Drafting reduces aero drag, both on the car following and on the car leading. Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: Copyright © 2021 HowStuffWorks, a division of InfoSpace Holdings, LLC, a System1 Company. But, overall, there is more pressure coming over the top of the car than underneath. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website. The initial plan called for the design to be featured in 26 of the 36 races on the 2008 NASCAR schedule and then bumped up to permanent use in the 2009 racing season. Does drafting work uphill? At the Daytona 500 in Florida this weekend, souped-up cars will chase each other around a … Teams will be allowed to adjust the angle of attack on the wing and the position of the front splitter to custom tune the car's performance on different tracks. Now that you know the basics of drafting, it's time to discover how NASCAR drivers use the air to their advantage. Rules of the track stipulate that … "When you see that, you have to start planning your moves, take advantage of what's being offered.". They may also add a small bump and just that fast, a potential first place finisher moves to the back of the field. As others have partially explained in other answers, a vehicle driving through the air creates a “wake.” This can be described as a “hole” in the air where air is pushed out and away from the vehicle. The forces at play around a NASCAR vehicle can be manipulated by a talented and trained driver. ­On the next page, we'll take a closer look at the complex and subtle science of the art of drafting. Aug. 9, 2007. It can be a tactical move for one driver to get as close as he can behind another car, leaving the driver the energy for a break to try and push ahead of that car to get to the finish line first. Pressure drag has to do with the low pressure created as the air moves around the object. There, you'll find several articles focused on NASCAR and NASCAR-related topics. Friction drag is the contact of air and the object moving through it, like a race car. (Dec. 3, 2008) http://uwnews.org/article.asp?Search=draft+track&articleid=35930. Good drafting can turn a humdrum race into a real humdinger and a bumper-to-bumper slugfest into high-speed chess and produce the kinds of races that are talked about for years afterward. like they say drafting duos. "If you fall out of that line, if you have to go to the pits for a problem, you're probably going to get lapped," Bodine said. It is more than just how they finish the race, they get points for actions during the race itself. How does a NASCAR track physically change during a race? NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow was introduced in 2007 and raced in just 16 events that first year. Conducted 12/2/2008. NASCAR is ridiculous. NASCAR driver Ryan Newman (12) passes Tony Stewart (20) on the backstretch as he gets drafting help from Kurt Busch (2) on the final lap of the 50th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR race cars, in some ways, are sensitive machines. This technique is common among hypermilers. At Nascar speeds a low pressure air zone forms at the rear of the car, which pulls against the back end. Just like on an airplane, turbulence happens when powerful rotational (that is, nonlinear) currents of air buffet the vehicle and interfere with its maneuverability [source: Leslie-Pelecky]. I was watching talagada night the ballad of rickybobby last night and i was wondering how the sling shot works. And if you’re wondering what a restrictor plate is - it’s a device designed to … ­While the cars, technology and strategy are constantly changing, drafting will always play a role in racing. Race cars essentially turn the airplane principle upside down. The adjustments become a bit of a balancing game: Less downforce means greater straightaway speed, but less grip in the turns, and more downforce means improved grip in the turns, but slower straightaway speeds. Tune in to a mountain stage of a Grand Tour and you’ll see the top teams arranging themselves in a line as they ride uphill. So when one boat pulls up to the rear quarter panel, it is in the wake of the first boat, but the boat side drafting, still is producing its own wake. Watch Queue Queue When the lead car rockets down the track it pushes through the air leaving a disturbed, or "dirty," wake behind it. in nascar what does drafting mean? ­If you think you can pilot a NASCAR race car around Alabama's Talladega Superspeedway at 180 miles per hour (290 kilometers per hour) with more than 40 of your closest friends and enemies hot on your tail, you'd better think again. I've heard the commentators say that getting up next to another car can give that driver a boost by making the other car loose. Both tracks offer banked curves and long straightaways where a driver can push a car to its upper limits. Personal Interview. At superspeedways like Alabama's Talladega and Florida's Daytona International, where speed is limited by a restrictor plate rule, long lines of drafting cars take advantage of the car in front to allow greater speeds and better fuel efficiency. Drafting is a game of small numbers and risky strategy playing out in a larger drama. Hill, Dr. Jerre. Kurt Romberg, chief aerodynamicist at Hendrick Motorsports, said as little as one percent drop in drag is worth an improvement of about 10 positions on the starting grid at Daytona. Given that inescapable law, NASCAR teams design, redesign, refine, tweak and nudge their cars to control what happens when several thousand pounds of vehicle rip through the air at speeds often approaching 200 mph (322 kilometers per hour). (Jan. 15, 2009) http://www.stockcarracing.com/featurestories/scrp_0411_restrictor_plate_races_car_destruction/index.html, Hickey, Hannah. Conducted 12/1/2008. Why is it so hard to understand the NASCAR penalty system? And if you want to change your position in the line of cars, you have to be strategic. To draft, you have to know and trust your car's handling. And just like that, one competitor goes down. Bodine has seen and experienced this phenomenon, firsthand. Two cars drafting together can go 3 to 5 miles an hour faster than a solo car, and extra trailing cars add a little more speed, which is why the drivers spend so … In fact, a drag reduction of about a half-percent is seen as a significant gain in NASCAR. Two forces play key roles -- downforce and drag. You earn points by drafting a team of drivers and they accomplish objectives on the track. Drafting is the reason so many stock car races turn into long lines of cars circling the track in close formation. Dr. Jerre Hill said he was skeptical about the process, and that the math and physics didn't quite mesh with the reality. NASCAR.com. Actually, the best strategy for saving a few miles per gallon is to properly inflate a car's tires and keep it in peak operating condition; however, some drivers choose a more controversial, and dangerous method. When the checkered flag is waved partnerships are dissolved, heated competition ratchets up to the nuclear level and drafting becomes less of a strategy and more of a weapon. In summary, it can make a huge difference! Small savings like this add up over a tank of gas. There's a sort of aerodynamic symbiosis at work. On the next pages, we'll look at some of the strategies -- heel and toe racing, bumping, and bumping and running. "You work the numbers as much as you can to affect the end product," Romberg said.

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