Note the early use of splitter and dive planes on Bruce McClaren's car (orange one).
MD:
Just love those cars. My room mate in college had a 73 DINO SPYDER we would go joy riding and race vetts and out run them. That was back when HB had less population and the cops were mellow. Today you will go to jail 4 street racing. At least you have a lot of legal Race Tracts to enjoy there on the EAST COAST.
Kind regards,
surfding
That orange Porche looks stock however I bet it fly's!
The technology is one of the main attractions for me. Fluid dynamics, structures, and composites tech - it's a lot like surfboards. Watching the cars advance from tube frames to space frames to semi-monocoques to composite tubs; from streamliners to wings to ground effects to multiple-element wings and diffusers; from aluminum to fiberglass to carbon/kevlar. I've been following all this stuff since I was a little kid.
I was kinda posting these pics in sequence of progress, those first cars were from the 60's and 70's. Here's some late 70s - early 80s as the aero work started to get more sophistcated. A Kremer prepped 935 (about as badass as the IMSA GT cars got right before the GTP class came into being), and a 2-liter prototype that was very clean for it's day. Note the obscure computer company sponsoring the Porsche in 1979, decal on end-plate of rear wing.....
More bad hair! More bad hair! Perhaps a mullet or two?
The orange Porsche is an early 911 Turbo racecar, the GT class is production based and Porsche hurried the Turbo into production so fast they didn't have race versions ready. Many of the first ones raced with minimal modifications (roll cage, race seat, fire bottle, fuel cell, race tires and wheels). The orange one's probably a 76 or 77; the Kremer is from 79 or 80. Lots of development in 2 or 3 years.
Then the GTP (GT prototype) class came along. There were many great cars in that era. Some of them also ran in FIA Group C. The Porsche 962 is prime example:
Another 962, with all the bodywork in place. This car won at Sebring in 86 or 87. Hint of things to come in lower right of picture.
Also, before I get to the newer cars - this Penske/Donahue storied Lola needs to get in here. Can Am series from back in the day....
What a history.
That 926 Coca-Cola wrap is so sweet!
Gotta throw in this race version of the early 90s McClaren F1 (street supercar, ridiculou$ pricetag), BMW V-12 M-Power!!
Aw man I love that McLaren and all the iterations… sigh
hey waitaminnit!!!
speaking of classic racing, Jungle Jim...
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v357/palmerchris1738/crib/4a7da0e8.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v357/palmerchris1738/crib/f8cf884a.jpg[/IMG]
and the outlaws of NASCAR...
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v357/palmerchris1738/crib/b1a9a5c9.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v357/palmerchris1738/crib/70bbc1b9.jpg[/IMG]
Hey, that NASCAR guy is turning right!! (superbird is nice addition to thread....)
There were two cars at Sebring last weekend that were relatively new. Astounding bits of technology.
First the Audi R8 - a milestone of a car. Check all the plumbing on the turbodiesel (which is a stressed component of ''chassis'', note suspension mounts to transaxle), and of course the intricate air management of the bodywork. Nose piece weight about 10 kilos without the headlamps.
Porsche RS Spyder, featuring some very interesting mid-body aero pieces. Getting pictures this close wasn't possible when this car was new just a few years ago, so I was really happy for this opportunity. While the ''tunnel'' capped by the multiple-element hoop probably enhances front downforce to some degree, the primary function is likely setting up the flow onto the rear wing (increasing rear wing efficiency). The vane inside the tunnel mystifies me, but I'm sure they found something in their testing or it wouldn't be there. Also compare the diffuser to that of the Audi, much more advanced but already dated now. The F1 guys have done amazing things with diffuser design in the last 2 years, who would have thought that you could lower drag and increase downforce markedly just by playing with the flow as it exits the underside of the vehicle....
That LMP Audi R8 is a work of art. Thanks for posting all those pics!
The 3.5 minute transaxle change at LeMans is legendary.
Seeing these cars up close makes you realize how much wind-tunnel time these guys spend on the cars. Evident by the crazy complexity in the splitters, diffusers and wings.
Seeing stuff like this really makes you realize how simplistic surfboard construction is and how little has really been tried as far as construction goes.
Yeah, they engineered and designed for that quick-change. That's called thinking it through.... Contingency planning, etc.
Extensive CFD model use (on supercomputers) is augmenting wind tunnels, sometimes even replacing them. When there's budgets in the hundreds of millions of $s, you can do that kind of stuff.
Construction-wise, the first thing we can borrow is to vacuum the fiber; those cars don't have any excess resin in them.
right on Bill... those are great years... the single and double bullets
Rolex 24 at Daytona was two weeks ago, went up with my son and had a great time. First race on the new surface (oval only, they didn't resurface the infield road course portion). A few from midday Saturday, before the cars roll off...
The new not-yet-for-sale 1-series M Coupe, in safety car garb.
Turner Motorsports M3, getting wrenched pre-grid.
And from the vintage exhibit, an absolute gem of a Ferrari.
Some photos from few years ago. Irish D1 drifting.
Some colour
Fresh rubber
And the most recent…this is our version of Oval Racing…hehe…
When did they let tractors in the oval? Did that CASE 750MX lap the guy in the YUGO?