[photolady95]

Before you know it, you may even be awarded an Otis badge!

You're funny Mark! I have an attitude, I just don't always show it here. <evil grin>

[MarkJerling]

You're funny Mark! I have an attitude, I just don't always show it here. <evil grin>

I'm sure we would not want it any other way!

[MarkJerling]

I've never got the appeal of car races. My dad loves his Formula 1 on Sundays, but all I see is cars going round and round in circles for hours, always along the same ideal line ...

Now, with a bit more action and a non-circular track I might actually enjoy races. Always liked the kind of stuff Top Gear did

I always thought it was boring, until I spent an entire Speed Week at Daytona. Only then did I realise what skill and determination is required to go around that track! (And I did get to go around the track as a passenger too.)

[FantasticMrFox]

Only then did I realise what skill and determination is required to go around that track!

I am fully aware of that, but that doesn't make it any more appealing to me. The skill and determination that it takes to perform the opera on a high level is certainly on a similarly immense level, but you still won't get me into an opera without the use of chloroform

[MarkJerling]

I am fully aware of that, but that doesn't make it any more appealing to me. The skill and determination that it takes to perform the opera on a high level is certainly on a similarly immense level, but you still won't get me into an opera without the use of chloroform

Putting it that way, I see your point very clearly!

[Rupert]

Congratulations to Rupert and Mrs. Rupert for your 50th!!!

Thank you Photolady! It was a good day but wore me out. 50 years of keeping Mrs Rupert beautiful takes its toll.

Rupert - Congratulations from me too. Sorry, I've been out all day using my Pentax!

Thank you too! I would have enjoyed just staying home and shooting out my office windows with my Pentax, but it did turn out to be a worthwhile event.

Before you know it, you may even be awarded an Otis badge!

Photolady...if you have read every post in this thread you definitely deserve this Otis Award. It is amazing you can still gather your thoughts well enough to even post. I recently read that some psychological scientists are using this thread to study its effect on early onset dementia. So far they haven't found anyone here without the warning signs.....

Congratulations from Otis!


Regards!

At the end of the day with our youngest son and his wife....

[robtcorl]

Congratulations to Rupert and Mrs. Rupert for your 50th!!!

Add me to the congratulatory list!
wow, I got congratulatory spelled right first try, or so says my checker.

Now where's my cake?

[Rupert]

Add me to the congratulatory list!

Thank you! I hear not many make it to the 50th nowadays, and there were a few times I would have bet against it myself!

Now where's my cake?

Most of that cake went in my son's belly.....delicious cake and ice cream. He has put on the pounds since leaving the Army 3 years ago.....I could stand to lose a few pounds too....so I only ate two slices. Mrs Rupert, working hard in her zoomba classes three nights a week, only ate a small slice.

Next time I'll set aside a big slice for you! It's only 25 years away!

Regards!

With our oldest grandson...he is the apple of Mrs Rupert's eye and is the one that set up the anniversary celebration. Striking how much he favors Mrs Rupert's looks. Lucky he didn't favor me more! I've never seen them together when they weren't both smiling and laughing!

[FantasticMrFox]

Congratulations from me too! I initially thought you were attending someone else's anniversary, only when people started congratulating I realised I was wrong

[Parallax]

Congratulations, Jim.
I doubt Mrs. Parallax and I will make it to 50. I don't expect I'll live that long. We rounded 30 years married last October.
I'm not nearly as old as you, but 20 years behind in "marital bliss".

[tim60]

Rupert, congratulations on a long life together. Nice celebration.

[bertwert]

Congratulations Rupert!

[Rupert]

Congratulations, Jim.
I doubt Mrs. Parallax and I will make it to 50. I don't expect I'll live that long. We rounded 30 years married last October.
I'm not nearly as old as you, but 20 years behind in "marital bliss".

You'll make it Jim...after 30 years the road gets pretty smooth ........most of the time!

Congratulations from me too! I initially thought you were attending someone else's anniversary, only when people started congratulating I realised I was wrong

Thanks Mr Fox...At least you didn't mistake Mrs Rupert for my daughter! It would have been easy to do! Marry them when they are 12 and they will still be young when you aren't!

Rupert, congratulations on a long life together. Nice celebration.

Thanks Tim....I'm not very romantic or sentimental but the day did bring back memories of the time I was...when I first met Mrs Rupert.

Thanks all.....It's one of those special moments in life....like when you catch your first fish or have your first taste of bacon....

[Racer X 69]

I've never got the appeal of car races. My dad loves his Formula 1 on Sundays, but all I see is cars going round and round in circles for hours, always along the same ideal line ...

Now, with a bit more action and a non-circular track I might actually enjoy races. Always liked the kind of stuff Top Gear did

F1 is always a road or street circuit. Never ovals.


Indy Cars run a mix if oval, road and street circuits.


Sports cars always run road a street circuits.


Drag racing is always a straight line, point to point. Mostly 1/4 mile, but Top Fuel and Funny Car got cut back to 1/8 mile when Doug Kalitta was killed. Something about a car exceeding 300 miles an hour by half track that was just getting too risky.




Now after all that, consider stock car racing. Yes, most of the races are contested on ovals. Twice each year they do run at road courses, Sears Point in California and Watkins Glen in New York.


There is much more to racing on an oval than meets the eye. It isn't as simple as just hopping in and going for a ride. Each track is unique and presents challenges that must be overcome.


Superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega are fast. Before the days of restrictor plates cars were exceeding 250 miles an hour on the straights. Even with restrictor plates the cars run at around 200. Aerodynamics are critical, and to run fast a driver had to know how to work the draft. Get out of the draft and you go to the back of the pack. Also, at speed each driver runs a very narrow line between having enough traction to keep the car going in the right direction or spinning out of control. If you were to reach out and push the rear fender of a car next to you at speed you could make it spin out with very little effort. When exiting the track for fuel and tires a driver has to bring the car down from 200 to 45. Not an easy task. And it has to be done in as short a time possible, as every second counts.


On smaller tracks the cars are not restricted.


One and a half mile tracks are completely different from the Superspeedways. Each has its own character, and requires a completely different approach. Some can be run nearly wide open, and the cars do run very fast. Some are bumpy and chassis setups must account for conditions to keep the car/s hooked up and maintaining forward bite off the corners. Drafting and aerodynamics are still important.




The half mile tracks are also completely different.


Martinsville is referred to as a paper clip. Two long and flat straightaways paved with asphalt with no banking connected by two narrow and tight radius turns paved in concrete with 12 degree banking (nearly flat). Brakes are huge and the heat is difficult to control. Thermal coatings are applied to the wheels and calipers, heat shields and multiple fans with ducting are used, and even then it is not enough. The heat damages the bead of the tires, and can also affect the oil in the shock absorbers. Sometimes if a driver does not manage the brakes well the fluid boils and then the brakes fail.


Bristol is a bowl. All concrete, and steeply banked, the Cup cars are lapping in just under 15 seconds a lap. The World's Fastest Half Mile. The steep banking makes it a self cleaning track, meaning when a car spins it will wind up going to the inside rather than go up against the outside wall and stay there. The corners are banked at 20 to 30 degrees, the straights 10 to 12 degrees. Again, brakes are a challenge. Heat generated must be managed. Cars with 800hp have to be able to slow enough to get around the turns.




Then there are the tracks which are unique.




Darlington is 1.33 miles. Turns 1 and 2 are tighter radius with 25 degree banking, turns 3 and 4 are larger radius with 23 degree banking. The front straight is banked at 3 degrees and the back stretch banked at 2. When the track was built the owner of a pond nearby refused to relocate it, and this resulted in the different radius turns at each end. The track is tough to set a car up for and racing there results in many cars getting the "Darlington Stripe" (by race end most cars will have brushed the outside wall). Fastest lap is 26.705 sec. (184.145 mph), set be Aric Almirola, driving for Richard Petty in April 2014.


Phoenix Raceway is just over 1 mile, a trivial with (minimal) banking. Turns 1 and 2 are 10 to 11 degrees, the dogleg is also 10 to 11 degrees, turns 3 is 8 degrees, turn 4 is 8 to 9 degrees, the backstretch is 8 to 10 degrees and the front stretch has 3. When the Indy cars ran there a couple weeks ago they were running flat out all the way around. Helio Castro-Neves set a lap record of 19.0997 seconds driving for Roger Penske.


Pocono Raceway is a very unique oval, 2.5 miles with 3 turns and 3 straights. Turn 1 is banked at 14 degrees, turn 2 is 8 degrees, turn 3 is 3 degrees. Each turn was modeled for turns at different tracks. Because the straights are so long, and the turns so tight, the track drives more like a road course than an oval. It is also the only oval where racers shift rather than run in a given gear. In many ways it is driven like a road course.






Stock car racing has many things common to other types of racing. Pit stops must be accomplished as quickly as possible. Teams practice pit stops over and over. A 13 second stop to change 4 tires, add 22 gallons of fuel and make adjustments is about normal. Race strategies play out for each event. Crew chiefs keep copious notes for car setup at each track. Teams build highly specialized and developed cars for each track to fit the demands and unique requirements for each one.




Yep.


It may be a Sunday drive or a Saturday night out, but there is far more than simply riding around in circles.

[photolady95]

Photolady...if you have read every post in this thread you definitely deserve this Otis Award. It is amazing you can still gather your thoughts well enough to even post. I recently read that some psychological scientists are using this thread to study its effect on early onset dementia. So far they haven't found anyone here without the warning signs..... Congratulations from Otis!

Thanks Otis!

I keep my mind active. I moderate five forums, and that keeps me active, mind wise.
My husband and I were together for 20 years before he passed away, and that was 17 years ago. We had no hope of being together for 50 years, though when he was still alive, I had hoped we would. We said we'd grow old together.