Air Gun Problems

Tumbleweed

Tumbleweed

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Well, OK….it’s only 3 races into the season so far and as DW said, start-up problems aren’t unexpected I suppose. Just wait till the first time one of those air gun “glitches” hangs up someone’s pit stop to the point that it costs them a close race though.

Hopefully NASCAR can get the problems worked out before that happens.
 
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Pretty ridiculous. I think if JGR had the best guns and they wanted every team to be equal than JGR should have been made to make guns for everyone.
 
That company will get a handle on it, or another company will get the job. They only had less than a month I have heard to get ready. Looks like the crews are going to be getting their own socket, so that will help matters.
 
What I find funny is the perceived need to go to something exotic when something more off the shelf would have accomplished the same thing. Most of the teams I worked with used either off the shelf retail air guns or modified off the shelf guns that were NASCAR team hand-me-downs from the 1990s. Not only did they work good, I can't ever remember seeing one fail. Same thing with regulators.
 
StandOnIt said:
you sound like D.W. :D a world of changes since the 90's
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Change is fine when it accomplishes something. You don't need a high dollar Italian pit gun to do 15 second pit stops. If the goal of the exercise was to save money, then let's save a LOT of money instead of a little, and probably get better results to boot.
 
Formerjackman said:
Change is fine when it accomplishes something. You don't need a high dollar Italian pit gun to do 15 second pit stops. If the goal of the exercise was to save money, then let's save a LOT of money instead of a little, and probably get better results to boot.
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I dont think any of the teams are shooting for a 15 second stop. It's not about saving money though it's about leveling the playing field. Teams were spending the money on the guns because they had it available. That money will go somewhere else.
 
Formerjackman said:
What I find funny is the perceived need to go to something exotic when something more off the shelf would have accomplished the same thing. Most of the teams I worked with used either off the shelf retail air guns or modified off the shelf guns that were NASCAR team hand-me-downs from the 1990s. Not only did they work good, I can't ever remember seeing one fail. Same thing with regulators.
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Did you get your impact guns from team sponsorship or did team actually go out and buy them? Also I’ve always wondered do teams use 3/8 or 1/2 inch guns?
 
I touched on it today’s race thread but how come teams don’t use cordless and is there a rule against using it? Could a team show up at Phoenix next week with cordless impacts ready to rock and roll for pit stops? I legit don’t know trying to get educated
 
I got a feeling it isn't all the guns problem but could be some of the teams screwing with the pressure. They said they were designed to run at 140psi on nitrogen and one of the team's regulator pushed over 200 psi. Accident or did one of the officials hear a screaming gun and catch it?
 
StandOnIt said:
I got a feeling it isn't all of the guns but some of it is the teams screwing with the pressure. They said they were designed to run at 140psi on nitrogen and one of the team's regulator pushed over 200 psi. Accident or did one of the officials hear a screaming gun and catch it?
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I didn’t even think of this....this also could be likely and would cause gun failure.
 
Congratulations to @PeopleAreStrange this week's winner.
Good job by the 2016 RFYFL champion.
I am still trying to get the weekly results formated to post a full list. It will probably be tonight after work.
 
Snappy D said:
Did you get your impact guns from team sponsorship or did team actually go out and buy them? Also I’ve always wondered do teams use 3/8 or 1/2 inch guns?
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The guns the teams I worked for used were either bought new IR guns (stock or modified) or were bought at used equipment sales or auctions. They are 1/2' drive. For years, Ingersoll Rand sent a traveling technician to the tracks to sell and service pit guns. I can't tell you when that service ended. I never saw it while I was working.
 
Snappy D said:
I touched on it today’s race thread but how come teams don’t use cordless and is there a rule against using it? Could a team show up at Phoenix next week with cordless impacts ready to rock and roll for pit stops? I legit don’t know trying to get educated
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As far as I know, they wouldn't have been illegal until this year, but are MUCH too slow. Even a stock Thunder Gun turns something like 10,000 RPM. The fastest cordless gun I could find at quick glance was 2200 RPM. The teams DO use them to take off and put on tire in the garage though. Up until the first pit stop during the race, all sets of tires are put on and then hand torqued with a torque wrench. This is why it is NEVER excusable for a car to have a loose wheel at the start of the race. The pit gun torque is usually far greater than that hand torqued value. It can be difficult to get the last set of race tires back off the car in the garage after the race using the cordless impacts.
 
One thing about it, without the zombie airguns, they couldn't save Hamlin from his pit row speeding self.
 
StandOnIt said:
I got a feeling it isn't all the guns problem but could be some of the teams screwing with the pressure. They said they were designed to run at 140psi on nitrogen and one of the team's regulator pushed over 200 psi. Accident or did one of the officials hear a screaming gun and catch it?
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The regulator went over 200 because it malfunctioned, and the team had it replaced because they were afraid it might fail completely. They would have LOVED to have 200 when everybody else had 140 PSI.
 
StandOnIt said:
That company will get a handle on it, or another company will get the job. They only had less than a month I have heard to get ready. Looks like the crews are going to be getting their own socket, so that will help matters.
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and they are modifying the connection to the gun.
 
Maybe they should have tried this out in the Trucks or Xfinity first. Work out the bugs there.

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There used to be air gun problems all the time, it’s just now an issue because NASCAR has mandated which ones to use. While I think they should be able to pick their own socket, this is the right move to save big costs. Just like we saw in the truck race, the have nots are falling way too far behind.

The sport has too much money and tech anymore to do anything other than go all out
 
I thought it was pretty cool to see some teams win spots and some loose a bunch when they flubbed up. I found myself thinking and sometimes it happened, that a team would gain a whole lot of places when they busted off a good one. Pit stops aren't a machine like routine anymore.
 
what I find odd is the amount of money one team can throw into a gun compared to another team to save....how much time?

like is a $10,000 gun that much faster than a $6,000 gun?
 
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racefan41 said:
what I find odd is the amount of money one team can throw into a gun compared to another team to save....how much time?

like is a $10,000 gun that much faster than a $6,000 gun?
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If it wins a race, it's worth the extra cash
 
kyle18fan said:
If it wins a race, it's worth the extra cash
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and I guess some of that could be reliability in a better gun, but I don't really remember hearing about a gun failure costing a win. i'm sure its happened though
 
racefan41 said:
and I guess some of that could be reliability in a better gun, but I don't really remember hearing about a gun failure costing a win. i'm sure its happened though
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It certainly could happen ...... and if it happens now, we will all be hearing plenty about it. I figure it like this .......... a gun failure at any time in a race could be blamed for a loss .. if the car was a front runner. I think that Nascar should have left this one alone.
 
kyle18fan said:
It certainly could happen ...... and if it happens now, we will all be hearing plenty about it. I figure it like this .......... a gun failure at any time in a race could be blamed for a loss .. if the car was a front runner. I think that Nascar should have left this one alone.
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agree with Nascar leave it alone. you also cant really know for sure if its a gun failure or crew error. those guns looked luggy a sh*t
 
racefan41 said:
agree with Nascar leave it alone. you also cant really know for sure if its a gun failure or crew error. those guns looked luggy a sh*t
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Yeah . they are a far cry from the standard auto shop gun. I have an old Black & Decker air gun that's about 25 years old and has probably changed 10 thousand tires or more and its still going strong.
 
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