CaliLivChick

I had a question pop into my head, and had trouble finding the answer on the internet, so I was wondering if y'all could help me. I'm wondering how fast they're going in NASCAR on caution laps. My bf says 80-90 mph, but that seems awfully high for caution, even if they do go about 180 mph generally. Any answers out there?

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Bear Cub

Caution lap speeds are usually 65 mph or over. It's not a set in stone number, and is up to the discretion of the pace car driver.

Part of it is due to the physics of the track itself. The cars need to be going a given speed just to safely remain on some of the tracks with steep banks.

Just to give a comparison, the speed in pit road is 55 mph to the best of my knowledge.

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laconic1

It varies from track to track, the bigger tracks can be 55-65 mph, short tracks may only be 35 mph. Years ago when the Craftsman Truck Series raced at Colorado National Speedway, a 3/8 mile track, I got to watch the drivers meeting (back then the pits were open to everybody and they had the meeting in an open air tent) and the race director was telling the drivers that pacecar speed that day was 25 mph.

telekinetic

Look up the pre-race notes. Here's an example for the DIEHARD 500 at TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

RACE NOTES: The race is 500 kilometers, 311.22 miles, 117 laps around the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. Pit road speed is 65 mph. Caution speed is 70 mph. On restarts, lead lap cars line up to the inside and lapped cars line up on the outside.

But remember, that's on a superspeedway, where they need that speed to stay on the banks.

dlish

ok, i dont know much abou racing let alone nascars, so im gonna ask this question at the possibility of looking stupid. i could ask yahoo answers or google it but id rather ask this in TFP.

why are nascar courses sloped in? whats the logic behind it? whats the difference compared to a flat track?

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telekinetic

It allows them to keep higher speeds in the super speedways. The turning radius of a 'stock' car going 170mph on the flat ground is enormous, so to allow them to maintain those high speeds in a small track size, they bank the turns to allow gravity to help them maintain traction.

This isn't needed in open wheel sports because of the aerodynamic downforce that greatly exceeds the force of gravity when at speed.

Bear Cub

To an extent. Even Indy cars run on banked tracks.

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Ilow

I guess if you're really that curious, just do the math. Time a full caution lap and compute the speed based on the track length. A one minute lap of a one mile oval=60MPH and so on.

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ngdawg

Not all tracks are banked and none are banked at the same degree. Indianapolis is a banked track, albeit only slightly-7.5 degrees on turns, 2 degrees on the straights. On the other side of the coin is Bristol Motor Speedway, which is banked at a steep 36 degrees on turns, 16 on the straightaways. Many of the tracks used in NASCAR are banked at less than 15 degrees and several are also used for open wheel racing.

Craven Morehead

Plenty of cautions today. Ugly race. Goodyear really gets a black eye on this one.

Bear Cub

As though all of the Top Fuel tire problems weren't bad enough. Goodyear is turning into a complete laughing stock.

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Craven Morehead

Goodyear's record in motorsports has been suspect for several years. Pulled completely out of open wheel competition (F1, CART, IRL) as it was getting owned by Firestone/Bridgestone.

Brewmaniac

As if Firestone hasn't had it's blackeye in the suv scandal. They will all turn around or everyone will ride on Hooter tires!

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laconic1

I think NASCAR is the only series that Goodyear hasn't run and hid when a competitor showed up. And the only reason for that is when Hoosier came in in '94 NASCAR required both tire companies to bring enough tires to supply the entire field, even though only 1/4 of the field was running on Hoosiers. Hoosier just couldn't afford to scrap 3/4 of the tires they were building each week anymore. I think Hoosier would be a formidable competitor if they were allowed to come back today. Of course Goodyear lines Brian France's wallet with enough money to be the exclusive supplier that they don't have to worry about competition anymore.

CaliLivChick

Dang, that seems awfully fast, but with the steep banks, it makes sense. Thank y'all for the info, my curiosity on this topic is satisfied. =)

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Deltona Couple

Hey Liv! How have you been? Hope good for the whole family. As for your OP, yes, caution speeds are based on the individual tracks themselves, as has been previously stated. Most of your super speedway tracks with steep banking have higher speeds to keep them on the track. Daytona International Speedway, where I used to live, has one of the highest banking along-side of Talladega. This requires the cars to have caution speeds that rival intersate highways at times. As was said, gravity will pull a car downward on a high-banked track, this requires that car to travel at a specific speed to maintain track grip. Daytona for example has a banking that if any vehicle was traveling slower than 55 MPH, it would actually slide down to the bottom, so caution speeds there are much higher. It doesnt look like too much when you are looking at it on the TV, but if you actually stood at the base of the track, and looked upward, the top of the track is 2 stories high!

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