I have a question.....

T

the5car

Guest
OK...maybe more than one question...

Why is there 'race trim' vs. 'qualifying trim' ??

Why is 1st round practice devoted to getting the
car to go as fast as it can for just one lap ??

Why does there have to be a 'qualifying setup' ??

Can't they just bring the car there, practice as
hard as they can with it, qualify it, and then
continue to practice with the same setup during
subsequent practices prior to the race ??

I would think that a lot of money could be saved
by not having to run cars with special springs
and shocks and whatever else they do to get it
to run faster...especially when the qualifying
car inevitably handles differently than the race
car will...

You always here stories about how, after Happy Hour,
they decide to change something prior to the race,
and they end up shooting themselves in the foot...
for example, Tony Stewart's car was fine after
final practice on Saturday:

"I don't know where we missed at the beginning of the day, but it certainly wasn't the car we ended Happy Hour with," said Stewart, referring to Saturday's final practice session. "

Why did they mess with it ?? If it ain't broke,
don't fix it !!

I strongly feel that if they only have to worry about
one setup all weekend, their lives would be a lot easier...
and the inspectors would have less to look out for,
and rules would be simpler, etc, etc, etc...seems pretty
simple to me....

So, why is qualifying done this way ??
 
Now that is one heck of a question.!:D

A couple of short answers.

The teams are not required to use a qualifying set-up, but qualifying well has its advantages. If some teams do it, all of them are more or less compelled to follow suit or be left out in the cold.

Yes, it would save a lot of money if qualifying setups were eliminated. Some of the lesser known series do not allow the cars to touched between qualifying and racing (the USAR is one I know for certain). There have been debates over the years if Winston Cup should follow this procedure. Rather heated debates at times.;)

We, or at least I, don't know for sure that the Home Depot team changed the car at all from Happy Hour to raceday. The track may have changed, the weather may have changed, etc. If they made changes it was likely to attempt to "keep up" with those factors and they simply went the wrong way. I also wonder if something in the chassis may have broken, that too is a possibility.
 
Fiver, if I knew the answer we could probably make a fortune somehow. I've been wondering about this for a long time. Can't understand the mindset of the teams either.

I'm with you.
 
There is a difference in how to set up to go fast for 2 laps, and how to go fast for a pit window. A driver can manage with it a little "freer" for a couple of laps, but wouldn't want it that loose for a full pit window. Of course, we all know the advantages that come with qualifying well, so the motivation is there.
 
OK, but what if NASCAR said, "No more."...

Would the series be any worse ?? If everyone's
forced to play the same way, how could it be??

Just thinking out loud today....thanks for your input....
 
well, you can't race with all your air ducts taped up and light weight oil in the engine......

and you can't qualify well with a full tank of gas and a car set up for half worn tires either......

maybe some things will be outlawed for qualifying, like the engines, but not everything.....
 
Be awfully dem slow qualifying runs without engines!:D


"Qualifying" engines are already a thing of the past. The one engine pretty much took care of that.
 
"Qualifying" engines are already a thing of the past. The one engine pretty much took care of that.''

Ummm, that's what I said..... :eek:
 
Because you have time between Quals and Happy Hour to make changes you do everything you can think of to shave a little time so you can start the race closer to the front. Seal off every hole, so the air slides over your car. Change the oil to the lightest weight possible in the engine, tranny and rear end. Change fan blade to 0 pitch. Change shocks and springs so the car stays squated and low longer. Run different air pressure. Put spring on brake pads to keep them away from the rotors. Anything to get rid of any drag and gain that little extra speed. And because you do it , all the other teams do it so you don't leave them in the dust.

Race under qualifying set up and your car wouldn't last ten laps. Qualify under Race set up and hope you have the provisionals to make the race.

In a way all racing has changes between events. At the short tracks we warm up (Hot Laps) with one set up, make changes, run heat races, make changes and run the feature. and the next week your starting set up may be different.
 
i think the pit crews should have to push the car around the track for qualifying.......who ever makes the fastest time around the track with 6 crew members pushing gets the pole

LOL
 
Yes but even then they would change between qualifying sneakers and race sneakers.
 
They would probility fit them in those bike speedo's for qualifying.

Wait I just had a mental flash of Fatback in speedo's. I think I need to go get drunk.
 
well thank god Stacker 2 is going to join the ranks next year
 
This is something that Robert Yates has toyed with all year. His teams have worked endlessly to figure out how to put the car into race trim and qualify as best they can from there. They are trying to acheive two things....qualifying trim can be harder on the engine and with the one engine rule they are trying to reduce stress on the engine. Also their thinking is that if they start right off with their race setup for each practice and qualifying they have more laps to work on exactly what the car needs for the race (short runs and long runs). As you can see from some of their qualifying efforts and more provisionals used this year between DJ and Ricky it may or may not be the right thing to do. Depends on how you look at it.

Kel
 
I think they could qualify in race trim. The qual times would be slower, but then everyone's times would be slower to too. It would equal out there. Now the first pit stop would be critical then........to catch up with the track conditions. I would like to see a rule like USAC. Qualify then put the car under lock and key until race time.......everyone would be equal to start out. The good teams would get faster with each pit stop. Also, it would make the sport a little more affordable for the smaller teams.:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom