Shift to fuel injection a quantum leap for NASCAR

Shift to fuel injection a quantum leap for NASCAR

(October 17, 2011)

 CONCORD, N.C.—After Sprint Cup cars transition to electronic fuel injection next season, fans in the grandstands won’t be able to discern a difference in way the cars perform—or in the way they sound.

 Nevertheless, the move from traditional carbureted engines to fuel injection is one of the most important technical changes in the history of the sport.

 First, all the auto manufacturers are behind it, even though fuel injection will add to the cost of building each engine for the series. Offsetting the cost, however, is the benefit of bringing the cars on the racetrack closer to those that are sold in the showroom. In switching to fuel injection, NASCAR is embracing a technology that is common to every street car on the market.

 Sprint Cup drivers continued the process of testing and refining EFI on Monday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR plans to roll out the new system for competition in time for the Feb. 26 Daytona 500.

 In place of a carburetor, EFI engines feature a throttle body that controls air flow. Where a carburetor mixes air and fuel, an EFI system injects fuel to each cylinder as needed, resulting in a more efficient fuel flow.

 The fuel injection system is run by an electronic control unit (ECU) that adds a level of sophistication previously unavailable to NASCAR teams. After practice or competition, NASCAR and teams can download data from the ECU that has the potential to provide after-the-fact lap-by-lap telemetry for analysis.

 As has been NASCAR’s custom in the past, teams will have no access to real-time telemetry, nor will they be able to change the tuning of the engines during competition.

 Driver Jeff Burton said he felt little difference in the performance of the fuel injection car and the carbureted car he drove in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte.

 “It’s a minuscule change,” Burton said. “To leave the racetrack Saturday night and then come over here on Monday is really interesting, because you rarely get to do that when you’re testing major changes,” Burton said. “I drove into Turn 1 just like I did on Saturday night, throttled up just like I did on Saturday night, and nothing really felt all that different.

 “And I think that’s a good thing.”

 The first EFI test on a restrictor-plate track is scheduled for Thursday at Talladega. Burton is well aware that NASCAR and the teams have much to learn and many procedural decisions to make before Daytona.

 “When you have a major component change—and this is a big deal—when you do something like this, there’s a lot of things that will change between now and then,” Burton said. “The hard thing about it is, ‘What’s too much?’

 “This does open the box a bit to make (things) more complicated. What (NASCAR’s) struggle is going to be is, ‘Can a lower-funded team operate equally with a top-funded team as it relates to EFI?’ With a carburetor today, it’s a lot easier to do that, and that’s going to be the balance they’re going to have to strike.”

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

NASCAR tightening up technical rules

NASCAR tightening up technical rules: A new NASCAR rule, or rather a stricter interpretation of the rules, was just issued to Sprint Cup teams. And reaction is mixed among crew chiefs, who worry the new rule - in part designed as a cost-limiting rule -- might further inhibit technological innovation on the stock car racing trail. The new rule requires teams to submit not only all car parts for pre-race week inspection at the sport's Concord, N.C., R&D center but also to submit all 'tweaks' in designs. The rule is in part a response to:
• the oil-pan issues the Joe Gibbs teams had in June at Michigan, where all three teams showed up Friday with a new oil pan design which NASCAR officials didn't like.
• the Clint Bowyer/2010 playoff controversy over the chassis design of his Loudon, N.H. race car.
• and three, the possibility that a team could slip into the chase with a good run at Richmond (the last race of the regular season) by using a car with unapproved modifications not discovered until well after the race.
The new rule further tightens the technological 'box' that Cup teams must work within these days. And teams have long complained about how tight that box already is. NASCAR Cup director John Darby says "It's just a better way to do business - before a car owner has to invest a lot of money in a part, we can approve it, because they make the big investment.(8-27-2011)

New HANS device approved

New HANS device approved: NASCAR officials have approved the Sport II HANS device for competition in all NASCAR series. The new device features a lower rounded collar and is lighter, making for an easier fit for drivers. "No matter what type of car, what kind of track, drag strip or off-road event, a head and neck restraint should be included in any driver's safety equipment," said Gary Milgrom, vice president of HANS Performance Products.8-13-2011

Pit Road Rule Adjustment

Pit Road Rule Adjustment

The following rule change is effective August 11, 2011 for all three NASCAR national series:

9-15 Pit Procedures During Race -

M. The fuel handler must be in control of the fuel can at all times when fuel is being added to the car.  The fuel handler will not be permitted to perform any adjustments or other pit stop procedures while the fuel can coupler is engaged with the car-mounted adapter.

"In an ongoing effort to keep pit road safer, we have made this adjustment to the duties of the fuel handler. If the fueler's only responsibility is to fuel the car, he will do a better job and make fewer mistakes on pit road." - NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby