hapaboy

just heard about this. kinda sucks.


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Though results of recent dynamometer tests showed greater parity between the Nationwide Series engines of Toyota and those of other manufacturers, NASCAR issued a technical bulletin informing teams of a rule change that will reduce Toyota's horsepower.

"At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes. Unless otherwise authorized, the carburetor restrictor will be issued by NASCAR."
-- Amendment to Section 20A -- 5.10.4, Nationwide Series Rule Book

The effect of the change is to limit air flow to the engine, thereby reducing horsepower, by narrowing the diameters of holes in the tapered spacer NASCAR introduced into the series this year. Installed at the intake of an engine, the spacer functions as a restrictor plate. The smaller the holes in the spacer, the lower the horsepower.

Specifically, the rule change requires engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more to run a tapered spacer with four holes measuring 1.100 inches each in diameter, compared with the 1.125-inch holes previously required. Toyota engines currently are the only ones in use in the Nationwide Series that feature a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more.

NASCAR's intent with the rule change is to balance competition. Toyota has won 14 of 21 Nationwide races this season, with cars fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing accounting for 13 victories. The No. 20 JGR Camry has won nine times, with four different drivers behind the wheel.

Toyota, which debuted in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series simultaneously last season, has its new engine package in place in NASCAR's "Triple-A" league. Eventually, NASCAR expects Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge to follow suit and upgrade their engine packages in the Nationwide Series.

"Eventually, all teams that upgrade to new engine packages will be subject to this rule modification," NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said Wednesday in a release describing the rule change. "Over the years in our sport, we've taken steps on numerous occasions to help maintain a level playing field among our competitors, and we will continue to do so."

Dan Deeringhoff, crew chief for series points leader Clint Bowyer's No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, believes the rule change will reduce the Toyota engines' power output by approximately 10-12 horsepower and bring them in line with engines of other manufacturers.

"We all made gains in the last few weeks trying to squeeze a little extra horsepower out of our engines," Deeringhoff said. "I just wish it hadn't taken them so long [to change the rule]."

Dyno tests after the June 21 race at The Milwaukee Mile revealed a significant horsepower advantage for Toyota over Ford and Chevrolet. Toyota's peak horsepower number was 632, compared with 611 for Ford, 612 for Chevrolet and 628 for Dodge.

After the July 11 race at Chicagoland Speedway, NASCAR took 10 engines -- three Toyotas, three Chevys, two Fords and two Dodges -- to its Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C., for further evaluation. The engine from David Reutimann's No. 99 Toyota was the top performer, but top-to-bottom, the test produced a much narrower range than the numbers from the Milwaukee test.

Persistent lobbying by drivers of other car makes, particularly Chevrolet, helped draw attention to Toyota's horsepower advantage. Bowyer was one of the more vocal protesters, saying at one point that "a monkey could drive that 20 car and win."

That wasn't lost on Dave Rogers, crew chief for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

"It was obvious there was a campaign," Rogers said Saturday at Gateway International Raceway, where his Toyota ran second to Carl Edwards' Ford. "You had every team of a certain manufacturer [Chevrolet] singing the same song. If you've never seen a campaign before, there one is."


http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/head...ent/index.html

drink300

I am so glad they are finally doing something about this. Now maybe we can do something about Kyle Busch and his car. No way that kid is that much better than everyone else week in and week out. No way!

tcrow31

iTrader: (6)

Doesn't really suck. The whole point to stock car racing is to keep all cars fairly even when it comes to HP. The whole point to the race is a good driver and more so a good team and strategy.

ffpowerLN

iTrader: (1)

I am not a Kyle Busch fan myself but I do enjoy watching him kick butt with the Number 18 M&M Camry every week. Even Brian Vickers are doing fairly well with the Red Bull Team now... Hey Chevy & Ford, how come you aren't laughing anymore?

mmarshall

I blame the racing teams and auto manufacturers themselves for allowing NASCAR to dictate so many terms. What is needed is a series of well-placed strikes, and refusals of the drivers, teams, and manufacturers to race AT ALL until NASCAR removes many of the current restrictions (such as carburator restrictor plates).

NASCAR will never change its current dictatorial policies until someone hits them where it hurts.....in their pocketbook. The whole idea of races is for cars to RACE...not be hamstrung with a bunch of nanny engine regs.

mmarshall

But then you don't have a RACE.....you have nanny-regulated laps that keep everybody bunched up together like sardines. And it is also needlessly dangerous.......one tap of a guy's bumper leads to 20 cars spinning out and crashing.

tcrow31

iTrader: (6)

Well if some real racing is what you want then watch Le Mans which I prefer over stock car racing. However I do understand why they have them restricted as such. They want the races to more than just the cars with most HP to win. They want this to be more focused on team and strategy. Also not to mention if all the cars were all spread apart then stock car racing would be even more boring than it is already. For me the best time to watch a stock car race is when its down to the last five laps and you have 3 cars neck and neck fighting for first.

RON430

I sure don't dislike Kyle Busch and if he has been getting an unfair advantage, well, that is what racing, all forms of racing, is all about. But lordamighty was Kyle Busch entertaining to watch at Sears Point. I'm not sure how many times he had all four tires on the ground at the same time. Most entertaining road racing I've seen in a long time. Just a shame there wasn't anybody in the field that came close to his performance. If he'd just quit reading the press and believing he has to put on some "bad guy" persona he could just settle down and let people decide he is a pretty entertaining guy to watch in a race car. Which is what it is all about when you are deciding how to spend your entertainment dollars.

spwolf

difference between dodge and toyota is 3hp... large difference?

Why dont Ford and Chevy create better engines?

spwolf

p.s. how many races did dodge win with their engine which is 10hp stronger than ford/chevy? Hp isnt everything

Indio

iTrader: (1)

Not true, if Nascar wanted the races based on teams then the well funded ones (Hendrick, Gibbs, Childress etc.) would win every week, and strategy is not racing, it's strategy, Nascar has done this for decades and I have never liked it, the series for ALL things equal except driver is called the IROC series, at least it was, instead of restricting Toyota or any other manufacturer for that matter let the other teams catch up, Chevy has the SP2 engine package awaiting approval from Nascar, Dodge and Ford's new engines are very close, this is the way to level the field and justify the manufacturers investment and the hard work and research of the race teams.

Scythe

if all cars have to have the same horsepower, what is the point of even having different companies produce these cars, they should just make the same car over and over and have different drivers drive them.... the idea of a RACE is whoever is the FASTEST wins... that means the best driver and the best engine.
Bowyer sounds like an idiot saying that "even a monkey could win in that car". Why not make your engine able to keep up with the toyota? thats like taking the marathon and saying everyone has to run at the same speed or else its not fair...

um, whichever team builds the best car, drives it the best, has the best strategy, and the best pit crew.. should win. If my car has 10 hp more than yours, but my pit crew is x amount slower... it evens out, fk i wont even argue it, its just plain stupid, no car can be faster than the other? it all relies upon the driver? the driver is an essential key to any race team but cmon, *****ing over 10 hp? stupid imo

hapaboy

you forgot about the engineers. to american manufacturers this has been the proving ground for new technologies. toyota spent OVER a million dollars to revamp the killed engine of last year, and now NASCAR is pulling their card again.

many in the media and sport believe that nascar should give the american manufacturers time to 'catch up'. not penalize great technology within the given rules.

the only strategy that works is get in front and stay in front. this is not F1. cars crash on the second lap and hit you, what good is your strategy now?

Scythe

^^ exactly, what is the point of engineering a good engine and outdoing your competition when NASCAR is just going to say - oh, your too fast, you have to lower your horsepower. If that is the case, then they should all run the same car, which would create no incentive for any company to try to outdo eachother

this pisses me off

TrendyTodd

iTrader: (6)

+1