The 2024 running motorsports thread

Bowman's not hurly burly like Buddy Baker, so he doesn't have 17 pounds to lose in 3-4 hours unless he chops off an arm. And unless "THERE'S A MISTEREUSSS FLUID IN TURN THREEEE!" or rocks-sand-marbles falling from a secret compartment, they had to plan it from the start and hope for the best.

No one will do the story, or probably talk about it, but it would be fun to learn how they trimmed 17 pounds. That's two gallons of water plus another pound. Or a fat Thanksgiving turkey. Or a mediocre limit of bass in a Saturday tournament.

 

Dropped a weight. Sometimes it’s the simplest answer.

 

I haven't read that much up on it, but I'm willing to believe it was an honest mistake or something inadvertently fell off. Nobody is going to send a car 17 pounds underweight across the scales and not expect to get caught. If it was a pound or two, sure. Not 17 pounds on purpose.

 

The team isn't appealing the penalty and admits the car was underweight, although the release doesn't give specifics. Glad nobody hit a piece of ballast that large, if that's what fell off. Although 17 pounds of ball bearings might have created some of the red mist moves in the hairpin turn.

 

200 lbs for driver and fuel? I know they are wee fellows, but what does the gear way?

 

A lighter car goes faster for several reasons, all of which are beyond my technical expertise. Mass, friction, resistance, etc. Engineering stuff. Accelerate quicker, brake more efficiently, less ground resistance.

So the idea of having each car weigh the same with driver and fuel is to take away the competitive advantage of someone like Danica Patrick compared to a Joey Logano or Austin Cindric, who are 6-2 and weigh a bit more than 100 pounds. Even though Cup cars still weigh 3,200 pounds empty, that 25-50 pound advantage adds up over 500 miles.

It's even more pronounced for formula cars. F1 is something less than 1,800 pounds (IndyCars are 1,700, which surprised me) so if you didn't take the driver into consideration, the weight differences would be significant. It might even make Sauber competitive!

So Cup cars add weight based on driver/fuel -- usually as low as possible, like attached to the floorboard -- to compensate for having a skinny guy compared to a fat one. When Danica was driving, more lead had to be added to compensate for her being lighter than average. Michael Waltrip, on the other hand, was full of hot air.

Alex Bowman weighs about 178 pounds so I'm guessing the No. 48 team probably doesn't have to put as much extra weight in his car than someone lighter. However, they obviously put at least 17 pounds of extra weight in it because it fell out at some point during the race.

That make any more sense?

 

F1 weighs the drivers after races, right? Or the podium drivers? Or is that just a team thing for fitness, b/c I've seen them get on a scale with their helmets after a race before going into the pre-podium waiting area.

I always figured it was a fitness thing (it may be) but hadn't thought about the weight difference between drivers and overall vehicle weight.

 

Yes, and George Russell was DQed out of a win at Spa because he and his Mercedes were underweight by 3.3 pounds.

Physics was the one science I didn't take in high school but I think it mostly comes down to Newton. If my car is, say, 10 pounds heavier than that of my opponent, I need more force to brake, accelerate and turn because I have more momentum.

 

It's 100% a total weight thing. It's not a fitness thing.

They did have to change the weight regulations a few years ago because the drivers were literally starving themselves to keep their weight down.

 

My question isn't the reason for limits. The difference between the car w/out fuel or driver and w/ fuel and driver is 200 lbs. How is that possible?

 

I started to get pretty angry at this until I realized she meant that John Force might be returning to the track as an observer and not to compete. Now I find it downright encouraging.

https://racer.com/2024/10/21/brittany-force-hopeful-father-john-will-be-at-the-track-again-soon/

 

Yeah, no way under the sun does he need to stage a care ever again.