Hang on, Horsepower Got Cut from 900 to 725?

T

Turn5ive

Guest
So we took out downforce, lightened the cars up and cut horsepower by about 20 percent? 20 PERCENT?

This could look really bad on TV. None of these changes make sense to me when you group them together. Why didn't we just cut downforce and lighten the car while KEEPING the badass horsepower?

And the real reason I'm concerned? I watched that NASCAR Gridiron challenge on TV a few weeks back and thought they were running Rusty Wallace Experience cars because of how slow they were. Were those the new cars at 725? Woof...

Anyone else see that? Side-by-side for sure but slow as molasses.
 
Nobody seems to think we'll even be able to notice the hp decrease in light of all the rest of the changes.
 
I know that all non restrictor plate races will be run under reduced horsepower. Is that also true now for Daytona and Talladega? I thought there were no changes for those two tracks. Can you post a link to the article saying something different?
 
Turn5ive said:
And the real reason I'm concerned? I watched that NASCAR Gridiron challenge on TV a few weeks back and thought they were running Rusty Wallace Experience cars because of how slow they were. Were those the new cars at 725? Woof...

Anyone else see that? Side-by-side for sure but slow as molasses.
Click to expand...
I saw it & thought the same.
 
Everything that I've heard basically said the Xfinity and Cup cars will be on about the same power level. Cup cars should carry their speed much further into the corner than they can now. Xfinity cars don't look slow. I think this is a non issue.
 
The announcement on all of this was made about 5 months ago. I'm still looking for some audio but there are several articles on this if you go back to last September. Here's a blurb from one of them on horsepower reduction.....

The horsepower reduction, from 850 to 725, will be obtained in part through the use of tapered spacers, which are currently used in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

"You take the power out, but we're also taking drag off (by trimming the spoiler) to re-balance this whole thing," he said. "It's not going to be as dramatic as most people think. We're hoping … it will make the racing better, closer. Our goals are always that, right? To provide better entertainment for our fans."

from here
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Everything that I've heard basically said the Xfinity and Cup cars will be on about the same power level. Cup cars should carry their speed much further into the corner than they can now. Xfinity cars don't look slow. I think this is a non issue.
Click to expand...

If this is true then....why have an Xfinity series?
 
I'm sure those Gridiron cars were toned down a ton. I doubt they would let a football player that's never even drove a race car in a full blown car with the race setup on it, I doubt there would be any cars left. You could tell by the way that they would push bad that they were setup like the school cars.
 
"It feels like you're going about 50 mph faster going into the corners," Scott said. "The motor has a different sound. It gets you excited. I haven't had to qualify at a big track and lift and use the brake for a long, long time. We don’t do it anywhere on the Nationwide Series or in the Truck Series. Still I'm trying to figure that out, how to have speed with a car that has all this motor, and getting out of the throttle and using the brake and how to do all that."
Click to expand...

"The best young driver that's kind of beat up on those guys the last few years is Ricky Stenhouse. And he's had a little bit of a tough time adjusting to the Cup style of the cars," said Kevin Harvick, who won twice as a Sprint Cup rookie in 2001, and has won 20 more times since.

"It’s a lot harder for these guys coming up from those series to adapt to the Cup car, because they just have so much more power, less grip, from a downforce standpoint. … They're 25 mph slower than we are at some places down the straightaway on entry. You overdrive the (Nationwide) car constantly compared to how you would drive a Cup car. There's some potential in the young crop of drivers, but I think when you look at the success of the guys that have been around it, like myself and (Matt) Kenseth, and have driven these cars for a long time and evolved with the new generation of cars, they're hard to drive. And to come in and just adapt to them immediately is going to be tough."
Click to expand...

“Every driver and team that I have spoken to isn't up for a horsepower reduction,” Johnson said on Friday at Richmond Motor Speedway. “We all feel that having power creates better racing. Especially on the driver's standpoint where you go down to the Nationwide Series and run flat out at a lot of the tracks. So we are all trying as drivers and members of this sport to say what is best for the racing. If it's reduction in power that makes competitive racing, I think we are all more than willing to get on board and to go down that road. But it's not a guarantee in my opinion.” - See more at: http://autoweek.com/article/nascar-...scar-means-better-racing#sthash.bwkYORiX.dpuf
Click to expand...

“I haven’t really looked that deep into them. I’ve been kind of focused on this weekend. And the next eight races that are ahead of us. Just looking at them a little bit, taking away downforce is good. I’m not sure if I’m happy about taking away horsepower. I think that remains to be seen if it will make the racing better. But I think anything we can do just to soften the tires up a little bit, and take downforce away so the cars move around a little bit more. You are out of the throttle more. I think the thing I wonder about with the horsepower down is will it make us be out of the throttle anymore, or will it be like a Nationwide car to where you almost wide open around the rest. I think that is my question. - See more at: http://www.catchfence.com/2014/spri...-400-qa-aj-allmendinger/#sthash.0vmxN6rq.dpuf
Click to expand...
 
*WEAVER* said:
I'm sure those Gridiron cars were toned down a ton. I doubt they would let a football player that's never even drove a race car in a full blown car with the race setup on it, I doubt there would be any cars left. You could tell by the way that they would push bad that they were setup like the school cars.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I believe they were Richard Petty Driving Experience cars.
 
For those people who watched Nascar in the early 90's think what it was like with just 650 HP.

Of course those biased ply tires are no longer available. LOL
 
Using TV dog and pony exhibition cars to judge genuine race cars isn't something to get excited about. Most of us will only be able to tell the difference when they point out the slower lap times in the timing..of course there will be experts on here that will swear that the end is near and this is the last straw for Nascar auto racing.
 
Team Penske said:
For those people who watched Nascar in the early 90's think what it was like with just 650 HP.

Of course those biased ply tires are no longer available. LOL
Click to expand...

The bias ply tires was the goodie not the reduced HP imo
 
  • Like
Reactions: sdj
StandOnIt said:
Using TV dog and pony exhibition cars to judge genuine race cars isn't something to get excited about. Most of us will only be able to tell the difference when they point out the slower lap times in the timing..of course there will be experts on here that will swear that the end is near and this is the last straw for Nascar auto racing.
Click to expand...

If they can flat foot it on more tracks, it will be noticable to all but Helen Keller.
 
so these guys and gals in cup will not be able to flat foot it around anymore? Will this make the draft more or less a factor?
 
DanicaFreak said:
so these guys and gals in cup will not be able to flat foot it around anymore? Will this make the draft more or less a factor?
Click to expand...

Only at some tracks, have to factor in effects of less downforce as well.
Less power makes momentum and drafting more critical or important
 
I'm hoping the 2" off the 4' spoiler makes a big enough difference to offset the neutering of power.
 
DanicaFreak said:
so these guys and gals in cup will not be able to flat foot it around anymore? Will this make the draft more or less a factor?
Click to expand...


Cant think of too many tracks they could flat foot it around in 2014 other than super speedways
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
He sure shows his dominance in the greatly reduced horsepower cars. This reduction will probably play to his favor. His and anyone else that runs that series on a regular basis.
Click to expand...
I think the greatly reduced talent pool has something to do with it also.
 
DUN24 said:
I'm hoping the 2" off the 4' spoiler makes a big enough difference to offset the neutering of power.
Click to expand...



Brian mathematically figured out the whole formula all by himself, success is guaranteed
 
This is yet another stupid thing nascar has done. I thought this was supposed to be called racing? Give them all the power they can make.
 
The spoiler reduction adds about 80hp back. Total hp will be around 800
 
That gridiron challenge race was great if you like passing and lots of lead changes. Wish that's what cup races were more like! Instead the quest for speed turned many races into boring parades
 
aunty dive said:
The smaller spoiler will result in reduced drag.

Engine output will be unaffected.
Click to expand...

Yes. An engineer was on racehub last week breaking down the car changes. While the engine output will be reduced to 725 the new car configuration in his words will give back about 80hp back that is lost in the engine reduction. Those were his words.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom