Rookie question...

[TheShrimp]

There is always talk about who's got the advantage, Ford, Chevy, whatever.

My question for those who know, is about how much that matters outside a team. Certainly, any advantages they find for Waltrip, Junior is also going to benefit. But why the rest of the Chevys? DEI isn't sharing their secrets with Jeff Gordon.

I suppose that leads to another question which might answer the first. What role does Chevrolet have in putting together those cars. Just what does Chevy put together? Chassis? Engine? Body? After Chevy hands them off, where is the wiggle room for the teams to adjust? Basically, if any of you has the time, knowledge and inclination, could you explain that to me?

Unrelated...I asked a friend of mine his opinion on this. He couldn't give a good answer. He's knows a little about engines but not much about nascar. . .
I never figured out why they use carburators instead of e.f.i's. Can you get more fuel in? Is it only because you can put a restrictor plate in a carburator? Are carbs better than efi's for an engine that's wound up so high so often? Anyone know?

Thanks for any answers.

 

[howdy]

Shrimp,
I will take a shot at this and see if it helps.


The advantage of a particular make was big before this years changes. Body style has a lot to do with the aero of a car, how far the nose is kicked out and so on.
This year NASCAR was supposed to have made changes to eliminate any advantage, they got tired of having to change rules to equal out the cars so they made it where all body styles are SUPPOSED to be identical (aero wise).

Ford Chevy and Dodge actually have very little to do with the end product you see racing. Teams build or buy their motors from engine builders such as Penskie or Rousch that specialize in racing engines. The chassis are built by the teams or bought from builders just like the engines (see days of thunder, good chasis scene).

The same goes for the body of the car.

They do get support from the manufacturers in the form of financial backing, test facilties (wind tunnels and such) and equiptment. The better teams get more support that others.


From what I have heard about the carb question is that efi can be manipulated way to easy to give an added and unwanted (by nascar) advantage to a car. It is also one more thing that could easily take a car out of a race. You very seldom see a car that goes out due to carb problems BUT how many times do you see cars with electrical problem? They just switch everything off and quite often finish the race BUT that would take a car with efi out of the race.


Hope this helps a bit

 

[TheShrimp]

So when folks complain about, say, Chevy's having an advantage, I can conclude that a particular body builder (say penske, or rousch or whoever) probably provides all the chevys and that's why if one chevy has an advantage, all chevys have an advantage.

I did realize that ford, chevy, dodge, and PONTIAC, dont' really have too much hand in making the "stock" cars, anymore. I'd read about the templates this year, too, to keep all the bodies the same. 36 templates, I read.

That does make sense about using carbs instead of efi's. Keep it all mechanical.

Looking forward to the next few weeks. Lots of different kind of racing from the sounds of it. Half-mile track at Bristol ought to be interesting.

Thanks, dude.

 

[howdy]

Shrimp,
You are not totally correct in your assumption.
One builder does not provide all bodies for a particular make.
Teams have contracts with different builders or make their own.

The 36 templates you mentioned do not mean 36 different styles of bodies (you did not say it did but I figured I would talk about it). Each template will sit on a particular part of the car. If the car body does not match the design cut into the template that car gets kicked out of inspection and has to be reworked.
This mostly happens with the nose being stuck out to far OR the rear spoiler not being set at the correct angle.

If one make has an advantage it would be due to NASCAR not noticing it when they approved the body style.

You are absolutely correct about the upcomming races.
Bristol is my favorite track with the Bristol night race being my favorite race. That high banked short track leads to a lot of bumping, banging and pissed off drivers. Add all of that up and you get a race that is really fun to watch.

 

[TheShrimp]

I do get how the templates work. There was a whole article in "Racing Milestones" magazine about them. They fit over different parts of the car and if they don't fit, its back to the shop.

Thanks for the info. I was kind of wondering at what stage do different types of cars start to diverge from the other makes.

Bristol sounds fun. Checking the schedule, it looks like next week (Food City 500) is Sunday afternoon, but the Sharpie 500 (in August) at Bristol is the night race. .533 miles, 36 degrees. Even Daytona is 31 degrees.

I think they said for Darlington they're doing a bunch of reinforcing on the right hand sides because of how much they hit the wall.