Please discuss here all your remarks and pose your questions about all racing series, except Formula One. Both technical and other questions about GP2, Touring cars, IRL, LMS, ...
People!!!!!!! Why Americans love Nascar? Nascar is nothing. Its not even a real racing- its a bullshit. Its just a advertvertisment for redneckes. I hate NaSCAR. Let alone I cant stand watching rednecks go around a circle for two hours. Their series brings nothing to the racing world. I hate nascar!!! Also i hhate drag racing, motocross and irl. Go road racing guys!!!!!!!
Location: Covilhã, Portugal (and sometimes in Évora)
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Well...I don't agree with you...you're right that it has alot of marketing behind it....but it does have alot of overtaking...it's a cheaper sport then F1 the prize money is very good comparativly to the cost! And basicly most cars are home built not built by a company! Usually they buy the engine and build the frame and suspension....just the bodywork is the same for all (if I'm not mistaken). Same with IRL.
With Drag racing it's a little diferent....it has alot of interest specially the way the races are....cause it goes something like this:
- you qualify the car; with for example 10seconds. the following race you race with a guy that qualified with a time of 9 seconds. At the start your start light turns green 1 second after the other guys! And to pass to the next round you have to finish infront of the other guy.....but you cannot do a time faster then 10 seconds (your qualifying time) or else you're disqualified.
Besides that it's a very subjective thing so you cannot consider yourself as the ideal model for the world in terms of thought! (don't mean to offend)
Dude! That's a totally different series with different regs and rules! You can't compare that with a European-based open whee series geared and marketed for a different set demographics. You might as well compare F1 to the Paris Dakar Rally or the Israli Equestrian Federation.
I'm not a NASCAR fan, but you got to respect them for driving a pig of a car with no steering senstivity, minimal electronics, and --- tires. All the while some guy named Rusty is pushing you up into the walls waiting for your car to explode- what a death trap! Hey Montoya loved it when he tried out Gordon's tank.
NASCAR 'is' the racing world. NASCAR is the racing world to Americans and that's just that. Just like F1 is the racing world to open wheelers...
NASCAR does suck, but it's what the people want, and people like it more than any other racing series in America. This includes CART or whatever it's called now and the IRL. So obviously this is racing to some people, regardless of the 500 mile left hand turn.
Besides, you need some balls and daring to drive at 180 mph when some guy wants to end ur race (life?) in the wall. For two or three hours.
Bring back wider rear wings, V10s, and tobacco advertisements
I simply cannot understand why people discriminate between different types of racing. In my opinion Openwheel Road racing is the most entertaining form of motorsport, but NASCAR and the IRL are just as interesting in their own ways. I would like to see F1 cars and drivers inches away from each other at top speed for two hours. They wouldnt survive.
My Dad was Carl Edwards (an up and coming nascar star) Spotter in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Roush Racing. Because of this I was able to get closeup to the truck, and actually look at some of the technology and systems used on the truck, it was quite an experience.
Okay folks, I live currently in the US, but I am not a nascar fan. BUT here are some more cool things about that racing series that reminds me of advertisements on 4 wheels:
-the sound of 30+ big V8's rushing past you is something that is irreplaceable.
-being able to see the cars the whole way around the track(ovals)
-180 mph crashes(sorry I'm a sadistic child at heart)
-seeing your average Joe-shmo with a pair of the ugliest sunglasses jump out of the car(dukes of hazard style), wash himself with a bottle of powerade, and win a Sh1tload of money---PRICELESS
people in America loves NASCAR because NASCAR started in America and its a tradition there. and like somebody said, NASCAR is in a class of its own.. comparing it to F1 or any other form of motor sports is like comparing apples to oranges.
and like lot of us, if you cant stand watching cars going round and round, then dont! you dont have to condemn something just because YOU dont like it. if you dont like it, dont watch it.
I grew up in a road race environment, where CART and f1 ruled. But in the last decade, with the advent of increased TV coverage, NASCAR has slowly gained a huge following. Hey, take it or leave it, but please, don't hate it. I don't like soap operas, but I just don't watch them. I don't waste my energy on hating.
Trying to comapre NASCAR for f1 is like comparing soccer to US football. They are both sports, with a common history, and a ball is involved. But each is totally different. As well, and it may be a bitter pill to swallow for some, but F1 learns from NASCAR. Trust me, F1 teams had a good look at the dynamics of pit stops in NASCAR before they decided it was feasable for them. But the biggest difference is that NASCAR is unashamedly aimed at entertainment, not purist motor racing.
Personally, to me, NASCAR is just like professional wrestling. Yes, the athletes themselves do risk injury from their activities, and yes, the teams and athletes give it their all. But the outcome and rules are biased, and the integrity of the championship is zero.
But hey, at times it's fun to watch. Just don't take NASCAR seriously. it's just entertaiment.
Racing is like walking into a Baskin Robbins, there are more flavors than just vanilla. There's CART, WRC, F1, BTCC, Aussie V-8's, and so on and so on. Taste the flavors, and enjoy the ones that satisify your palate.
Location: Covilhã, Portugal (and sometimes in Évora)
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DaveKillens wrote: Trust me, F1 teams had a good look at the dynamics of pit stops in NASCAR before they decided it was feasable for them.
Humm...just thinking pit stops in F1 go back to the start of the championship in the 50's.....then refueling became illegal...and in 1994 refueling came back into F1.....tire changes have been there since the start...
I really don't agree with you on this one....in Nascar you have a diferente kind of racing....where you have alot of caution flag periods where the fuel consumption is very low....(don't know this for sure but do they like in CART have a pit window?)....besides that in Nascar you have a limit of a certain number of elements working on the car (4 to 6 - can't remember the number )...while in F1 you have a limit of 22 people working on the car (if I'm not mistaken)! Besides that in Nascar the fuel is graviticly put into the car while in F1 you have a pump that pumps 12 litres per second. Another whing is that the mechanics don't have to run to the left side of the car after changing the right hand tires....like they do in Nascar.
So basicly the pit stops in F1 are dynamicly very diferent....I really don't think they'd study the Nascar pit stops...cause (summarising) usually they take place in diferent race conditions, F1 has more people working on the car...and are stationary and the equipment is very diferent.
Nascar is not rubbish.Altho its ancient in tech, but how many racing series will provide 200 mph overtaking? To make it even more interesting, the track is oval, and it makes overtaking is more impressive as there is no such thing as outbraking like F1.
theres outbraking too, and touching and rubbin, and tech, and all of the cars I have come across were bought from companies, except for some of the lower classes(but I'd suspect Europe is the same). They even have the 'whos got TC' bug. --- tire? What would you consider a good tire? But the purist racer thing really gets me hot. Your talking about a series that makes sure that all of the cars on a relatively equal playing field, anyone can win, driver skill is much more important in NASCAR then it will ever be in F1.
You are correct Monstrobolaxa, my statement was vague and maybe misleading. What I was trying to impart was that teams everywhere keep a sharp eye on other racing series, and if they see something promising, they will examine it to determine if it is feasable and possible for their needs. The actual method of pits stops of F1 vs NASCAR is huge.
As another example, wings first appeared at one place, everyone liked what they saw, and soon, many race series had wings, everywhere. F1, to Can-Am, to NASCAR (those winged dodges of the 60's).
Red, I do agree on the driver having a better chance of affecting the outcome in NASCAR. I estimate that in F1, the driver is responsible for 10% of the outcome, while the engineers and wind tunnel dudes get the 90 %. In NASCAR, it's probably 70% driver, 30 engineers. But do not think for a second that F1 drivers have lesser skills .... just different.
Yeh, def different. It's like trying to determine world best driver, you can't do it as so many of the different types of racing styles from rally to oval to road racing. But racing is racing as I see it, I love it all
)...while in F1 you have a limit of 22 people working on the car (if I'm not mistaken)! Besides that in Nascar the fuel is graviticly put into the car while in F1 you have a pump that pumps 12 litres per second. Another whing is that the mechanics don't have to run to the left side of the car after changing the right hand tires....like they do in Nascar.