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Thread: "An Unfair Advantage..."

  1. 03-01-2005, 08:43 PM #1
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    "An Unfair Advantage..."

    I just read the article in the new Motor Trend about how racers used all the advantages possible that the rules didn't quite specify to get an edge. I thought it would be cool to put together a thread with as many loop-holes used in racing we could conjur up. Here's a few from that article that stood out and then some:

    (I'm not sure I have all the names right, I left the mag at school)

    *Smokey Yunick was the first to test with nitrous after his dentist told him that laughing gas contained more oxygen than regular air

    *In the earlier days NASCAR Darrel Waltrip's crew would fill the frame rails with lead shot, then release it during caution laps with a valve on the floor with a wrench from inside the car, because the officals only weighed the cars in before the race

    *NASCAR rules specified that cars had 22 gallon fuel tanks, so crew would make extremly long fuel lines, adding up to 6 more gallons of fuel

    *To lighten the weight of a car, crew once used wooden rollcages painted like steel

    add some more!
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  2. 03-01-2005, 08:50 PM #2
    fpv_gtho
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smokescreen
    *To lighten the weight of a car, crew once used wooden rollcages painted like steel
    Thats just crazy, who'd be that stupid!
    I am the Stig
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  3. 03-01-2005, 09:28 PM #3
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    wouldnt want to crash in one of those ... can anyone say splinters?
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  4. 03-01-2005, 09:29 PM #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Smokescreen
    *To lighten the weight of a car, crew once used wooden rollcages painted like steel
    yeah, i dont think that would make the cars lighter, but hey, bush won the election, i guess anything is possible
    Quote Originally Posted by KnifeEdge_2K1
    wouldnt want to crash in one of those ... can anyone say splinters?
    to the eye
    Last edited by targa; 03-01-2005 at 09:32 PM.
    pondering things
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  5. 03-01-2005, 10:28 PM #5
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    "In those days in technical inspection, the French had a box that the car had to drive over. Well, that box was higher than the Mk IV would like to run, so we used an old NASCAR trick that I had already had experience with.

    You had a wire hanging out of the dashboard. And as you got out on the track and it was bouncing a bit, you yanked on the wire which pulled the shims out of the springs so the thing would be at proper ride height.

    This NASCAR system worked beautifully to glide over that French box"

    Dan Gurney on the GT40 at Le Mans...
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  6. 03-02-2005, 02:43 PM #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by RacingManiac
    Dan Gurney on the GT40 at Le Mans...
    if i were a car designer, i would put the Gurney bubble on a car, that would be great
    pondering things
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  7. 03-02-2005, 02:59 PM #7
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    What a load of beef and onion crisps.
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  8. 03-02-2005, 03:04 PM #8
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    if they use woooden rollcages in Nascar I'm Christmas father they use special steels or high quality ceramics....
    Last edited by forza_autodelta; 03-02-2005 at 03:07 PM.
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  9. 03-02-2005, 03:18 PM #9
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    Smokey Yunick developed a rollbar that could be filled with gas to go around what ever number was set as the rule.

    if they use woooden rollcages in Nascar I'm Christmas father they use special steels or high quality ceramics....
    this is back in the 60's, they did pretty much what ever they could to go faster, and nascar had no regulations about it. Now a days they use steel, and nascar has many rules and regulations about the construction of the cars.
    "We went to Wnedy's. I had chicken nuggest." ~ Quiggs
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  10. 03-02-2005, 10:24 PM #10
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    ok thank you to complete my reply
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  11. 03-03-2005, 03:00 AM #11
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    Tyrrel added lead in the fuel on the last pit stop at Detroit in 1984 so the car would complete the race above the minimum weight limit. they were DQ frmo final results for that season

    Talbot welded 2" tubing INTO the A-pillars of Dawsons rally cars to increase the strength of the body in addition to the roll cage. This was not permitted but nobody coudl tell unless theye were willing to take a saw to the A-pillars at scrutineering !!
    "A woman without curves is like a road without bends, you might get to your destination quicker but the ride is boring as hell'
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  12. 03-03-2005, 03:05 AM #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine
    Tyrrel added lead in the fuel on the last pit stop at Detroit in 1984 so the car would complete the race above the minimum weight limit. they were DQ frmo final results for that season
    By that time fuel was still leaded . What they did was adding small leaden balls during the last refuelling.
    "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams
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  13. 03-03-2005, 11:18 AM #13
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    i don't remember the series . it could have been Nascar . but i;m not sure .. they were running a 2/3 scale car
    There is no terrible way of winning
    there is just winning
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  14. 03-03-2005, 03:01 PM #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by henk4
    By that time fuel was still leaded . What they did was adding small leaden balls during the last refuelling.
    but of course, do you REALLY think there is a LOT of extra weight loss in the switch to unleaded ??
    All those guys saying there cars are quicker because they weigh less ?
    "A woman without curves is like a road without bends, you might get to your destination quicker but the ride is boring as hell'
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  15. 03-03-2005, 08:32 PM #15
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    the lead shot in the doors is hillarious. the tech inspectors must have been pounding down the boos to not have caught that.
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