NASCAR promotes fuel efficiency (???)

[NaBUru38]

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/12/11/w...tire-campaign/
http://www.autonews.com/article/2014...am-with-nascar
http://www.cardebater.com/nascar-and...r-go-together/

Originally Posted by Reuters

The White House rolled out a new program aimed at getting U.S. consumers to buy tires that will enable cars to get better mileage and take better care of them to cut down on tire-related crashes.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the program at a White House event on Tuesday featuring NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney.

In other news, hell has just frozen.

I mean, Cup cars barely reach 5 miles per gallon of fuel.

[MagVanisher]

Maybe they want to promote aero-efficiency... or something! *facepalm*

[JHamilton]

Other than emphasizing Goodyear tires are crap on the track and street, what is the tie-in to Nascar??

[Axeman444]

They don't like driving in the rain even on road courses?

[Mike E]

That's why they have all those full course yellows - to get better gas mileage! It all makes sense now.

[AoB Special Stage]

Originally Posted by Mike E

That's why they have all those full course yellows - to get better gas mileage! It all makes sense now.

Good joke, but NASCAR engines have efficiency equilibrium, meaning fuel economy and speed are perfectly proportional.

[AoB Special Stage]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

They don't like driving in the rain even on road courses?

850 bhp, 3400 lbs., slick tires. Do the math and then duck in cover.

[Axeman444]

Originally Posted by AoB Special Stage

850 bhp, 3400 lbs., slick tires. Do the math and then duck in cover.

learn throttle control, every other series in the world does

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

learn throttle control, every other series in the world does

Spoken like someone that has never listened to other drivers talk about stockcars, they are NOTHING like anything else racing and are a handful for drivers with great car control. It's not as much car control ability as it is the equipment on the car being set-up for a different challenge than other cars. The closest thing, Aussie V8s would get destroyed on a superspeedway by Cup cars while they in turn would crush even the best Cup driver on a simple road course. If they were to do a wholesale redesign of the cars than rain running could be possible but as they run now, it's just not worth it. And on ovals? No redesign could cope with the lateral loads and rain tires would be destroyed in single digit numbers of laps. The Nationwide guys have run a few rainish/damp sessions on road courses and while the track was at best damp in the session in Montreal I watched even the road course ringers were having a hard time keeping the rears in check and it just wasn't worth the time on the track. Think they still bring rain tires and wipers to the road courses in Xfinity I guess it is now, but not sure or what the rules regarding wet running are anymore.

[R59]

+1 to that. 2nd Tier (was Busch, then Nationwide, now something else Xfinity I think) run rain tyres if required on road courses. And Trucks have done road courses with access to wets if need be. Cup has yet to make that leap of faith. It may happen.

On the ovals, the only series I know to run in the rain with wet tyres is in the UK and is the "Pickup Truck" series (for those that don't know it's 2L 230hp truck, weighing 900kg/2000lb), and they run at Rockingham Motor Speedway which is 1.5miles with low banking. They run 140mph laps in the try, and not much slower in the wet (about 18mph slower). We looked at running our "ASCAR" series in the rain, using a restrictor which would drop the power from 430hp to about 300 to make them easier to drive in the wet, and "safer". The grip/fastest line is right up against the wall all the way around! Whitewall tyres are common at the end of a race if you've been trying hard.

Back to the thread - NASCAR and Fuel Efficiency - yes, they achieved that when they moved to fuel injection on the Cup cars a few years back. They were getting more laps per tank, between 1 and 8 depending on the track. Has to be a good thing. Saving that much fuel could allow someone to drive their GMC Yukon another 200 yds.....

[Axeman444]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Spoken like someone that has never listened to other drivers talk about stockcars, they are NOTHING like anything else racing and are a handful for drivers with great car control.

Spoken like someone who can't grasp what a poster was posting about. Was never talking about running on ovals, nor slicks in the rain... jeesh...

[AoB Special Stage]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

Spoken like someone who can't grasp what a poster was posting about. Was never talking about running on ovals, nor slicks in the rain... jeesh...

Xfinity cars have rain treads available, and they barely get by. Add 200 more horsepower, on cars that rarely keep all four wheels on the ground anyway (looking at you, Jr.), and exactly. Especially with the lower downforce Gen 6 cars.

[chernaudi]

The Gen6 cars I think had higher downforce to start out with (prior to '15, where they'll have 2 inches lopped off the rear spoiler as well as about 100bhp taken away from them with the tapered spacer).

That and the huge HP is why they were shattering track records the past couple of years. I don't know why Cup have never seriously invested in rain tires, since they kinda pioneered it at Suzuka in '97.

But then again, XS used to run international races (Mexico City and Montreal) and the Trucks run at Mosport in Canada, so due to international customs and such, those races are logistical nightmares for NASCAR and the teams, and it'd be insanely difficult to hold a rain-delay race the following day. Cup road races are held in the US, so that's not a problem.