Video: NASCAR Cup Car vs. Mercedes-AMG GT3 on the Daytona Road Course

https://www.youtube.com/embed/VxSDjkxqpvM

NASCAR just announced a four-race weekend at Daytona International Speedway this August. The biggest takeaway? Three of the races will use Daytona's full road course.

What will those races look like? Thanks to iRacing, we can get a rough idea as we ran a NASCAR Cup Car against a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Presented by CRC Industries.

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captdownshift (Forum Supporter)
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) UltimaDork
7/9/20 3:28 p.m.

VW fox GRM project car versus Nascar next please.

T.J.
T.J. MegaDork
7/9/20 4:36 p.m.

Good video JG.

If the NASCARs could run traction control and ABS like the GT3 cars, then I wonder how much faster they would be. No doubt there it would take a lot of skill to hustle a NASCAR around there, but the drivers should be up to the task.

Should be fun to watch them race there. They need headlights that aren't stickers, windshield wipers and then let 'em run in the Rolex.

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
7/9/20 4:48 p.m.

Cool comparo vid.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
7/10/20 8:05 a.m.

I admit that I haven't dug too deeply on this, but have rain rules been announced? 

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
7/10/20 8:46 a.m.
David S. Wallens said:

I admit that I haven't dug too deeply on this, but have rain rules been announced? 

I thought rain + oval = automatic canceling? 

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
7/10/20 8:50 a.m.

In reply to z31maniac :

Or does this count as a road course race? Let me ask someone who will know. BRB.

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
7/10/20 9:17 a.m.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I "think" it does.

I guess one point is, J.G. showed how difficult it is to power down in the dry. In the wet, maybe the inability to keep the rear at the back, means they would be slow enough on the banking to make it "safe-ish?"

slowbird
slowbird SuperDork
7/10/20 10:29 a.m.

I think I read that they were prepared to use rain tires on the Charlotte roval for the race they do there now, so I'd assume this would be the same. Although the banking at Daytona is still its own special beast when it comes to rain and rain tires, as I think the 24 hour race has demonstrated at times. I recall them having some trouble keeping the tires wet enough to keep from wearing out, in some cases, because the banking is so steep that it's a lot less wet than the rest of the track.

Also, this is just a personal observation, but I've always suspected that the NASCAR road-racing traction is a little better in real life. iRacing's tire model doesn't really "do" different tire compounds per track, just an average of the typical stuff that Goodyear brings to the track every week. Which would be oval tires.

It just seems way harder to put the power down than it should be, even considering how much power they have. They seem to accelerate off the corners pretty good at Sonoma, whereas in the sim I can barely go full-throttle at any point in the lap. But then again, they're way better drivers than me.

tuna55
tuna55 MegaDork
7/10/20 10:51 a.m.

That looks like a lot of fun. I love the amazing gains with the WHOAPOWER! and also the amazing losses with the WHOABRAKES. I'd love to see split times during those events.

MotorsportsGordon
MotorsportsGordon HalfDork
7/10/20 2:02 p.m.

Well in real life actually a trans am car is faster then both at Daytona the trans am daytona track record is only a tick slower then the Daytona gtlm record.

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