Percolating Right Along

As the sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our discontent…as in waiting for the darn racing to begin! Testing (see above) helps with that, because we can see that there are indeed cars on the track and some hope in our future for the beginning of the 10-month NASCAR season.

The teams are stirring around inside their shops, working hard to make it through the Daytona tests this weekend, and to get their mile and 1.5-mile programs online for the races after Daytona. It’s a demanding job, especially when you have to have three different cars ready for the first three races.

Testing will help the teams deal with a smaller radiator and overflow, as well as test the placement of the inlet for the radiator that sits higher on the fascia—right where they do much of the pushing that we’ve seen the past couple of seasons.

That correction, in and of itself, is a huge departure from the past, because the cars are hooked up more than Snooki on date night in Seaside Beach. That will likely change this year, because the cars just can’t take it. They’ll blow up quicker than a summer thunderstorm, and if you’ve ever smelled an engine that has just explosively vented fluid and assorted parts through an unintended hole in the block, you know it’s worse.

The two-by-two was fun while it lasted (not!), but a new era is dawning in NASCAR, at least on plate tracks. The cars do go faster in line, but that isn’t the point, after all. The box is getting smaller, too. The plate is the first part, choking off the air that runs the engine. Engines are, after all, gigantic air pumps. Air goes in through the manifold, is mixed with fuel in the combustion chamber, the spark plug ignites it and drives the piston down.

The more air you get in it, the more fuel can be mixed in, resulting in a bigger explosion and, ostensibly, more power. The less air, the less fuel, and so on down the line, and you have less power.

Add to it that these are water-cooled; i.e. water circulates through jackets in the engine block, and the hotter it gets, the more the temp rises. Water converts to steam when it’s hot, and pretty soon you have no mo’ H2O.

So, it’s going to be one of those years at Daytona. New fuel system, fewer options to go fast, lots of uncertainty. In other words, it’s business as usual for the cars and stars of NASCAR.

Rest assured, though, that the racing will go on and it will be another season to remember…though for what, it remains to be seen. It will go on.

Stay tuned to the blog on www.onmc.com, and on Facebook and Twitter!