rec.autos.simulators

by **kero..** » Wed, 05 Mar 2003 18:19:20

I only discovered the joys of Nascar Racing since 6 months ago (bought
NR2002 and got pay tv with Winston Cup coverage) so newbie question :
restrictor plates are supposed to bring down speed on superspeedways
but where are they located (under the car? at the back??), what is
their form and do they just work as wings (spoilers/airbrakes) or is
there something more technologically advanced at play???

greets,

by **Stephen F** » Wed, 05 Mar 2003 18:58:56

They block off part of the engine intake below the carburetor. Less air
gets into the engine, so less horespower is the result. It's just a $1
chunk of metal.

by **Rich** » Wed, 05 Mar 2003 19:25:25

A restrictor plate is a square aluminum plate that has four holes
drilled into it. Hole size is determined by NASCAR and varies between
0.875 inches and 1 inch (2.2 to 2.5 cm). Restrictor plates are placed
between the carburetor and the intake manifold to reduce the flow of
air and fuel into the engine's combustion chamber, thus reducing
horsepower and speed.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/nascar-safety2.htm

>I only discovered the joys of Nascar Racing since 6 months ago (bought
>NR2002 and got pay tv with Winston Cup coverage) so newbie question :
>restrictor plates are supposed to bring down speed on superspeedways
>but where are they located (under the car? at the back??), what is
>their form and do they just work as wings (spoilers/airbrakes) or is
>there something more technologically advanced at play???

>greets,

by **Jone Tytlandsvi** » Wed, 05 Mar 2003 22:48:38

Carburetor????
Really? Injection is illegal?

--
Jone Tytlandsvik
http://tytlandsvik.no

by **ThreeWid** » Wed, 05 Mar 2003 23:16:19

Yes.

> > 0.875 inches and 1 inch (2.2 to 2.5 cm). Restrictor plates are placed
> > between the carburetor and the intake manifold to reduce the flow of

> Carburetor????
> Really? Injection is illegal?

> --
> Jone Tytlandsvik
> http://tytlandsvik.no

by **Dave Henri** » Wed, 05 Mar 2003 23:53:19

107013.news.dfncis.de:

>> 0.875 inches and 1 inch (2.2 to 2.5 cm). Restrictor plates are placed
>> between the carburetor and the intake manifold to reduce the flow of

> Carburetor????
> Really? Injection is illegal?

> --
> Jone Tytlandsvik
> http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Winston Cup is OLD SCHOOL. Not only do they use Carbs, they have
PUSHRODS as well. In fact, before Toyota was allowed to join in the truck
series, they had to produce a pushrod V8. Nascar granted them a waiver for
the Goodys Dash series(a low level series run by Nascar) so Toyota could
get some experience, they were the only car with overhead cams.
The old school is also why they still use a hand jack to raise the car
for pitstops and fuel cans instead of hoses. Of course these 'old
fashioned' engines are hand-built in multi-million dollar facilities with
the usual racing tolerances. BUT they can't have any *** metals either.
dave henrie

by **Target** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 00:06:03

Hey, what's wrong with pushrods?
Racer X
Veteran Sim Racer
#4 Corvette C5-R in the GTIC
#24 Monte Carlo in the DORL
Victory Lane-
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1423/

by **Stephen F** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 01:12:32

Didn't Penske / Mercedes / Ilmor smoke the field with a pushrod motor at
Indy by pushing the limits of the rules?

by **MadDAW** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 01:24:38

> > >they have
> > >PUSHRODS as well

> Didn't Penske / Mercedes / Ilmor smoke the field with a pushrod motor at
> Indy by pushing the limits of the rules?

IIRC it was more like taking advantage of the rules. I think they got to run
more boost (not exactly sure what "it" was) because of using pushrods.
Kind of like when you'd get a weight break for running an automatic
transmission in drag racing. Today the autos are preferred over rowing your
own.

MadDAWG

by **Larr** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 02:40:28

Fuel Injection?

This is good-ol'-boy racing here, not F1 :)

Larry

> > 0.875 inches and 1 inch (2.2 to 2.5 cm). Restrictor plates are placed
> > between the carburetor and the intake manifold to reduce the flow of

> Carburetor????
> Really? Injection is illegal?

> --
> Jone Tytlandsvik
> http://tytlandsvik.no

by **Larr** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 02:42:16

I'll take the low-end grunt from a pushrod-V8 any day over the whiney-ass
neurotic horsepower that comes from OHC engines any day :)

But then again, I'm a truck guy...

-Larry

> 107013.news.dfncis.de:

> >> 0.875 inches and 1 inch (2.2 to 2.5 cm). Restrictor plates are placed
> >> between the carburetor and the intake manifold to reduce the flow of

> > Carburetor????
> > Really? Injection is illegal?

> > --
> > Jone Tytlandsvik
> > http://www.racesimcentral.net/

> Winston Cup is OLD SCHOOL. Not only do they use Carbs, they have
> PUSHRODS as well. In fact, before Toyota was allowed to join in the truck
> series, they had to produce a pushrod V8. Nascar granted them a waiver
for
> the Goodys Dash series(a low level series run by Nascar) so Toyota could
> get some experience, they were the only car with overhead cams.
> The old school is also why they still use a hand jack to raise the car
> for pitstops and fuel cans instead of hoses. Of course these 'old
> fashioned' engines are hand-built in multi-million dollar facilities with
> the usual racing tolerances. BUT they can't have any *** metals
either.
> dave henrie

by **Steve Blankenshi** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 04:12:19

Just read an interview with one of the team owners the other day; can't
remember where or who, but he was saying he wished they'd go to a spec fuel
injection system since it more closely resembled "stock" cars of today and
could be tweaked by Nascar to keep the cars closer in the engine
compartment. But the flipside from Nascar was that it is easy and cheap to
police carb bores, etc., but once you got into electronic fuel systems you
were opening a Pandora's box for potential cheating and enforcement. I
think you'd see OHC before EFI, but with the rpms WC cars are turning, you
don't really need OHC.

Not much in common with modern cars, for sure - but as then as DW put it,
once they let Ford run the (4-door) Taurus with a Cup-spec body, "anything
goes".

SB

PS - Also saw something the other day where either Frank Williams or Ron
Dennis was giving Bernie and Max a dig by saying the electronic engine and
chassis management systems on modern passenger cars are far more
sophisticated than anything in F1. Of course they don't have any skin in
that game... ;-)

> Fuel Injection?

> This is good-ol'-boy racing here, not F1 :)

> Larry

> > > 0.875 inches and 1 inch (2.2 to 2.5 cm). Restrictor plates are placed
> > > between the carburetor and the intake manifold to reduce the flow of

> > Carburetor????
> > Really? Injection is illegal?

> > --
> > Jone Tytlandsvik
> > http://tytlandsvik.no

by **Larr** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 04:28:27

Fuel injection wouldn't work in Nascar.

Nascar would put a big-ass hand-crank valve on the top and have it sticking
out the hood so they could reach over and crank it down on any car that was
a lot faster than anyone elses :)

Larry

> Just read an interview with one of the team owners the other day; can't
> remember where or who, but he was saying he wished they'd go to a spec
fuel
> injection system since it more closely resembled "stock" cars of today and
> could be tweaked by Nascar to keep the cars closer in the engine
> compartment. But the flipside from Nascar was that it is easy and cheap
to
> police carb bores, etc., but once you got into electronic fuel systems you
> were opening a Pandora's box for potential cheating and enforcement. I
> think you'd see OHC before EFI, but with the rpms WC cars are turning, you
> don't really need OHC.

> Not much in common with modern cars, for sure - but as then as DW put it,
> once they let Ford run the (4-door) Taurus with a Cup-spec body, "anything
> goes".

> SB

> PS - Also saw something the other day where either Frank Williams or Ron
> Dennis was giving Bernie and Max a dig by saying the electronic engine and
> chassis management systems on modern passenger cars are far more
> sophisticated than anything in F1. Of course they don't have any skin in
> that game... ;-)

> > Fuel Injection?

> > This is good-ol'-boy racing here, not F1 :)

> > Larry

> > > > 0.875 inches and 1 inch (2.2 to 2.5 cm). Restrictor plates are
placed
> > > > between the carburetor and the intake manifold to reduce the flow of

> > > Carburetor????
> > > Really? Injection is illegal?

> > > --
> > > Jone Tytlandsvik
> > > http://tytlandsvik.no

by **extractor-removesp..** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 04:53:12

It was Robert Yates who wants Nascar to move to fuel injection. Ford
and Toyota also want fuel injection. So Larry you might have this
down the road, I wouldn't be suprised if it happens within 3 years.

On Tue, 4 Mar 2003 14:12:19 -0500, "Steve Blankenship"

>Just read an interview with one of the team owners the other day; can't
>remember where or who, but he was saying he wished they'd go to a spec fuel
>injection system since it more closely resembled "stock" cars of today and
>could be tweaked by Nascar to keep the cars closer in the engine
>compartment. But the flipside from Nascar was that it is easy and cheap to
>police carb bores, etc., but once you got into electronic fuel systems you
>were opening a Pandora's box for potential cheating and enforcement. I
>think you'd see OHC before EFI, but with the rpms WC cars are turning, you
>don't really need OHC.

>Not much in common with modern cars, for sure - but as then as DW put it,
>once they let Ford run the (4-door) Taurus with a Cup-spec body, "anything
>goes".

>SB

by **Larr** » Thu, 06 Mar 2003 04:59:53

It would certainly be interesting...

The ways one could cheat would be limitless, especially at 'plate' tracks.

Speaking of which, that would be one hell of a restrictor plate, wouldn't it
:)

Larry

> It was Robert Yates who wants Nascar to move to fuel injection. Ford
> and Toyota also want fuel injection. So Larry you might have this
> down the road, I wouldn't be suprised if it happens within 3 years.

> On Tue, 4 Mar 2003 14:12:19 -0500, "Steve Blankenship"

> >Just read an interview with one of the team owners the other day; can't
> >remember where or who, but he was saying he wished they'd go to a spec
fuel
> >injection system since it more closely resembled "stock" cars of today
and
> >could be tweaked by Nascar to keep the cars closer in the engine
> >compartment. But the flipside from Nascar was that it is easy and cheap
to
> >police carb bores, etc., but once you got into electronic fuel systems
you
> >were opening a Pandora's box for potential cheating and enforcement. I
> >think you'd see OHC before EFI, but with the rpms WC cars are turning,
you
> >don't really need OHC.

> >Not much in common with modern cars, for sure - but as then as DW put it,
> >once they let Ford run the (4-door) Taurus with a Cup-spec body,
"anything
> >goes".

> >SB