NASCAR planning horsepower reduction for 2015

The problem I have with making these type of changes.. once you do, it'll be set for a few years at least so it needs to be done right.. I'm not picky, Give me a true battle for the lead at most races and I'm good to go. If lower horsepower gets it closer to that, great
 
I'm more open to shorter tracks and less aero dependent tracks. Reducing the horses might increase watchability but I want faster race cars.
 
I'm not sure that I buy into the theory that reducing horsepower will improve racing, but I can tell you this....When they do it, it will be pretty awesome. As soon as you take something away from these builders and tuners, the race will be on to get it back. While they are working on this, you will see a discrepancy in speed, and yeah, the racing will look great (kind of like this year) until everybody catches up. Regardless, they will grab the horsepower back bit by bit, and the builders will move to the forefront. Gonna be fun! Speed will always matter, and most of us will always be fascinated by it--that won't change. Kind of a reset button of sorts. Your thoughts...
 
less hp will me more influence of the draft on the big tracks with that big spoiler. I think less HP is a great thing. slowing the cars down means they are easier to handle around other cars. kinda like adding downforce without the draw backs of it. wonder why they don't try running a race with a tapered spacer and just see what happens.
 
hawg dawg said:
resets r&d for all ...at tha least.
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Which as a supporter of TRD, fascinates me. We could be looking at finding significant horsepower again instead of squeezing a few here and there and focusing on reliability.
 
ElliottFan said:
OHC would be way more expensive for teams so that is not going to happen. Bad idea to reduce power. I dont like it. Take away the grip, aero, or anything else but dont take away power. This is what seperates the men from the boys(and girls) and dumbing down the sport even more. This is supposed to be racing and not riding around flat footing it. This is why I despise restrictor plate tracks so much.
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They will take it back, and it will be fun to watch. Really, I don't see this as a reduction in power so much as hitting reset to the game.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Displacement and throttle body size are among the options.

Chevy and Toyota want 5.0-liter engines, Ford wants tapered spacers.
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In this Gen 6 era where the manufacturers stroked themselves over their collaboration, it will be interesting to see what comes of this potential rift between Chevy/Toyota and Ford. Those are a couple of pretty dramatically different directions. I would like to see the 5.0 obviously because my Toyotas have the oldest design in the game. Time to hit reset and let the engineering begin.
 
First track test with the reduced horsepower engines...
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jdbrew said:
Shorter tracks solve all of NASCARs problems. I firmly believe that. We have to go back to our roots... not cut the damn horsepower.
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I think Jr. said it a few weeks ago at Bristol...when they were expanding in the 90's and 2000's they should've built short tracks and built the seating up like it is there. I don't know how anyone thought it was a good idea to build the same 1.5-mile or 2-mile tri-oval or quad-oval banked design everywhere.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I think Jr. said it a few weeks ago at Bristol...when they were expanding in the 90's and 2000's they should've built short tracks and built the seating up like it is there. I don't know how anyone thought it was a good idea to build the same 1.5-mile or 2-mile tri-oval or quad-oval banked design everywhere.
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the problem was back then indy car racing was actually bigger than nascar during alot of the time. they wanted 1.5 mile tracks because this suited those cars and still allowed for nascar races. The problem we have now is auto racing is having trouble filling the stands so we are unlikely to see new short tracks, look at iowa that place went broke and they actually filled the place when they had races there. Anything to slow the cars is a good thing, aero is less important, tires can be softer and thus wear out and the drivers are more comfortable running closer together.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I think Jr. said it a few weeks ago at Bristol...when they were expanding in the 90's and 2000's they should've built short tracks and built the seating up like it is there. I don't know how anyone thought it was a good idea to build the same 1.5-mile or 2-mile tri-oval or quad-oval banked design everywhere.
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We tried to do that in Washington State, but our politicians are complete idiots.
 
hidesert cowboy said:
the problem was back then indy car racing was actually bigger than nascar during alot of the time. they wanted 1.5 mile tracks because this suited those cars and still allowed for nascar races. The problem we have now is auto racing is having trouble filling the stands so we are unlikely to see new short tracks, look at iowa that place went broke and they actually filled the place when they had races there. Anything to slow the cars is a good thing, aero is less important, tires can be softer and thus wear out and the drivers are more comfortable running closer together.
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A very, very good point.
 
speaking of pocono we might see quite a bit better race there with this barn door spoiler they have now. the trucks REALLY put on a great race there.
 
Revman said:
In this Gen 6 era where the manufacturers stroked themselves over their collaboration, it will be interesting to see what comes of this potential rift between Chevy/Toyota and Ford. Those are a couple of pretty dramatically different directions. I would like to see the 5.0 obviously because my Toyotas have the oldest design in the game. Time to hit reset and let the engineering begin.
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I think it will be hard for NASCAR to go against both the most successful manufacturer the sport has ever seen (Chevy) and the newest manufacturer that's quickly become a powerhouse (Toyota). In the end I don't think Jack Roush will be a happy guy.
 
The current display at Darlington is pretty much exactly why NASCAR is looking to decrease horsepower. Everyone and their sister is breaking the track record.
 
FLRacingFan said:
I think it will be hard for NASCAR to go against both the most successful manufacturer the sport has ever seen (Chevy) and the newest manufacturer that's quickly become a powerhouse (Toyota). In the end I don't think Jack Roush will be a happy guy.
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I would agree and selfishly want Toyota to have only their second crack at design.
 
beantownkid10 said:
The current display at Darlington is pretty much exactly why NASCAR is looking to decrease horsepower. Everyone and their sister is breaking the track record.
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That brings attention to the sport. Why would NASCAR halt the progress
 
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-me...print-cup-series-possible-engine-changes.html

With NASCAR officials focusing on engine changes in the Sprint Cup Series for 2015 that will result in a reduction of horsepower, such a move should involve "a restriction on the intake side," according to Sprint Cup Series team co-owner Jack Roush.

Roush, an owner in the series since 1988, isn’t suggesting the use of restrictor plates similar to those used at Daytona and Talladega.

Instead, he said, a reduction of the throttle bore size "without a plate underneath" would accomplish the objective.

"(It is) straightforward and it is easily reversible if you decided that the quality of the racing was hurt by it," Roush told NASCAR.com during the Sprint Cup Series stop at Darlington Raceway on April 12.

"If they want to take 100 horsepower off … reduce horsepower significantly, the least expensive and most palatable way to do that is with a restriction on the intake side."
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"From an owner’s standpoint, NASCAR has got to be mindful of … what it costs," Roush said. "The race teams can only afford to change so many things at a time. With the expanding technology and the engineering costs that everybody has with the pressure for sponsorship and investment in the sport, a dramatic or unnecessary engine change would not be welcome in my world."

Roush said previous conversations with NASCAR officials have focused on two considerations.

"One of them is not a big-cost problem and the other one is," he said. "If NASCAR comes back and redefines the engine right away, says we’re going to a 4-valve, twin overhead cam package, that would be a death knell for a lot of teams in terms of what it would cost to re-power these things.

"I don’t think it would materially impact the competitiveness of the cars, or the quality of the product that the consumers buy either from watching it on TV or from buying a seat in the stands.

"The thing that NASCAR has talked about, that they’ve brought to my attention, is changing the displacement of the engine in an effort to reduce 100 horsepower; that gets thumbs down from me because the cost of crankshafts, and the obsolescence that are involved and the development that follows that are going to cost the teams millions of dollars.
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Roush said it appears more likely that the change will involve lowering the engine RPM, "which would be less hard on the engine," and could include "a requirement that you use the engine for two races.

"I think that’s more likely where they will wind up," he said.

Both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series currently operate with a "sealed engine" program.

Such a move at the Cup level would mean higher initial costs due to development and construction, but by making the engine last for two races a net savings could be realized.

"By reducing the RPM, you reduce the power available for the car without changing its restriction or changing its displacement," said Roush. "By making the requirement that an engine be run twice before it was subject to rebuild, we would have that opportunity to reduce costs to the teams."

Roush said there is also talk of moving away from flat tappet camshafts in Cup engines to a roller camshaft similar to what is currently used in the Nationwide and Truck series.

"Right now you have to search the world for the best steel and best coating process to be able to have the friction characteristics that will allow you to run a flat tappet camshaft competitively," he said.

"The roller camshaft lifter arrangement will be much easier to source from a component point of view and much easier for the marginal teams to be able to get camshafts in their engines that will be durable."
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With the current car..I wonder how fast this car could go at Daytona or 'dega without the plate?
 
DanicaFreak said:
With the current car..I wonder how fast this car could go at Daytona or 'dega without the plate?
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This little blurb is from 2004 so I could only imagine that it would be even faster today.....

Have you ever wondered how restrictive a NASCAR restrictor plate is? Well, Rusty Wallace decided to toss his and find out. On June 9, at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Wallace hit a trap speed of 228 mph in his Miller Lite Dodge. "We hit 228 at the end of the straightaway," he said. Wallace's top lap speed was 216.306 and was 25 to 30 mph faster than with a restrictor plate. "It was a helluva deal that I certainly will remember for the rest of my life," Wallace added. "We'd all been wondering what it would feel like to run at Talladega again without the plates, and now I know. I'll bet we could be running speeds up to 235 without the plates if we spent time doing some tweaking. But I'll tell you this—there's no way we could be out there racing at those speeds. It was neat to be out there running that fast by myself, but it would be insane to think we could have a pack of cars out there doing that." The officially recognized Talladega track record is Bill Elliott's 212.809 mph set in a qualifying run in 1987.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
This little blurb is from 2004 so I could only imagine that it would be even faster today.....

Have you ever wondered how restrictive a NASCAR restrictor plate is? Well, Rusty Wallace decided to toss his and find out. On June 9, at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Wallace hit a trap speed of 228 mph in his Miller Lite Dodge. "We hit 228 at the end of the straightaway," he said. Wallace's top lap speed was 216.306 and was 25 to 30 mph faster than with a restrictor plate. "It was a helluva deal that I certainly will remember for the rest of my life," Wallace added. "We'd all been wondering what it would feel like to run at Talladega again without the plates, and now I know. I'll bet we could be running speeds up to 235 without the plates if we spent time doing some tweaking. But I'll tell you this—there's no way we could be out there racing at those speeds. It was neat to be out there running that fast by myself, but it would be insane to think we could have a pack of cars out there doing that." The officially recognized Talladega track record is Bill Elliott's 212.809 mph set in a qualifying run in 1987.
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Thanks dp...like the Rusty angle...if it was 230 in that car with todays car it might be 250 or more which is CRAZY.
 
DanicaFreak said:
Thanks dp...like the Rusty angle...if it was 230 in that car with todays car it might be 250 or more which is CRAZY.
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Yeah..... They may want to think about moving the seats back for that race. Anything goes wrong and Danica may be sitting right next to you in row 32. :eek:
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Yeah..... They may want to think about moving the seats back for that race. Anything goes wrong and Danica may be sitting right next to you in row 32. :eek:
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yeah. :wacko:

Flying cars all around.

You could not touch a car without it going airborne. I once heard it said that at dega it used to be if you could reach out and touch a car's quarter panel you could wreck it--It took nothing. The draft would be insane.
 
Control fuel volume and ignition timing at the top of the power band and it will slow the cars at lift points sort of like a rev limiter, that's all she wrote!!!!.
 
A lot of the drivers on Race Hub are saying they want to keep more HP, and they want less downforce. Gordon, Edwards, Kez were opposed, even Larry Mac questions the need for less HP.

Obviously Brian needs to fine their sorry butts, how dare them.
 
Greg said:
A lot of the drivers on Race Hub are saying they want to keep more HP, and they want less downforce. Gordon, Edwards, Kez were opposed, even Larry Mac questions the need for less HP.

Obviously Brian needs to fine their sorry butts, how dare them.
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How many years have fans been asking for this? The front valance needs a massive overhaul.
 
FLRacingFan said:
How many years have fans been asking for this? The front valance needs a massive overhaul.
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I forgot to mention that Kenseth and Ambrose are speaking detrimentals too.
 
When a driver is on lap 425 at Martinsville and it is hot, drivers are agitated and the swamp ass is on, all while needing to master the elements to win:

They need to have too much horsepower without the helps of downforce, and forced to judiciously use the throttle. To be the masters that know how to slow down to speed up. The ones that know how to go fast while also saving their tires. Those cars need to be wickedly choppy that only a few can ever harness, a beast that frustrates many.

Reducing horsepower apart from a safety intervention is opposed to all those primative but essential qualities imo.
 
Limit the size of the throttle body, and run a smaller intake manifold. Smaller injectors, and put a threshold on how much adjustability the engineers and engine tuners can tune the ecu's.

Take some downforce away from the cars, give the teams more freedom to make adjustments to the chassis. And lighten up the cars just a bit. Maybe even run a lower rear gear to give them a bit more acceleration off the turns, at the same time lowering the top speed at the end of the straight a ways.

Those would be some minor changes that are easily reversible if needed.
 
GRIMES, IA. – NASCAR is close to revealing an engine package for the 2015 season that CEO Brian France hopes will increase lead changes, particularly on 1.5-mile superspeedways.

And senior vice president of racing operations Steve O'Donnell said Thursday at an Iowa Speedway Sponsor Summit that a final racing package might not be limited to a reduction of horsepower in engines.

"The whole package," O'Donnell said, affirming France's proclamation a few weeks ago that NASCAR would make "significant" changes as it enters a new TV contract with NBC. "Engines, downforce, aero and tires."

O'Donnell said in an interview with the Des Moines Register that NASCAR met with teams this past week as its Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C., to inform them of "the direction we're heading," and that stock-car racing's sanctioning body was in the "tweaking" stage of the 2015 engine package.

O'Donnell said he was hopeful for a formal announcement on engines prior to the May 17 Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, although there's still much to be worked out with the R&D folks before that can happen.

Racing at 1.5-mile tracks can be starved for up-front excitement at times, with a leader pulling away on a restart and often encountering little obstacle in extending his gap on the pack. That's an area NASCAR wanted to examine early in the 2014 season, with an eye on improvements for 2015.

After viewing a small sample this season (at Las Vegas and Texas), O'Donnell termed 1.5-mile racing "better" but said, "We've still got work to do. Brian's talked about (wanting) more and more lead changes. That's the end goal."

To reach that goal, it appears NASCAR is taking a multi-pronged approach, not only in reducing engine power (currently at 850 horsepower in the premier Sprint Cup Series) but in its Goodyear tires.

"If you watched last year … 50 laps into a run, 10 laps to go, nobody pits for tires," O'Donnell said. "And if one guy did, it didn't matter. You think, 'Wait a minute, that's not right.' So tires are a big part of this as well in getting that all right."

There is no timetable for when the final package will be released to teams. However, O'Donnell provided a window Thursday into discussions that have taken place about how to further enhance the racing product.

"If you combine the aero package with that (reduction of) horsepower (and) allow some aero changes with the engines going into the corner, drivers have to get off the gas and they're able to maneuver around a little bit more," O'Donnell said. "Combine that with Goodyear and a little softer tire, now you've got the full package."

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...s-about-engine-changes-in-sprint-cup/8103073/
 
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