I got this picture from an unnamed source...



Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na

Ganassi's secret wind tunnel is in a disused hockey arena?...

the ice hides the entrance to the tunnel. It's very sciency.

Seems I've been saying this:

What I would like to see is a lightweight engine and a lightweight car - you could do something awesome that is unlike any racecar ever seen before.'

Isn't that basically what Lotus Brand Sports cars already is doing, making cars with high Power/Weight Ratios, couldn't a similar concept be adapted for auto racing, Turbo 4s, or Diesels, or something like that, I mean the cars are already light, but adding a ton of weight in a V8 that is basically for High HP, rather than the torque needed. To me, its never really been about having the most HP, but rather being able to use the power generated for the longest time necessary, and being able to sustain it most efficiently, cuz, HP doesn't always mean more speed. Lets just hope that these guys are brighter than Nascar, and not make a tank to drive around in.

"a cross between a sportscar and a motorcycle" ?

Hokey-smoke Bullwinkle, it's the Alligator!! Gurney for President 2012!

'Radical' concerns me a little bit. I'd like an evolution of the current style (without the dart-nose and air box, of course!).

Cross between a sportscar and a motorcycle...scary - makes me think of the Can-Am Spyder!

dgrblue - 20 November 2009 12:45 PM

Seems I've been saying this:

What I would like to see is a lightweight engine and a lightweight car - you could do something awesome that is unlike any racecar ever seen before.'

Isn't that basically what Lotus Brand Sports cars already is doing, making cars with high Power/Weight Ratios, couldn't a similar concept be adapted for auto racing, Turbo 4s, or Diesels, or something like that, I mean the cars are already light, but adding a ton of weight in a V8 that is basically for High HP, rather than the torque needed. To me, its never really been about having the most HP, but rather being able to use the power generated for the longest time necessary, and being able to sustain it most efficiently, cuz, HP doesn't always mean more speed. Lets just hope that these guys are brighter than Nascar, and not make a tank to drive around in.

To a point, that's correct...but you also have to remember the impacts measured in some of these crashes. Vitor and TK would not be alive in a Lotus after taking the G forces that were measured in their accelerometers at the 500 this year.

There is an element of keeping drivers healthy - that takes a certain percentage of the Dallara's weight...remember that the biggest single investment of many (most) teams is the driver.

Secret wind tunnel ? How do you keep something THAT big a secret ?

it's not a wind tunnel, it's an actual tunnel.

http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup_the_mystery_of_the_secret_laurel_hill_tunnel

The tunnel provides an opportunity to control the environment in which time/distance coast-down aerodynamic testing is undertaken by Cheap's teams ... all of his teams.

http://www.gm.com/experience/autoshows-events/racing/technology/aerodynamics/index.jsp