NASCAR teams use off the shelf oil?
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Nascar telemetry is quite different from Indy Cars and Formula 1. During the actual race the crew can see what you get on TrackPass (similar to what is on television) but it's a very limited amount of data.
In Indy cars and F1 they are looking at many many channels of data everything from brake pad temps to steering angle.
HOWEVER in testing sessions (not race weekends) Nascar uses these same multi channel systems for development.
In Indy cars and F1 they are looking at many many channels of data everything from brake pad temps to steering angle.
HOWEVER in testing sessions (not race weekends) Nascar uses these same multi channel systems for development.
The telemetry is for TV use only. The teams can monitor Fox's broadcast via satelite, but that is it. They can see what we see on TV. It would be a huge penalty if caught using telemetry. The company that does the telemetry and FoxTrax GPS tracking is called Sportvision.
mracer when did Yates and Roush join forces? They were always going head to head when I watched Napcar. Are they still Yates heads or something different now? tks..s
They do not use "off the shelf" oils.... The teams get oils that have additive packages that are unique to their application.The base oil is the same as what we use,just a different additive package,and it's mainly viscosity and anti wear improvers.
I don't know much about the race cars but I thought they had an oil tank in the car that held over 20 quarts of oil that would have enough oil to make it through the race and if they did need more oil, wouldn't it be added to the tank? Maybe that Pennzoil thing was just a well thought out advertising ploy to make people think regular Pennzoil was being used and we would all run out to the store and buy some.
[ May 04, 2004, 09:03 AM: Message edited by: Frank D ]
[ May 04, 2004, 09:03 AM: Message edited by: Frank D ]
Oops, I stand corrected, they did pour it into the oil tank as per the original post. Well it was a good theory. Some of these threads get so long that by the time you get to the end, you forgot what was at the beginning.
[ May 04, 2004, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: Frank D ]
[ May 04, 2004, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: Frank D ]
sprintman,
Roush (#6,16,17,97,99) and Yates (#38,88) joined forces starting this year with their engine programs at the request of Ford. The Wood brothers (#21) are also closely tied to Roush Racing and are also using the Roush/Yates engine program. All of the Ford teams are working together now. Dodge teams already work this way. Toyota is doing this in the Truck series and they are coming to Cup soon. Ford and GM teams will have to cooperate in order to compete with the massive Dodge and Toyota efforts. We know Toyota will come into NASCAR Cup racing with absolutely astounding amounts of $cash$. It will be interesting to see what Ford, GM, and Dodge will do in response.
Roush (#6,16,17,97,99) and Yates (#38,88) joined forces starting this year with their engine programs at the request of Ford. The Wood brothers (#21) are also closely tied to Roush Racing and are also using the Roush/Yates engine program. All of the Ford teams are working together now. Dodge teams already work this way. Toyota is doing this in the Truck series and they are coming to Cup soon. Ford and GM teams will have to cooperate in order to compete with the massive Dodge and Toyota efforts. We know Toyota will come into NASCAR Cup racing with absolutely astounding amounts of $cash$. It will be interesting to see what Ford, GM, and Dodge will do in response.
According to my co-workers son who is now employed by Evernham and not DEI, they do use regular OTC oil on occassion. Mobil 1 in fact.
For some applications they use special race formulated oils not available to the general public, all depends.
So there ya have it, they use both.
For some applications they use special race formulated oils not available to the general public, all depends.
So there ya have it, they use both.
That's interesting because the Evernham Dodge cars have Valvoline stickers on them.quote:
Originally posted by Swift:
According to my co-workers son who is now employed by Evernham and not DEI, they do use regular OTC oil on occassion. Mobil 1 in fact.
For some applications they use special race formulated oils not available to the general public, all depends.
So there ya have it, they use both.
Sshhh..quote:
Originally posted by Buzzsaw:
That's interesting because the Evernham Dodge cars have Valvoline stickers on them.quote:
Originally posted by Swift:
According to my co-workers son who is now employed by Evernham and not DEI, they do use regular OTC oil on occassion. Mobil 1 in fact.
For some applications they use special race formulated oils not available to the general public, all depends.
So there ya have it, they use both.
3-3.5 quarts in a 22 quart or better system is insignifacant. It was added to make up volume lost. I could have been Tech2000 5W30 and it would not have made a huge difference. You guys are acting like they changed the entire volume of the system or something. If they had a 22 quart system and they toped off with 3.5 quarts then that is roughly 16% of their total volume. THey were more then 1/3 of the way through the race as well. We also do not know what was truly in the bottles? For comparisions it would be like me 1/2 a quart of Chevron Suprem in my crankcase in an emergcy to top off my M1R.
Just to clarify, NASCAR race cars have a 16 quart oil sump located behind the driver.
I saw the race and the team adding oil but I wonder how they knew the amount to add. There is no engine dipstick. The only way to check oil level is to remove the sump cap which (usually) has a dipstick attached. Problem is the sump is tucked in tight behind the driver. The easiest way to access the sump is to remove the left 1/4 window, which is made of Lexan and is held in place by approx. 12 flush-fit screws. Then there are usually air cooling ducts and hoses attached that have to be removed, THEN you can reach the sump.
So my thinking is the team just sorta guessed at how much oil to add. 3 quarts in a 16 quart system won't hurt anything since only so much oil is in the engine at any one time.
I saw the race and the team adding oil but I wonder how they knew the amount to add. There is no engine dipstick. The only way to check oil level is to remove the sump cap which (usually) has a dipstick attached. Problem is the sump is tucked in tight behind the driver. The easiest way to access the sump is to remove the left 1/4 window, which is made of Lexan and is held in place by approx. 12 flush-fit screws. Then there are usually air cooling ducts and hoses attached that have to be removed, THEN you can reach the sump.
So my thinking is the team just sorta guessed at how much oil to add. 3 quarts in a 16 quart system won't hurt anything since only so much oil is in the engine at any one time.
Sorry everyone if I was wrong about the oil tank capacity. I thought I read somewhere that it was 22 quarts but I can believe it is 16 quarts instead.
bretfaz, the procedure you spelled out is exactly what happened except they went in from the right side of the car. During that pitstop the team took out the right side quarter window and a guy crawled in the opening to get to the tank and top off the oil. They came back around on the next lap, still under caution, and put the window back in.
It's a 2 mile track so there is relatively lots of time to service the car under caution.
bretfaz, the procedure you spelled out is exactly what happened except they went in from the right side of the car. During that pitstop the team took out the right side quarter window and a guy crawled in the opening to get to the tank and top off the oil. They came back around on the next lap, still under caution, and put the window back in.
It's a 2 mile track so there is relatively lots of time to service the car under caution.
mracer, you might have confused the fuel capacity (22 gallons) with the oil sump.
There was an eariler post about running OTC oil in a motorcycle engine running 11,000 rpm for 4 hours.
The answer is "YES". There are several 24 hour races where motorcycle engines are run at typical rpms of 8,000 rpm to 15,000 rpm. The big 24 event is the 24hours of LeMans.
Jeff
The answer is "YES". There are several 24 hour races where motorcycle engines are run at typical rpms of 8,000 rpm to 15,000 rpm. The big 24 event is the 24hours of LeMans.
Jeff
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