This seems to be the main reason I’m given when someone starts to talk about what gives them the insight and knowledge on the technical aspects of racing and what they feel has provided them with the expertise necessary that gives them the qualifications necessary to not only disect why a car did what it did, but how they justify creating changes to an entire racing series. Now I’m not sure exactly how much racing one can possibly watch in their lifetime, especially when they’re barely old enough to legall drink, but I do know that no amount of simply watching a race on television will give anyone enough technical knowledge to qualify them as an engineering expert.
Someone commented that yesterday’s incident featuring the acrobatic styles of Carl Edwards was simply the result of a rear wing, I had to ask them from what they base this conclusion on. The first words out of their mouth surprised me, even though it probably shouldn’t have, as they responded well I watched some races on tv and that taught me what I need to know. I have to admit, I was floored when I read this comment, to think that somehow simply turning on the television not only gives someone the false knowledge that they’ve been properly educated on why a car does what it does, but that they now know more than people who have spent years going to school for this exact thing, and have spent a lifetime actually practicing their trade. Every crew chief and chief mechanic out there has all said the exact same thing about the COT, that it is less aerodynamic and that the rear of the car actually has less impact on the car performance than it’s predecessor. There are more than a thousand years of combined experience in the NASCAR garage area, and if every single crew chief can come to the exact same conclusion about the effect the rear wing has on the car, then how is it that someone watching on television now thinks they know more than all of them and have dubbed theirselves an engineering expert ?
The fact is, the rear wings being used today on the COT is the exact same style that was used on the Pontiacs back in the early 70’s. It’s a rear, detatchable wing that is intended to help with downforce, but created in such a way that it’s impact will not alter the car’s performance too much one way or the other. If the car has it, great it will help with downforce and if the car loses it, it can still safely travel around the track with no worries, it will just be a bit slower than they would like. The design that NASCAR has implemented as it relates to the COT, is designed specifically to increase safety for the driver as the cars go faster and faster each year. But as the speeds increase, for safety’s sake, the downforce has to increase as well. The additional downforce increases drag which acts to slow the car down. Its current configuration is the result of extensive research and study that has created a design that works relatively well today and can be fine tuned as needed now or when needed in the future to keep the sport competitive. The spoiler is a somewhat crude device that is used to create increased downforce on the rear of a race car but it also creates additional drag and it produces a lot of dirty air behind the race car. The dirty air created by a leading car will cause the front end of a trailing car to wash out because the disruptive air flow will cause a loss in aerodynamic downforce. The spoiler got its name because it “spoils” the normal air flow over the deck lid and behind a race car.
If you have ever followed an 18-wheeler at a close distance on the interstate and were buffeted around by the swirling winds coming off the back of it then you have experienced “dirty air.” While the dirty air coming off the back of a single race car would not be as severe as the air coming from a semi trailer, it would magnify exponentially when more cars and greater speeds are added to the mix. If you have ever stood near the fence at a super speedway when the pack of 40-plus cars roared by at full speed then you understand dirty air.
A properly designed wing is more efficient in creating downforce while reducing related drag and does not create nearly as much dirty air behind the car. But we have heard drivers complain about a loss of front end downforce with the new Sprint Cup car when they are following another car into the corner. That would seem to contradict the science until you realize the new car creates less downforce compared with the old car, so you cannot make an apples to apples comparison.
Another factor that influences the comparative effectiveness of the wing on the new car versus the spoiler on the old car is that the “greenhouse” or passenger area of the new car is taller and wider than the old car, reducing the amount of air that can flow over the wing. This restricts the ability of the wing to create added downforce on the new car. It has been designed to do that by NASCAR because they wanted to create a specific amount of downforce for the new car that would make it more difficult to drive and therefore make the driver a more important part of the equation.
This change does not give the COT more lift, nor does it increase the chances of seeing a car flip, but in fact the number of cars going airborn has reduced over time, not increased over time. There was no rear wing on Allison’s car back in 1987, and he manged to get that car up and almost over the fence just fine without it. We had two other major airborn incidents in recent years, both in 1988 and again in 1993, both long before the rear wing was put in place, and long before the COT was brought out. Now of course we know this can’t be, because someone watched a few races on television and have taken it upon themselves to inform the racing world that the reason a car gets airborn is simply due to the new rear wing.
Seriously, the next time someone sit back and starts to think that they without any formal education, nor experience in the industry are the leading expert in the aerodynamic properties of a car that has had thousands of hours and millions of dollars put into researching by some of the most brilliant engineers on the planet, suggest that they educate themselves just a little bit further, and then hope that they realize just how wrong they truly are, and that no one can possibly learn enough by simply watching television to qualify working at Jiffy Lube, and surely not enough to give them more know how than NASCAR’s crew chiefs, chief mechanics, and engineers.
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