Question for Nascar Fans

[Sazar]

Why do they stop racing when it starts raining?

They keep racing in F1 and other sports. Why not in Nascar?

:confused:

[koolhonda]

Not a NASCAR fan, but it's because the vast majority of the tracks they race on have zero runoff room. Instead of a gravel trap, your gonna be hitting concrete.

[CaptNKILL]

Why do they stop racing when it starts raining?

They keep racing in F1 and other sports. Why not in Nascar?

:confused:

Probably because the cars were never meant to run in the rain and people would die if they hydroplaned at 200Mph. :p

[Sazar]

Probably because the cars were never meant to run in the rain and people would die if they hydroplaned at 200Mph. :p

F1 cars zip around at full-speed with different tyres when it rains. I just don't get why we don't see something like that in Nascar.

[Sazar]

Not a NASCAR fan, but it's because the vast majority of the tracks they race on have zero runoff room. Instead of a gravel trap, your gonna be hitting concrete.

That makes sense, but they're just going round and round. In F1, they race around a track with multiple corners.

:confused:

[Retrolock]

Seeing in Nascar the cars are all so close together, one fatal slip will coz a catastrophic pile up.

[koolhonda]

That makes sense, but they're just going round and round. In F1, they race around a track with multiple corners.

:confused: Yeah, well, if NASCAR ran in the rain they'd just end up behind the pace car anyways because of all the wrecks.
Not very exciting, and very exspensive.

[CaptNKILL]

F1 cars zip around at full-speed with different tyres when it rains. I just don't get why we don't see something like that in Nascar.

You don't see any difference between an F1 car and a Nascar? :lol:

[nrdstrm]

I thought the question was going to be "Why do people watch guys drive around in circles for hours?"...Oh well :P

[koolhonda]

I thought the question was going to be "Why do people watch guys drive around in circles for hours?"...Oh well :P
Why do people watch guys trying to put a ball in a hoop for hours?

[CaptNKILL]

Here is a good discussion about Nascar and rain.
http://www.speedtv.com/forums/viewthread/190141/P20/

[Mr. Hunt]

My question for Nascar fans.

Why?

[Sazar]

You don't see any difference between an F1 car and a Nascar? :lol:

F1 cars are faster, more powerful and required to manoeuvre more. They both generate large amounts of downforce at speed, although the F1 cars generate more (at higher speeds).

[CaptNKILL]

F1 cars are faster, more powerful and required to manoeuvre more. They both generate large amounts of downforce at speed, although the F1 cars generate more (at higher speeds).

Nascars also weigh almost 3700 pounds, compared to an F1 car that weighs under 1400 pounds. That's a lot more mass to keep under control while hydroplaning.

Road courses are built with plenty of areas for cars to slide off the road safely, where as Nascar tracks are built in a way that any car that takes a corner too wide is going to end up in a wall and will probably take more cars with it.

Then there's the number of cars on the track and how close they drive to each other, which not only makes accidents extremely dangerous and expensive but makes visibility extremely limited due splashing water.

Then there's the drivers. Who have each track down to a science, and would probably ruin millions of dollars worth of cars trying to relearn how to drive with standing water on the track.

Then there's the tens of thousands of fans sitting in the stands soaking wet for 4+ hours...

Basically, they don't drive in the rain because they've never been made to drive in the rain. According to wikipedia the last time a Winston\Nextel\Sprint Cup race was completed in rain was 1956.

[slaWter]

I thought the question was going to be "Why do people watch guys drive around in circles for hours?"...Oh well :P

Because it's a lot of fun, much better than F1 :D

[Sazar]

Nascars also weigh almost 3700 pounds, compared to an F1 car that weighs under 1400 pounds. That's a lot more mass to keep under control while hydroplaning.

Road courses are built with plenty of areas for cars to slide off the road safely, where as Nascar tracks are built in a way that any car that takes a corner too wide is going to end up in a wall and will probably take more cars with it.

Then there's the number of cars on the track and how close they drive to each other, which not only makes accidents extremely dangerous and expensive but makes visibility extremely limited due splashing water.

Then there's the drivers. Who have each track down to a science, and would probably ruin millions of dollars worth of cars trying to relearn how to drive with standing water on the track.

Then there's the tens of thousands of fans sitting in the stands soaking wet for 4+ hours...

Basically, they don't drive in the rain because they've never been made to drive in the rain. According to wikipedia the last time a Winston\Nextel\Sprint Cup race was completed in rain was 1956.

I don't buy the expenses and so forth because F1 and other racing involves high performance machines in close proximity (though not necessarily bumper to bumper).

Did something change after 1956?

[Butter Bandit]

I'm not really a fan of Nascar, but I'd rather watch it than F1.

There are twice as many cars on a smaller track in Nascar. It just "feels" more competitive than F1.

[CaptNKILL]

I don't buy the expenses and so forth because F1 and other racing involves high performance machines in close proximity (though not necessarily bumper to bumper).


Have you ever watched Nascar? On a bad day more than a third of the field will be damaged to the point of being knocked out of the race. F1 cars have so much control and are spread out so much on the tracks (plus there are far fewer cars) that multi-car pile ups are much less common, and generally take place at much lower speeds (due to slowing for turns and having far better handling and brake performance)... where as Nascars are going 150-200Mph through the entire race and simply cannot slow down fast enough to avoid accidents.

... then consider the dozen or so other reasons that were posted in this thread or the one I linked to earlier.

[Sazar]

Have you ever watched Nascar? On a bad day more than a third of the field will be damaged to the point of being knocked out of the race. F1 cars have so much control and are spread out so much on the tracks (plus there are far fewer cars) that multi-car pile ups are much less common, and generally take place at much lower speeds (due to slowing for turns and having far better handling and brake performance)... where as Nascars are going 150-200Mph through the entire race and simply cannot slow down fast enough to avoid accidents.

... then consider the dozen or so other reasons that were posted in this thread or the one I linked to earlier.

R&D costs are MUCH higher in F1 than Nascar. The cars in Nascar are standardized. F1 cars meet some specifications but each shell is unique to each driver for the entire setup. It is definitely not cheap.

Shell damage is easier to fix in Nascar and should be less expensive. Engines are also standardized. F1 has much stricter guidelines for the engines and much more severe penalties.

I am just thinking that the tracks can be prepared to allow for rainfall and with the proper tires, the cars should still be able to race. There shouldn't be any standing water, except for pit lanes, as the tracks are angled. The fans, hell if it's raining and they are fans, they will stay. They do in F1 and they pay more money per race to be there.

[lee63]

Not all tracks are banked.....there's flat tracks and road courses.

[CaptNKILL]

R&D costs are MUCH higher in F1 than Nascar. The cars in Nascar are standardized. F1 cars meet some specifications but each shell is unique to each driver for the entire setup. It is definitely not cheap.

Shell damage is easier to fix in Nascar and should be less expensive. Engines are also standardized. F1 has much stricter guidelines for the engines and much more severe penalties.
That's all great, but what does that have to do with dozens of cars smashing into walls and each other due to the sport being built around dry-track racing for over 50 years? :p

Several reasons for not driving in the rain have been posted, and none of them have to do with how much a single Nascar costs vs an F1 car.


I am just thinking that the tracks can be prepared to allow for rainfall and with the proper tires, the cars should still be able to race. There shouldn't be any standing water, except for pit lanes, as the tracks are angled. The fans, hell if it's raining and they are fans, they will stay. They do in F1 and they pay more money per race to be there.
If you don't take into account all of the other factors, then yeah that'd work fine...

But there's a lot more to it than just putting new tires on the cars.

In fact Nascar had rain tires through out the 90s and 2000s but they never used them due to it not being a realistic alternative to simply waiting till the track was dry. The rain tires have since been discontinued.

[koolhonda]

F1 isn't all that good in the rain either http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znTBNo8RdoY

[CaptNKILL]

F1 isn't all that good in the rain either http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znTBNo8RdoY

Holy ****! That was a mess...

Still, that can't possibly be a normal thing. Especially now, 11 years later.

Check this out... :rofl

5Eb3Sf6Kf1I

Look at how easily they turn over. :rofl

The stupid things look like they're meant to be flip over like that...

[Bman212121]

I'll chime in with my 2 cents. A lot of it could also come back to safety. Why put all of the drivers in additional risk of getting injured when they don't have to? I don't think the fans expect them to race in the rain, and there isn't pressure from NASCAR for the drivers to have to put up with those conditions. NASCAR puts a lot of emphasis on making sure everything is safe for the driver, ie COT, safer barrier, higher fence at Talladega. It would almost seem counter productive for them to want to make the cars run in the rain.

Also, as a fan I wouldn't want to sit in the stands for 4 hours while it's pouring outside. I'd rather just have the race postponed than fight with the weather.

[Bman212121]

F1 isn't all that good in the rain either http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znTBNo8RdoY

Wow that was just stupid of them to even start the race. The only car that would even see anything was the first car on the track.