'Splain this to me--Daytona Qual 1 week in advance Options

[Teutonic Speedra...]

They complain about the fact that they're bunched up but they're also scared of the 235+ mph that they'd see without the plate. I can't remember if it was last year or the year before, but Rusty did a test at either Daytona or Talledega without the plate and said it was right on the ragged edge all the time and it wouldn't take much to set the car off.

I remember that. Shouldn't a racecar be pushed almost to the ragged edge all the time? So, if they are on the ragged edge they'd be slowing down, tire wear would matter, and they would spread out a bit....sounds good to me. What about a bigger restricter plate to allow them more HP, but not too much that they go 225mph?

[Major_Lee_Slow]

How about they drop all the super speedways and race at a real race track like Road America or Laguna or some other road course. Then it would be interesting to watch and the plates would no longer be needed at all.

[Rob Hood]

A huge difference between the over 200 mph speeds and the under 200 mph speeds is aerodynamics. Cars that ran over 200 without plates were significantly inferior aerodynamically but had enough horsepower to compensate. I think this year is the first year that the pace car will have more HP than the race car (how sad is that...).

I really think they could get rid of the plates and use a short-track body (Bristol or Martinsville), which combined with a 450-cfm carb (roughly half of the current 830 cfm) would provide a large enough "natural" restriction without resorting to using plates. This will also put the car back into the driver's hands. When Earnhardt lost his primary car at Michigan due to a happy hour tangle with Rusty, he had to use a Bristol car as a backup for the race. He would go backwards on the straights, but would eat everybody up in the turns because he had so much downforce.

[Cal]

At Daytona, you don't have power to pass (~450hp), you have to draft.

Is that what these cars have at the rear wheels or would it be that at the flywheel?

Seems like you would need more than that at the flywheel to race at 190 mph.

[Teutonic Speedra...]

At Daytona, you don't have power to pass (~450hp), you have to draft.

Is that what these cars have at the rear wheels or would it be that at the flywheel?

Seems like you would need more than that at the flywheel to race at 190 mph.

From what I understand, it's at the flywheel and it's a rough estimate.

[Cal]

At Daytona, you don't have power to pass (~450hp), you have to draft.

Is that what these cars have at the rear wheels or would it be that at the flywheel?

Seems like you would need more than that at the flywheel to race at 190 mph.

From what I understand, it's at the flywheel and it's a rough estimate.

Yeah I guess it would have to be since they are comparing that number to the fwhp on the Z06.

I'm interested because I'm still trying to guess my car's top speed with 480 at the flywheel. Some day I'll have the safety equipment in place for a real test at Bonneville Raceway.

This post has been edited by Cal: Feb 21 2006, 11:36 PM