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The Twisted Sister Is Back In Cup
Yes sir, just when you thought NASCAR had stepped in and put a stop to distorted sheetmetal and
contorted body lines with the new rules and templates, the teams have tinkered their way right back to
an odd looking car through adjustments on the chassis.
What the teams are doing now started to show up a few races back and now at Darlington it is in full
effect. It's a pretty basic adjustment actually, something that the dirt-trackers have been doing for
decades, towing out the rear axle housing setting the car up for a seemingly perpetual turn.
The teams have been fighting the new style car to get it to turn. The problem has been that when the
car was tight or pushing the front end and when adjustments were made the car would get
snappy-loose. There were no wedge or air pressure adjustments that were hitting the middle point.
What was being said of the COT was with the higher CG (center of gravity) that the car was rolling over
in the turn and transferring more weight to the rear wheels and lifting the front left tire off of the ground
and making the car push hard. When they screwed more wedge into the right rear to keep the nose
down it was making the car too loose. Solution, adjust the rear axle assembly to where when the weight
transfers to the rear of the car the axle is set just like the car has rear steering.
If you look at the diagram below which is drawn as if you are looking down on the car, you see the first
example of a car with all of the wheels pointed straight forward. The second example shows the rear axle
assemble kicked back on the right side and forward on the left. The third example shows what the
attitude of the steering in a turn (the 4-wheel steering reference) like a monster truck. And the last
example shows the front wheels actually turned slightly to the right in order to get the car to go straight.
That's what gives the car the 'crab-walk' look when going down the straight-aways.
Yes sir, just when you thought NASCAR had stepped in and put a stop to distorted sheetmetal and
contorted body lines with the new rules and templates, the teams have tinkered their way right back to
an odd looking car through adjustments on the chassis.
What the teams are doing now started to show up a few races back and now at Darlington it is in full
effect. It's a pretty basic adjustment actually, something that the dirt-trackers have been doing for
decades, towing out the rear axle housing setting the car up for a seemingly perpetual turn.
The teams have been fighting the new style car to get it to turn. The problem has been that when the
car was tight or pushing the front end and when adjustments were made the car would get
snappy-loose. There were no wedge or air pressure adjustments that were hitting the middle point.
What was being said of the COT was with the higher CG (center of gravity) that the car was rolling over
in the turn and transferring more weight to the rear wheels and lifting the front left tire off of the ground
and making the car push hard. When they screwed more wedge into the right rear to keep the nose
down it was making the car too loose. Solution, adjust the rear axle assembly to where when the weight
transfers to the rear of the car the axle is set just like the car has rear steering.
If you look at the diagram below which is drawn as if you are looking down on the car, you see the first
example of a car with all of the wheels pointed straight forward. The second example shows the rear axle
assemble kicked back on the right side and forward on the left. The third example shows what the
attitude of the steering in a turn (the 4-wheel steering reference) like a monster truck. And the last
example shows the front wheels actually turned slightly to the right in order to get the car to go straight.
That's what gives the car the 'crab-walk' look when going down the straight-aways.
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I was wondering about that too. Thanks
for the diagram, that clears up some of my
confusion.
The car is pretty goofy looking, but if it
makes for better racing I'm okay with it.
Ken Mercer NC
for the diagram, that clears up some of my
confusion.
The car is pretty goofy looking, but if it
makes for better racing I'm okay with it.
Ken Mercer NC
It obviously works because all of the teams are doing it now, but are the fans okay with having another
engineering-bred oddity making laps around the track? This seems to be the 'magic bullet' on getting the
cars to drive better through the turns because we're not hearing the complaints about handling like in the
beginning of the season.
I know what a lot of people will say, the cars don't look like a regular car anyway. The wing and the splitter
are things you will never see on a street version and so who cares if the thing is going down the front
stretch sideways.
The point is not to nit-pick, but I thought the premise of the COT [other than safety] was to stop the teams
from twisting up the cars in all different directions and whether it is the body or the chassis, what's the
difference?
Perhaps NASCAR is just content that the teams aren't openly complaining about the handling of the new
style car and are willing to let them implement a few unorthodox tricks until the learning curve is figured
out. The other reason that NASCAR might be okay with it is because it's not an expensive trick that
requires the teams to spend millions of dollars in engineering to achieve the advantage.
Let us know your opinion of it by voting and you can submit comments as well.
engineering-bred oddity making laps around the track? This seems to be the 'magic bullet' on getting the
cars to drive better through the turns because we're not hearing the complaints about handling like in the
beginning of the season.
I know what a lot of people will say, the cars don't look like a regular car anyway. The wing and the splitter
are things you will never see on a street version and so who cares if the thing is going down the front
stretch sideways.
The point is not to nit-pick, but I thought the premise of the COT [other than safety] was to stop the teams
from twisting up the cars in all different directions and whether it is the body or the chassis, what's the
difference?
Perhaps NASCAR is just content that the teams aren't openly complaining about the handling of the new
style car and are willing to let them implement a few unorthodox tricks until the learning curve is figured
out. The other reason that NASCAR might be okay with it is because it's not an expensive trick that
requires the teams to spend millions of dollars in engineering to achieve the advantage.
Let us know your opinion of it by voting and you can submit comments as well.
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The cars look weird. I just laugh when I
see them doing that.
Scooter Pierce MI
see them doing that.
Scooter Pierce MI
I like your point that it's not and expensive
modification like having to do a lot of wind
tunnel testing, so let them go for it.
Steve J. Nevada
modification like having to do a lot of wind
tunnel testing, so let them go for it.
Steve J. Nevada
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