Nascar 2015 Rules Changes: Whaddaya Think?

[OldSchool+]

So, we now have three plate races, er, one plate race and two "tapered spacer" races in.

What do you think of the racing "action" at Atlanta & 'Vegas?

So far, I have gotten some great naps in...

[Phil Jacques]

So, we now have three plate races, er, one plate race and two "tapered spacer" races in.

What do you think of the racing "action" at Atlanta & 'Vegas?

So far, I have gotten some great naps in...

NASCAR is looking in absolutely the wrong place trying to make the competition better. The best way to make racing better is go back and look at 1990.

The cars back then were very simplistic and just didn't handle anywhere near as well as they do now. The cars today have too many adjustments and too much aerodynamic dependency. Everyone cries when NASCAR takes power away or tries to slow these cars down, but with them being as aero dependent as they are, the faster they go the harder it will be to maintain side by side racing because it upsets the air on the car too much.

My solution, leave them at the HP level they are at now. This HP level was a smart move in terms of engine reliability I believe, however that will be tested through the year. But we need to take a way aero. Not just some... A LOT... Get these cars off the bump stop and coil bind setups. Get some air back up under the car and create some dirty air all around them. Put them on a harder tire. Make them have to use the brakes more and slow the cars down more and make the driver have to really drive them again.

Dale Earnhardt didn't complain that the tires didn't have enough grip or the car wasn't handling perfect. He drove that son of a bitch! NASCAR is creeping closer and closer to being the same big joke that F1 has become. Where you qualify is where you finish.

[Matt Albee]

Daytona was an embarrassment all through Speedweeks. The idiotic qualifying was the topper for me, but also the crashes. How can it take a supposedly pro racing organization so long to clean up debris, let alone actual crashes.
Atlanta was just okay, but Atlanta is often kind of boring.
Vegas was a pretty good show. Not much passing for the lead, but pretty good racing thru the pack. Harvick was hard to beat last season and is just as hard to beat right now.
So overall, i'd say the season so far has not been an enhanced, experiential environment for the fans or the stake holders.

[OldSchool+]

Experientially speaking, I am feeling dejected...

[jacko241]

I agree with you, Phil. I know I am not that sharp on all this stuff, but I can't understand how they took away over 100hp and the cars are faster. I do feel like the high speeds take away from the close racing.

[OldSchool+]

If they want to take speed out, what about limiting the lift of the cam?

Corner speed, tire width and/or harder compound?

Phil, I agree with you, but aren't the gen whatever cars already about the same, aero-wise?

Also, I thought the no-ground clearance rule was supposed to do away with the collapsed RF sping...no?

[Phil Jacques]

If they want to take speed out, what about limiting the lift of the cam?

Corner speed, tire width and/or harder compound?

Phil, I agree with you, but aren't the gen whatever cars already about the same, aero-wise?

Also, I thought the no-ground clearance was supposed to do away with the collapsed RF sping...no?

Aero wise being similar means nothing. It has to do with the car and how the air affects it individually. It doesn't matter of the cars are different or identical, if the cars depend on aero such a great extent where when someone gets side by side it disturbs the air on the car next to it and causes it to get loose or tight, THAT is where the problem is. They have to find a better way to take that away, and my point/solution to that in my initial post is to make the cars handle poorly to begin with. By getting air under the cars and getting them off the bump stops and coil bind setups, you make the suspension work more and promote the use of mechanical grip/stability rather than aero grip/stability to keep the cars straight.

The "no ride height" rule, which technically is not what they say it is because they still do check ride height to an extent. Just lets the guys run super soft front springs so the car essentially sits right on the bump stops. I would tend to believe it's probably similar to what we do in the ACT Late Model up at Thompson and Waterford... The cars I crew cheif on have a huge sway bar and super soft springs. Our front setup is a 1 3/4" bar, 125lb left front and 150 right front spring with a few rounds of preload in the bar. We also have a tie down shock in the left front and I like to play around with Anti Dive and Pro Dive to enhance the setting of the left and right front of the car. I can only assume cup teams play very similar games with the front suspension to get the nose to settle the way they like to have the splitter sealed off.

[OldSchool+]

The only deal is...I know we have to deal with it, but aero is like playing wack-a-mole--as soon as you think you have one thing solved another pops up.

A few years back they ran vertical fins about at the headlight area of one of the series, seems like xfinity.

My concern there is that it would all be like plate racing. A wad of cars with no passing as we know it.

What about pulling the RH side window(s) out?

[Phil Jacques]

The only deal is...I know we have to deal with it, but aero is like playing wack-a-mole--as soon as you think you have one thing solved another pops up.

A few years back they ran vertical fins about at the headlight area of one of the series, seems like xfinity.

My concern there is that it would all be like plate racing. A wad of cars with no passing as we know it.

What about pulling the RH side window(s) out?

They put the right side window in those cars for two reasons at those big tracks. #1 is to promote side force which is Aero... the other though, is a safety concern. That being if you get air in the car it can promote lift. Now, I am not an aerodynamicist so I do not fully understand the thought process with that right side window for promoting lift because it would seem to me their thought process is much like an airplane wing there. The top of an airplane wing is rounded, the bottom is flat... Very similar to a car roof. I guess their thinking is by blocking that window, once the inside of the car fills with air, it has a positive pressure at the drivers window and the air flows around it keeping the car on the ground. If that window is open, the rounded roof and flat interior could I suppose act like a wing creating a positive pressure on the inside of the car and negative on top of the roof which is essentially what causes an airplane to take flight. How, I have no idea but that's just my assumption.

I don't think running fins etc to disturb the air will work as much and will make the cars look absolutely terrible. I think that raising the cars up to 3" ride height, getting rid of the splitter and disallowing the usage of bump stops and coil bind setups may be a start. Stop the teams for sealing the cars off to the ground all around may be another help and eliminate the use of cambered rear ends and get rid of those fins on the rear glass that you can not usually see because they are clear lexan now.

I'm really just thinking out loud. Aero will always matter to an extent no matter what you do. But getting back to something like they had in the late 80s and early 90s package wise would go very far in my eyes for promoting good racing. Unfortunately with the modern styling of cars and the insistence to make the on track cars look identical to what is in the showroom (which I understand) makes that a small challenge.

[ancrdave]

The best thing they could do is eliminate computers totally... Bring back "mechanics" rather than have "engineers"... Other than the driver and the crew chief (on certain teams), who else do you know that is part of the race team? Remember Herb Nab, Waddell Wilson, Ernie Elliott, Suitcase Jake Elder, Mario Rossi and the host of other guys who used to be responsible for making cars go fast and see just how much they could get past the inspectors? That is what is missing today...

[Matt Albee]

NASCAR took off a little of the rear spoiler height and the cars picked up a lot of speed in spite of having HP taken away. But at some point, the Lawyer/Insurance Company factor comes in. Less downforce means that the cars are in danger of flying. And that can often mean into the grandstands. So NASCAR's giant brigade of legal types is never going to allow a take off of the aero devices and let " boys have at it ".
I have to agree with drivers who have said they want more power and throttle along with slightly relaxed aero regulations to make passing possible while still making the cars stable. And if people who actually knew about stock car racing technology were making the rules, that's probably what we'd have already. But the current heads of NASCAR brought you the COT. How did that work out?

[Winger]

Use stock bodies. Templates that fit the race car must be the same thing that fits a showroom stock car. Let the manufacturers design the cars again.

[Frasson118]

16 tire rule. 4 for practice, qualifying, 12 for the race. That's IT. Unlimited tires and testing ruins any chance for a small team to pull off a big win

[aquarius1234]

Yes Phil

Yes Remove Traction
Increase Horsepower

Yeee
Sssss