Qeustions from a NASCAR newbie

I've played Nascar 1,2 &3 and watched a race for the first time on Sunday and theres a couple of Questions i want to ask the NG The "airbrakes" flaps on the cars roof, are they controlled by the driver or automatically? if they are driver controlled are they on a pedal, lever, switch or what? Do any of the sims recreate the roof flaps? are thay mandatory? I,ve heard a lot of talk in this NG abot restrictor plates, What exactly are these? Thanks for the info guys! Steve "semi" White

Roof flaps: There is an argument about this going on in the Papy forums, but here is what they are - They are "deployed" when the air flow over the car reverses and they create a disturbence in the flow of air to try to help prevent the backward blow-over type wrecks that were beginning to happen at the superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega. Seems trapped air was creating lift under the cars when the cars weren't pointed the correct way and these were deveolped to try to foil the air/lift and to keep the cars on the ground. They seem effective until the car is actaully pushed or hit when reveresed at high speed ala Tony Stewart at Daytona this year. He was ok until Robby Gordon hit him, then he started filpping. The actual reversal of air lifts them up, some argue that it is high pressure in the cockpit, as has been stated in the Papy N4 forum. I think it is the low pressure over the car personaly since the rear is taller than the front... Restrictor plate: Device that goes between the single 4-bbl carb and the intake manifold to limit the amount of air/fuel into the engine to restrict HP. It is an aluminum plate with 4 holes passed out by NASCAR at events that require them. The hole size is mandated and as of late has been enlargend to 15/16 I think, to mate up with the new aero package (roof fin/foil and bill on rear spoiler). In laymens terms, it limits the amount of air/fuel combo coming from the cold air box (breather)/carb into the engine. Figures are banted around saying it takes nearly 100 horsepower away from a free breething NASCAR 358ci motor. NASCAR Racing 4 has roof flaps and restrictor plates, and they appear mildly functional in the sim (I think the specific gravity in N4 is off though, it is too easy to flip). NASCAR 3 only had restrictor plates and did not need flaps as it physics engine did not support inverted cars. The resitroctor plates can come off by tweaking track files in both, my personal fastset avg lap at Dega w/o plates is 219.82 (which breaks Bill Elliot's reacord of 212+ the year immediatly preceeding the restrictor plates...) Now with plates, your lucky to get into the low to mid 190's. Hope this helps, HB Semi <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:98jbr7$klf$[email hidden]... > I've played Nascar 1,2 &3 and watched a race for the first time on Sunday > and theres a couple of Questions i want to ask the NG > > The "airbrakes" flaps on the cars roof, are they controlled by the driveror > automatically? if they are driver controlled are they on a pedal, lever, > switch or what? > Do any of the sims recreate the roof flaps? > are thay mandatory? > I,ve heard a lot of talk in this NG abot restrictor plates, What exactlyare

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> these? > Thanks for the info guys! > > Steve "semi" White > > >

Semi <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:98jbr7$klf$[email hidden]... > I've played Nascar 1,2 &3 and watched a race for the first time on Sunday > and theres a couple of Questions i want to ask the NG > > The "airbrakes" flaps on the cars roof, are they controlled by the driveror > automatically? if they are driver controlled are they on a pedal, lever, > switch or what? > Do any of the sims recreate the roof flaps? > are thay mandatory? > I,ve heard a lot of talk in this NG abot restrictor plates, What exactlyare

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> these? > Thanks for the info guys! > > Steve "semi" White > > >

I can't answer your question regarding the roof flaps but I think they are apart of the new "aero package" that is on all of the NASCAR WC cars this season. As far as restrictor plates are concerned, they are thin, square-shaped metal plates with 4, small, circular shaped holes located in the middle of the plate. These plates are placed on top of the engines carberator and their primary purpose is to reduce the amount of horsepower that the engine would normally produce in a non-restrictor plate race. The reduction in horsepower would also produce a reduction in the maxium speed of the vehicle which would make the vehicle more safer to drive on the larger superspeedways in places such as Daytona and Talledega. For what it's worth, the majority of the NASCAR drivers don't like restrictor plates but NASCAR mandates their usage on certain tracks and, for better or worse, NASCAR is real good about enforcing its own rules, regardless of what the drivers may or may not think about them. I hope this helps.

I think the pressure change in the cockpit gets them started, then the reverse airflow takes over afterwards. -Larry "SimRacer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:yKar6.77781$[email hidden]... > Roof flaps: There is an argument about this going on in the Papy forums,but > here is what they are - They are "deployed" when the air flow over the car > reverses and they create a disturbence in the flow of air to try to help > prevent the backward blow-over type wrecks that were beginning to happenat > the superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega. Seems trapped air was > creating lift under the cars when the cars weren't pointed the correct way > and these were deveolped to try to foil the air/lift and to keep the carson > the ground. They seem effective until the car is actaully pushed or hitwhen > reveresed at high speed ala Tony Stewart at Daytona this year. He was ok > until Robby Gordon hit him, then he started filpping. The actual reversalof > air lifts them up, some argue that it is high pressure in the cockpit, as > has been stated in the Papy N4 forum. I think it is the low pressure over > the car personaly since the rear is taller than the front... > > Restrictor plate: Device that goes between the single 4-bbl carb and the > intake manifold to limit the amount of air/fuel into the engine torestrict > HP. It is an aluminum plate with 4 holes passed out by NASCAR at eventsthat > require them. The hole size is mandated and as of late has been enlargendto > 15/16 I think, to mate up with the new aero package (roof fin/foil andbill > on rear spoiler). In laymens terms, it limits the amount of air/fuel combo > coming from the cold air box (breather)/carb into the engine. Figures are > banted around saying it takes nearly 100 horsepower away from a free > breething NASCAR 358ci motor. > > NASCAR Racing 4 has roof flaps and restrictor plates, and they appearmildly > functional in the sim (I think the specific gravity in N4 is off though,it > is too easy to flip). NASCAR 3 only had restrictor plates and did not need > flaps as it physics engine did not support inverted cars. The resitroctor > plates can come off by tweaking track files in both, my personal fastsetavg > lap at Dega w/o plates is 219.82 (which breaks Bill Elliot's reacord of212+

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> the year immediatly preceeding the restrictor plates...) Now with plates, > your lucky to get into the low to mid 190's. > > Hope this helps, > > HB > > > > > Semi <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:98jbr7$klf$[email hidden]... > > I've played Nascar 1,2 &3 and watched a race for the first time on

Sunday > > and theres a couple of Questions i want to ask the NG > > > > The "airbrakes" flaps on the cars roof, are they controlled by thedriver

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> or > > automatically? if they are driver controlled are they on a pedal, lever, > > switch or what? > > Do any of the sims recreate the roof flaps? > > are thay mandatory? > > I,ve heard a lot of talk in this NG abot restrictor plates, What exactly > are > > these? > > Thanks for the info guys! > > > > Steve "semi" White > > > > > > > >

Roof Flaps: When a car starts to get sideways, the air entering the cockpit through the drivers window used to get trapped in the cockpit. With no place for the air to go, the car would buffet, then lift. The roof flaps open as air is forced into the cockpit, letting the air escape, letting the air flow through the car, keeping it on the ground. Mike

>The "airbrakes" flaps on the cars roof, are they controlled by the driver or >automatically? if they are driver controlled are they on a pedal, lever, >switch or what? Roof Flaps are automatic and are deployed by the change in air pressure when the car turns sideways. The roof-flaps deflect air, therefore cancelling much of the lift. They are required on all Winston Cup and Busch Series cars. As for Trucks, I'm not sure. >I,ve heard a lot of talk in this NG abot restrictor plates, What exactly are >these? Restrictor Plates are metal plates, with 4 holes drilled to 3/4 of an inch in diameter, that is used to restrict the amount of air that is taken in by the carberator. This results in a loss of aproximately 300 horsepower. The were introduced following a 1986 accident involving Bobby Allison. Allison was running between 200-220 mph when his car was hit from behind. He went airborne into the catchfence at Talladega. I belive debris from his car may have killed some spectators. Anyways, they are mainly instituted in order to keep the cars from crossing over the catchfences at high speed and into the crowd. - Alan