Pop up shower during qualifying at Daytona.
Pop up shower during qualifying at Daytona.
They dont
So, they were qualifying on non-grooved racing tires, it rained, then they started wrecking? What is the shock here? I watched a World Challenge race back in 2008(?) at Petit with the same results.
No shock. Just sayin' - 200 mph high bank oval + a little moisture = chaos.
There are folks here that want to insist that NASCAR is somehow less than manly for not switching to rain tires and going for it. I'm not one of them.
I'm just a little surprised that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often.
Three weeks ago at the short track here, we had a class of supertrucks- basically a limited late model with a pickup body, on 10" slicks. Weather was threatening, and they ran into turn one full speed on lap 56, and 15 seconds later on lap 57 every damn one of them crashed in the same corner. Sudden showers suck.
NASCAR isn't set up for rain, the cars don't even have wipers or defrosters.
Yeah, can't really blame guys driving 500 hp (restrictor plate engines), 3400 pound cars on slicks @200 mph for losing it in the rain.
On slicks, it can happen to anyone.
Yeah, it can. As pointed out, NA$CAR has no provision for rain at all. In road racing, it is not a reason to stop a race and means planning ahead with tire choice etc; it's hard to believe the guys in that Watkins vid had no idea rain was possible and plan accordingly. The phale was strong there.
The group qualifying idea seemed like a good idea as well. That was a $1 million cloud burst.
hotrodlarry wrote: The group qualifying idea seemed like a good idea as well. That was a $1 million cloud burst.
the group qualifying is a good idea... much better than taking a couple of hours for 45 cars to each make individual runs, and it throws in the possibility of cars either getting in the way and slowing you down or being able to be used as drafting partners to set track records.. and all sorts of cool strategery happens- like at Talledega (i think... i'm pretty sure, anyways..) when all the Hendrick affiliated cars thought they were going to go out and draft as a group of 7 cars and get good times for everyone as they took turns drafting and slingshotting to the lead of the pack, but Carl Edwards (a Roush Ford) stuck in the middle of them and threw their whole plan into chaos, even as they pulled into pit road to try to regroup... it was beautiful..
the only real downside that i can think of to the new qualifying layout is that the smaller teams used to get as much airtime as the bigger teams during qualifying, but now they are just a part of the pack and the tv people spend most of their time talking about the big names... they still talk about the smaller teams, but not as much.
but back to the rain: that section of wet track looked to be maybe 100 yards across... imagine those times when you've been driving down a perfectly dry road at 60 mph and encounter a wet spot and how it makes your buttcheeks clench up as you hit it knowing that you might hydroplane a little.. now multiply the speeds by 3.5, with the knowledge that you are definitely going to hydroplane and have zero control of your car for a couple of seconds, and there are 30 other cars immediately around you on the track in the same situation..
The Nationwide cars have run in the rain on a road course. They had wipers and rain tires. Cup cars with their extra power might not work too well.
iceracer wrote: The Nationwide cars have run in the rain on a road course. They had wipers and rain tires. Cup cars with their extra power might not work too well.
just requires better drivers...
iceracer wrote: The Nationwide cars have run in the rain on a road course. They had wipers and rain tires. Cup cars with their extra power might not work too well.
the Cup cars were set up for rain at the road course races for almost a decade... Goodyear even brought treaded tires and everything... but they never got to use them and they decided that the tires were too old to safely run any more and just decided that it was best to just go back to not running in the rain... but yes, the few Nationwide races that were run in the rain were pretty fun. those guys were so out of their element that it made every corner unpredictable, and the end of one race was even decided in the last corner of the last lap because of the rain.
oldeskewltoy wrote:iceracer wrote: The Nationwide cars have run in the rain on a road course. They had wipers and rain tires. Cup cars with their extra power might not work too well.just requires better drivers...
And drivers that don't whine when Alex Tagliani goes inside at Canada Corner in a clean move to pass you on the last lap, unlike Chase Elliot.
Lancer007 wrote:oldeskewltoy wrote:And drivers that don't whine when Alex Tagliani goes inside at Canada Corner in a clean move to pass you on the last lap, unlike Chase Elliot.iceracer wrote: The Nationwide cars have run in the rain on a road course. They had wipers and rain tires. Cup cars with their extra power might not work too well.just requires better drivers...
You guys have got to be kidding me, right?
Better drivers? Racing on road courses with wets is one thing, racing on wets in ovals is another. And before you bring the 24 hour into it, think about the cars and the track layout before you start trying to make this an apples to apples comparison. Hell, a Conti driver I worked with told me he was nervous on the banking in the rain at Daytona in a ST car. I guarantee you he wouldn't do it in a stockcar.
As far as Tags, damn impressive run those last couple of laps when everyone was counting him out. Buuuuut, he totally pulled a GT5/Forza4 dive bomb on Chase Elliot at Canada Corner. Lancer, I've run B Spec with you on Forza, you would be pissed off if I pulled that move on you at Canada Corner or any turn. Take your sports car blinders off.
I didn't mean to infer that running in the rain on an oval just needed better drivers, I understand why any type of moisture is gangerous there. My comment was only refering to road course racing.
Antistance- It was an aggressive move but nothing dirty about it. The door was open and Tag didn't spin him out. I can understand that he didn't like being passed and missing a spot on the podium however that just means he should have taken a more defensive line going in. He got beat.
Anti-stance wrote: As far as Tags, damn impressive run those last couple of laps when everyone was counting him out. Buuuuut, he totally pulled a GT5/Forza4 dive bomb on Chase Elliot at Canada Corner.
Elliott is used to dive-bomb passes, just not when he is the guy getting passed. If he complained about Tags' move, the kid is a putz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obkOMoH2lN4
In reply to oldsaw:
Oh, I agree with you there. I remember the race, the slap heard round the world. lol. But to say Tags didn't pull a dive bomb at Canada Corner is just not correct. You are making it sound like I am choosing sides on a Elliot vs. Tagliani debate, that's not the case. He came in too hot. Watch it again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrGHc-zM_A Even by NASCAR standards, that is not clean racing and what Elliot did in Canada was worse, for sure. But everything Tags did besides that corner was amazing. Not taking away what he did with the rest of that drive. Brilliant.
Hmmm. Just saw this. Aparrently, you can race on an oval in the rain. I want to know more about car and tire setup because I've never heard of anyone doing this successfully before. http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/nascar/touring-series/lauda-works-high-groove-in-france/
To start the Euro cars are about 900 lbs lighter and 200 less horsepower. I don't think the biggest problem Is physics but that there are a lot of fans that paidhttps://www.facebook.com/dan.prendergast.12/posts/10204138738337731 good money to see a race and would rather wait then sit in the rain for four hours. Keeping the fans happy is a higher priority than showing people that are never going to be fans anyway that they can figure out how to use a windshield wiper.
mine refers to wisdom... if you are racing @ Talledaga in the rain... maybe the "fastest" speed is only 140??? just because the track can support faster speeds... doesn't mean its wise to try them.....
My point is racing in the rain requires going as fast as the conditions (road, driver, vehicle) permit you to go...
oldeskewltoy wrote: mine refers to wisdom... if you are racing @ Talledaga in the rain... maybe the "fastest" speed is only 140??? just because the track can support faster speeds... doesn't mean its wise to try them..... My point is racing in the rain requires going as fast as the conditions (road, driver, vehicle) permit you to go...
could it be done? yes.
should it be done? no.
racing exists as a big business because it is entertainment... people don't watch races at Telladega or Daytona to see cars going 140mph for 5 hours- they watch them to see them going 200mph for 4 hours.
In reply to novaderrik:
Good ol' +1 to you sir.
In the "pass" Tag was on slicks on a dry track, everybody else were still on rains. He made up a lot of ground.
Anti-stance wrote: In reply to novaderrik: Good ol' +1 to you sir.
thank you, sir... people seem to forget that once you get past the most basic entry level classes in any form of racing, it is a business first and racing second.
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