The subject of physics got a little more interesting on Monday night as Dr. Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, professor of physics at the University of Texas at Dallas, presented information at UNC Charlotte on the physics of NASCAR.
Leslie-Pelecky specializes in the research of bio-medical nanomaterials and is the author of, "The Physics of NASCAR: How to Make Steel + Gas + Rubber = Speed."
Held in the College of Health & Human Services, Leslie-Pelecky's presentation drew a crowd of 70 students from the university who yearned to see the application of physics in such a fun and prominent way in their lives.
"Races are won and lost in the turns," said Pelecky. According to Newton's 1st law of inertia, an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.
This explains that ideally, racecars on the track should continue to go straight during a turn instead of actually turning.
What makes these cars turn? The two main factors are friction and force. Friction accounts for grip on the tracks from the tires.
There are two main types of grip for a racecar - Mechanical and Aerodynamic. Mechanical grip refers to the weight of the car pushing the tires onto the track, while aerodynamic grip refers to the force of air pushing the tires into the track. The more grip a tire has on the track, the higher the speed of the car.
Aerodynamically speaking, the objective of a stock racecar is to have faster moving air to produce lower pressure on the car.
The key is to balance all of these variables so that there is equal grip on all four tires for an even wear. If the tires have more grip on the front, it is considered a loose car.
If there is more grip on the rear of the car, it is considered tight. When a racecar is accelerated, the weight of the car goes from the front to the back, causing more stress and grip on the back tires. However, when the driver applies the brakes, the weight transfers from the back of the car to the front.
A NASCAR racing tire is significantly different from a passenger car tire. The tires in NASCAR are about 10.8-11.8 inches wide.
The tires also have no tread, which leads to softer tires - this will produce more grip on the track, but causes tires to wear more quickly. The average lifespan of a tire on the track is 50-100 miles. These tires cost about $420 apiece. Many race teams will spend $1 billion in tires throughout the course of a season.
The weight on the wheel constantly changes with the speed of the racecar and cornering around a track. This is why no one lap on the track is exactly the same for any driver.
When taking a turn on the track, it is important to think about the banking of the track. Banking is the incline or angle that the turn is built upon. Taking a turn on the track is the greatest example of force during a race.
Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware harnesses the most force with their track. Dover is a 1-mile track with a 24-degree incline in the turns.
Driving 130 mph around Dover would produce an effect on the driver close to 2.26 times the normal gravity force on Earth. This effect would pull the driver in toward the center of the track.
While all of the race teams have now gotten the old car down to a science, they are working furiously to work with all of the new variables that come with the new racecar of tomorrow.
Each race team uses their own custom-written computer program to analyze data from each track with each racecar and keeps a working file for future races. These computer programs store all the data needed to predict improvements that can be made at that same track for the next race.
The next racing event is the Coca-Cola 600, scheduled to take place at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 25 at 5:30 p.m.
