Is this a motorsports forum or not?

[JD in Socal]

Andy,

Thanks for jumping in and clearing up some of the BS. It gets a little thick around here now and again (I'll include myself in that), and its good to have a source of reliable info.

Seems like you only come up for air here occasionally. I hope the season is going well for you.

JD

[ASKANDY]

JD
Thanks for noticing my occational bubbles of air
The season is incredibly busy with too much travel. Right now I'm changing out all Hendrick machines for new ones (140 of them) and still making a bunch of shows/races. I have the next 2 weekends off then it's up to Michigan and straight to Bristol from there. Besides that, my wife had a couple surgeries and has been off work for 7 months. This means I have to work my 2nd job longer at night to make ends meet. It will get better soon, I hope! She's starting to work 10hrs / wk starting next week.

Have a good one!

Andy

[hankj]

TOYOTA-

The Toyota engine has the same general specs as the other brands. Pushrod, single cam, single carb, cast iron block..... They are close in dyno numbers at the rest. One of the guys that worked for me for a couple years was hired by NASCAR as an inpector. The real scoop is that the Toyotas are very close in hp. Only between 4-12 hp difference. At every race, NASCAR brings a chassis dyno in to check the top finishing cars and trucks. They use these numbers to keep a check on all the teams hp performance and make sure that one brand doesn't have a total overall advantage.
As for Yates and Roush.... It was ONLY a merger of the engine department that was wanted by both Yates and Roush. Yates didn't want any chassis help from Roush and both teams get the same wind tunnel data from ford. So when all those years when Roush had to win by making the chassis turn better in the middle of the corner instead of just HP, they naturally got even better when the engine merger occured. Remember, Matt Kenseth won the championship with Roush engines BEFORE the Roush/Yates deal took place. Can't fault a team for doing it's homework. Roush has more engineers than any team. I know, I have to deal with them

A

Well, how about that? It is a motorspots forum!

It is also one **** of a fine block of information on welding, and just about anything else you may need to know! There is a lot of talent represented in the membership, and I, for one, would not have the froum operate any other way!

Hank

[RDK]

Toyota

I believe Dave DeSpain(Speed Channel) said that Toyota Paid Chevrolet for the rights to use SB2 Chevy to compete in Nascar. I see future big problems, no matter what. Toyota wants to beat the Detroit Boys bad. They have the $$$ to do that. The ONLY way Nascar can hold them down is to keep a very close eyeball on them. If they don't dominate they will claim "unfair competition". If the do (dominate) the shrinking American Manufactures (GM & Ford- forget Daimler/Chrysler they are German owned now) are gone. In 5 years there will be another race series( plenty available tracks). Probably initiated by Earnhardt Jr. Now that's speculation!

[Revlimit]

Andy, hope all goes well with your wife's health and your slammed schedule. You've been an awesome backbone for this forum. We would hate to lose you, but family comes first my brotha of the arc.

[Szelag]

Nascar.. yuck. Formula 1.. yum.

Tell you what's a cool series - Formula SAE. Student groups at hundreds of universities around the world design, build, test, and drive competitively at an intercollegiate level. That's where I've been learning all my TIG welding.

[Revlimit]

Szelag, like so many other race fans, I turned off F1 after it became the Michael Schumacher show. Yeah, I realize it's more competitive now, and the degree of engineering is phenomenal, but there still is just too little passing for it to be fun in my opinion. BUT, although I lost the passion for F1, I had an awesome time in SAE, and this is where I learned to really tig. I was fortunate enough to weld every inch of the car for two successive years at Florida, and every minute I spent I enjoyed. It goes fast man, enjoy it!

[Sberry]

Since this is about motor sports I have a question about fuel cell sizing. Would this be legal for stock cars and what cage refinements would I need?

[MeanDean]

LMAO. Dude I dont think you would get that in a Nascar Truck. Let alone fitting it in a car. Just dont put a torch to it. We already had that thread.lol.

[Revlimit]

Man, that thing has to push like a dump truck on corner exit!

[jeffscarstrucks]

Scelag, I do believe that the F-sae is a great series. I have read a great deal about it in Racecar Engineering (a UK publication) and I think it allows and teaches a great range of thinking out side of the box as far as racing goes. I hope that corprorate america takes note of the talent there. As a fan of all racing and a participant of some; I do hope that the interest of the younger generation is piqued by becoming involved in racing in general for the sake of all of us. If the new guys don't do it....we will all be done! New blood is the key to our hobby! (And a **** good living for a few) , JEFF