Why does nascar still use solid rear axles?

[halik]

Anyone?

I just came across a pic of a nascar exploding with the rear axle flying out... to my surprise it's a solid piece (?!?!?)

 

[theeedude]

Smooth pavement, don't really need IRS. Plus the crowd loves crashes

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: senseamp
Smooth pavement, don't really need IRS. Plus the crowd loves crashes

Even with smooth road, won't you ride on the edge of the tires when you corner hard? The dynamic mass of the car will shift to the outside of the turn, which in turns lifts the axle some too (so it's no longer parallel to the road and tires aren't gripping 100%)

 

[thedarkwolf]

They use them because Nascar says you have too. They are strong, cheap, and proven.

 

[Bignate603]

The same reason they use pushrod V8s and carbs rather than fuel injection. They're required to.

 

[Nyati13]

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: senseamp
Smooth pavement, don't really need IRS. Plus the crowd loves crashes

Even with smooth road, won't you ride on the edge of the tires when you corner hard? The dynamic mass of the car will shift to the outside of the turn, which in turns lifts the axle some too (so it's no longer parallel to the road and tires aren't gripping 100%)

In any race they have 3 to 4 known corners, with exact angles, turn rates etc, all already pre-determined. They can setup the axles spring rates and other suspension geometry so specifically that using a solid axle isn't really any detriment. They have to go through all those hoops to tune the solid axle, because it's in the rule book, that they have to use a solid rear axle.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: halik

Originally posted by: senseamp
Smooth pavement, don't really need IRS. Plus the crowd loves crashes

Even with smooth road, won't you ride on the edge of the tires when you corner hard? The dynamic mass of the car will shift to the outside of the turn, which in turns lifts the axle some too (so it's no longer parallel to the road and tires aren't gripping 100%)

On smooth pavement there's no real benefit to IRS aside from reducing unsprung weight. There were racing classes back in the 1980's that allowed both solid axle and IRS cars (on road courses, not ovals) and the IRS cars showed no advantage over the solid axle vehicles.

ZV

 

[Demon-Xanth]

NASCAR's formula has a number of grandfathered things in, many to keep costs down and the field even. As absurd as the costs of racing in NASCAR are, when you compare them to series like Lemans and F1 it's peanuts. If you wanted to make a car that handled as good as you can make a car handle, NASCAR isn't the place to look, there's too many rules that keep good stuff out to keep costs and speeds down.

 

[funboy6942]

Your always going left, not like it would really matter if it had it or not. Straight, left, left a little more, straight, straight straight, left, left hard, brakes, left, straight. Besides if they did have it, the car would tend to lean because in stead of a straight axle, it be like a slant when you go left, and would make the car really want to roll, at which point the driver would go into a slide causing him to turn right, and that would confuse him and a big crash would happen with other drivers having to learn how to turn right to avoid the crash, ending up with more crashing.

Thats why there are rules since most drivers been driving left all their life starting with go carts, skipping school to drive for Nascar at the age of 15, and not have the mental capacity to do 2 things at once.

 

[thomsbrain]

Cause grandpappy din' need none-o-dem newfangled jap-iron tecknolagee so's i don' need none eider. We races 'em like duh good larwd intended us to. Throw me anuther one o' dem Coors Lights, will ya Billy?

 

[Pulsar]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
Cause grandpappy din' need none-o-dem newfangled jap-iron tecknolagee so's i don' need none eider. We races 'em like duh good larwd intended us to. Throw me anuther one o' dem Coors Lights, will ya Billy?

Because all advancements in the area of automobiles have been by the Japanese. Obviously. :roll:

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: funboy6942
Your always going left, not like it would really matter if it had it or not. Straight, left, left a little more, straight, straight straight, left, left hard, brakes, left, straight. Besides if they did have it, the car would tend to lean because in stead of a straight axle, it be like a slant when you go left, and would make the car really want to roll, at which point the driver would go into a slide causing him to turn right, and that would confuse him and a big crash would happen with other drivers having to learn how to turn right to avoid the crash, ending up with more crashing.

Thats why there are rules since most drivers been driving left all their life starting with go carts, skipping school to drive for Nascar at the age of 15, and not have the mental capacity to do 2 things at once.

I can tell you're a big fan.

 

[boomhower]

The short answer is costs. They could have implemented it a couple years ago when they came out with the new car but there really was no reason to increase the costs beyond what they already are. They reason that they won't go to EFI is two fold, one is cost and the other is that it is to hard to police.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: funboy6942
Your always going left, not like it would really matter if it had it or not. Straight, left, left a little more, straight, straight straight, left, left hard, brakes, left, straight. Besides if they did have it, the car would tend to lean because in stead of a straight axle, it be like a slant when you go left, and would make the car really want to roll, at which point the driver would go into a slide causing him to turn right, and that would confuse him and a big crash would happen with other drivers having to learn how to turn right to avoid the crash, ending up with more crashing.

Thats why there are rules since most drivers been driving left all their life starting with go carts, skipping school to drive for Nascar at the age of 15, and not have the mental capacity to do 2 things at once.

http://nascar.suite101.com/art..._drivers_invade_nascar

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: funboy6942
Your always going left, not like it would really matter if it had it or not. Straight, left, left a little more, straight, straight straight, left, left hard, brakes, left, straight. Besides if they did have it, the car would tend to lean because in stead of a straight axle, it be like a slant when you go left, and would make the car really want to roll, at which point the driver would go into a slide causing him to turn right, and that would confuse him and a big crash would happen with other drivers having to learn how to turn right to avoid the crash, ending up with more crashing.

Thats why there are rules since most drivers been driving left all their life starting with go carts, skipping school to drive for Nascar at the age of 15, and not have the mental capacity to do 2 things at once.

http://nascar.suite101.com/art..._drivers_invade_nascar

And Jimmy Johnson won the SCORE off road championship rookie of the year in 1998.

 

[LordMorpheus]

They use them because of the rules. NASCAR is all about big, simple cars racing each other. A race ready cup car would cost a tiny fraction of a race ready F1 car, due to the restrictions to older tech.

Some of the tracks are quite bumpy, too, which makes things interesting.

 

[Kirby]

I think it's pretty cool that Nascar has a NA engine less than 6 liters that has around 750 HP.

 

[geno]

They don't need to "dance" much, so a solid axle does them just fine.