas pedal to you and me) to keep the car in control. Less throttle means less winning in car racing, so it is important that a car be able to take a turn as fast as possible.

Here are some ways teams adjust a car during a race. Again, from NASCAR:
AIR PRESSURE
With the advent of radial tires with stiffer sidewalls, changing air pressure in the tires is used as another setup tool that is akin to adjusting spring rates in the vehicle's suspension. An increase in air pressure raises the "spring rate" in the tire itself and changes the vehicle's handling characteristics. If his race vehicle was "tight" coming off a corner, a driver might request a slight air pressure increase in the right rear tire to "loosen it up."

TRACK BAR

(Also referred to as a "Panhard bar.") This bar locates the vehicle's rear end housing from left-to-right under it. In calibrating the vehicle's "suspension geometry," raising or lowering the track bar changes the rear roll center and determines how well it will travel through the corners. During races, this adjustment is done through the rear window using an extended ratchet. Typically, lowering the track bar will "tighten" the vehicle and raising the track bar will "loosen" it.

WEDGE

Refers to the relationship from corner-to-corner of the weight of the race vehicle. Increasing the weight on any corner of the vehicle affects the weight of the other three corners in direct proportion. Weight adjustments are made by turning "weight jacking screws" mounted on each corner with a ratchet. A typical adjustment for a "loose" car would be to increase the weight of the left rear corner of the vehicle, which decreases the weight of the left front and right rear corners and increases the weight of the right front. A typical adjustment for a "tight" vehicle would be to increase the weight of the right rear corner, which decreases the weight of the right front and left rear and increases the weight of the left front.

(Geez, I thought a wedge was a piece of rubber inserted into the suspension spring to tighten a car. I got that wrong - got to love it though, that's what being a newbie is all about.)

All this a little much?? Well, think about this. You drive a car. And you have to make that car turn from time to time. I'm betting you have developed an instinctive feel for the "balance" for your car. You know if you are over-steering or under-steering, you just didn't know there were terms for this.

Think about driving on ice. You are minding your own business and you go to turn the car, when, the back-end starts to get away from you. You just over-steered -or- your car was too loose for the conditions. Once you gain your composure, I'm betting you think to yourself - I need to slow down. Slowing down is NOT what we want in racing!! (ice either, for that matter)

I think street cars, for the most part, are all very loose. And I don't mean compared to NASCARs, I mean relative to the conditions which we all drive in daily. That is why hopping into a BMW is so much fun, they are tighter - and you notice it almost right away.

Because in street cars we are vigilant against over-steer, we don't experience under-steer as often, but I'm betting you have felt it. Imagine zipping along a back country road. you come across a curve that is a little sharper than you expect and before you know it you are on the outside of the curve. You just under-steered. What do you do? Slow down - again, not an option.

Now - why do they adjust the car during the race? Well, one reason, track conditions change during the race. So, in order to be at their best, teams will make small changes to the car. Remember, from above, one of the ways to make a change is in air pressure. This turns out to be a relative easy way adjust a car because these race cars will get several tire changes during a race, so, with the new tires can come a new tire pressure.

Let's go racing in Chicago!!!!!!
1:24:08 PM    comment []  

For the First Time This Year, a Rookie Finds Victory Lane. Greg Biffle, the 2002 Busch Series champion, outraced the field to win the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. By Viv Bernstein. [New York Times: Sports]
11:49:55 AM    comment []