Newcomer

[jade]

Hi, who can help me?
I like to know more about the rules in Cart, I have no
information, like who many points the first place gets, about
the technical regulations etc. thanks

[KC]

Welcome to the forum Jade.

Here is a CART primer for you.

The CART cars are distantly similar to F1 machines but far more limited in their technological advancements and levels of equipment.

Engines: Currently the series uses powerplants manufactured and leased from Honda, Ford and Toyota. They consist of a 2.15 liter V8 design with spring actuated valves. The crank and connecting rods must be steel or an alloy thereof. The engines are force fed air by turbocharging with the boost varying depending on the track being raced at. Oval tracks get less boost than road courses due to extreme power. A CART qualifying engine can create around 950 horsepower in road course trim and around 900 for the ovals. The teams back down the power to conserve the engine and transmission to 900 to 925 and 875 respectively.

Transmissions: The series mandates a manually shifted sequential gearbox. An ignition cutout allows the driver to shift without clutching. No automatic or semi-automatic gearboixes may be used. Reynard uses a 6 speed and Lola supplies a 7 speed.

Tires: Unlike F1, CART uses a very wide slick tire without any grooves. Bridgestone/Firestone is the only tire supplier in the series as of now and they control the tire compounds.

Fuel: Fire is one of the fears of Champ car racers from the past and the series moved from high octane gasoline to methanol based fuel many years ago. The fuel is much lower in volatility and very easy to minimize fires as it can mix with water. That is why you see them spray the cr after fuelling to wash away any spilled fuel. The only drawback is that on a bright day the flames appear clear and are hard to see.

Chassis: The CART road course chassis weighs in at 1500 pounds and the oval chassis weighs in at 1550 pounds with the addition of a foot protecting extra bulkhead in the nose. The chassis are limited to approved suppliers Reynard, Lola, and Swift. Currently no one os using the Swift chassis.

Drivers: The series requires a dedicated driver capable of raicng on superspeedways, short ovals, natural terrain road courses and narrow street courses. The cars are much easier than an F1 car of being driven on the limit due to high grip slick tires, ground effect undertray chassis and huge horsepower.

For more info, try http://www.cart.com

[macdaddy]

Welcome, Jade! For information regarding CART rules, follow KC's link, and click on "About CART". There you can get the entire rulebook.

[jb]

Welcome Jade
For another overview this is a fun but somewhat outdated site:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/champ-car.htm
JB

[AAReagles]

Welcome aboard Jade.

See you're just getting interested in CART.

Afraid I wouldn't be much help there, but I like the old, nostalgic stuff. Here's some sites, just in case you might want to check out the good ol' days:



http://www.rumbledrome.com/index.html

http://www.deepthrottle.com/History/...el_links.shtml

[Emfa]

Originally posted by KC
...
Engines: Currently the series uses powerplants manufactured and leased from Honda, Ford and Toyota. They consist of a 2.15 liter V8 design with spring actuated valves. The crank and connecting rods must be steel or an alloy thereof. The engines are force fed air by turbocharging with the boost varying depending on the track being raced at. Oval tracks get less boost than road courses due to extreme power. A CART qualifying engine can create around 950 horsepower in road course trim and around 900 for the ovals. The teams back down the power to conserve the engine and transmission to 900 to 925 and 875 respectively.
...

Good summary KC. I know this is kind of pedantic, but I thought that the capacity is 2.65 liter. Correct?

May I also add a welcome to Jade.

[Jimmyz360]

Well it is 2.65 or 161 cubic inch....the horsepower figures are optomistic...they make about 850 to 870 right now (37 in of boost), next year they will lower it to 34 in of boost to try and get figures in low 800's. They changed boost recently because at 40 in of boost in 2000 they were getting over 900 horsepower. Of course, at race time the run less to save power, but when full rich and full throttle they can achieve these numbers.

[KC]

My mistake. I always get the two sets of numbers crossed up.