steve40th

Okay, I have 20/10 vision and an HD TV. But when the NASCAR cars go down the straight, their bodies seem to be twisted on the frame/chassis to allow better aerodynamics? on left tunrs. Is it me? Or are they twisted tothe left?

Gatorac

Someone found out they run faster offset like that. Now everyone has to do it.

VetteDrmr

The COT cars are limited to a 1 degree track offset in the rear axle; earlier in the year teams figured out that about 2.5 degrees was optimum. Also, if you look at the Nationwide (previously Busch) series the bodies are actually hung off-axis quite a bit, which is what they used to do with the old Cup cars, because the templates had that much margin built into them. The COT templates are much more restrictive.

NASCAR didn't want the teams crabbing sideways down the straights, so they put in the 1 degree limit.

Have a good one,
Mike

Bill Dearborn

Sure looks like they didn't make it restrictive enough.

Bill

Mikelly

In layman's terms, the cars are flat on one side and curved on the other side. They aren't uniform on both sides!

Mike

steve40th

For being simple cars, they sure are built to the limits of the rules. I am still amazed at how they get negative camber on the rear axles.

jrmotorsports55

It creates sideforce to help the handling.

Wayne O

I understand the 'twisted' setup on the tri-ovals where they essentially turn one direction but I can't imagine they'd keep such a radical offset on the rare occasions when they're on a road course. I'm not a huge NASCAR fan. I'll have to watch when they run a road course to see if their setup looks more 'balanced.'

VetteDrmr

They do run them square for road courses, or square enough (all road courses trend more left or right, so you could optimize one way if it made a difference in lap times) that they look correct.

Have a good one,
Mike

ghoffman

I know most people on this forum consider NASCAR a form of WWF, but these guys really do remarkable things with the restrictive rules they are under. They are working hard to find .001 seconds here and there. I sure wish I had Greg Zipadelli or Chad Knauss helping me...

TLGunman

You can't optimize as much as you used to...you can't flip the panhard bar on the current Cup car, like you could on the old cars.

vetracer

I noticed this when watching the dirt track late model cars - the bodies don't even come close to fitting the chassis. Maybe a more extreme example of what you are describing.