Two Guys Rally

Why Is NASCAR Dominant?

When there are such awesome things like Rally in the world, why is NASCAR the dominant motorsport in the United States? That is a question I’ve been asking myself, along with “What made NASCAR become so popular in the first place?”.

I’ve found a few points that make it so popular:

It is easy to spectate. Hillclimbs and Rally Races are hard to spectate. You have to go out to the middle of nowhere and bring a seat and your own beverages. NASCAR lets you come to a stadium where you can park, buy tickets and sit in a stadium style seat where you can easily order beverages or pick them up.

Many times people will go to a NASCAR race to support their favorite driver (and have a nice day out). They get to watch their favorite driver go around every corner and crash if that happens. Stage races only allow a spectator at glimpses of the driver throughout the stages. So spectators may be disappointed with the amount of time they see their favorite driver(s).

Alcohol. So many of the NASCAR sponsors are alcohol related. Even a whole series was named after a shit beer. Alcohol is the biggest reason I think NASCAR is watched. It is an excuse to sit around, drink beer, eat some food and hang out with some buddies. This makes me wonder why many Rally races in the US remain alcohol free. I get the safety part of it, but at least push for alcohol in some areas if it will make the sport more popular. The rallies in Europe have some trouble with alcohol, but then again, look at how popular they are.

Marketing. NASCAR was almost tailor built for advertising and sponsorships. This resulted in a positive feedback loop between the sponsors and NASCAR. Promote NASCAR and your stuff gets promoted too. So the marketing teams of many many companies worked with NASCAR to help promote NASCAR and themselves. Really, it is an excellent business strategy where if NASCAR got huge, any sponsor would also get a ton more coverage. I am quite sure this is what Rally America is hoping to do with Rally. It has achieved a ton of coverage thanks to the X-Games, and Rally America is hugely responsible for that.

I’ve got some more ideas kicking around in my head, but most of them are infants. I’ll post some more about why NASCAR is so popular later.

But now I would like to hear what you think about what makes NASCAR the dominant race league in the US.

What Should I Use To Make a Mudflap

Since I am a poor college student I can’t afford things like predesigned, cut and tested mud flaps,I have to make my own. I’m curious if you have any insight into what I should use to make mud flaps with. Some current ideas have included: Old T-Shirts, Thick Vinyl (melt some records?), UHMW, Roommate’s toenail clippings with resin, rubber bands, cement, aluminum foil (layered duh) and, of course, cardboard.

Please comment with your ideas.

Suggest Us A Car

Hey, so Mark and I have been looking for cars we can afford (<$1000) to turn into a rally car. We need your suggestions but there are some rules:

1. 2WD - Most rally leagues dont let you start in an AWD
2. Less than 2.5L Displacement please
3. Car must be running
4. Street Legal (or workable into Street Legality)
5. Must be a Car, that means 4 wheels (no 3 wheelers or motorcycles)

Also we would like any suggestions as to the type of car you suggest we rally, even dream rally cars.

Ditch Gasoline?!

So Charles and I were talking about the engines in rally cars the other day, specifically how the horsepower in the WRC is limited to 300hp. If you have read my article on engine power and torque, you’ll realize that this means they have the option to make amazing amounts of torque at lower rpm while staying under that 300hp limit. It is possible to design a gasoline engine to stay close to 300hp for a good part of the rpm band. Just size the turbo right so that there is a lot of boost down low and use a control system to taper off the boost in higher rpm to not exceed the power limits, coupled with a well-configured camshaft profile and such.

This type of power output curve very closely resembles that of an electric motor. The most torque is seen at or very close to 0 rpm, with the power output being pretty constant through the rpm range. This torque makes an electric motor great for starting off the line, or coming out of slow corners with lots of acceleration. There is another aspect of an electric motor that makes it far superior for the responsiveness that rally racing requires: the power response is instantaneous. With an internal combustion engine (abbreviated ICE), the throttle valve opens when you push the pedal down. This allows more air to flow into the engine, the ECU will see this through various monitoring methods and inject for fuel to keep the mixture close to what is required for the conditions (usually around 12:1 to 14:1). Then the exhaust gas flows through the turbine wheel, makes the turbine and compressor spin faster, increasing the pressure in the intake, causing even more air to enter the engine, creating more power. As you can see, there are quite a few steps involved here. The throttle response of a typical ICE is considered to be pretty fast, which is why they are used in cars, but in comparison, the electric motor is much must faster.

Simply press the accelerator pedal (not a throttle anymore!), the power control circuitry will allow more current to flow through the motor, and the motor creates more torque. No waiting for air to accelerate into the engine, no waiting for the ECU to compensate for this extra air with more fuel, no waiting for the exhaust to flow past the turbine to spool it up. It’s nearly instantaneous in comparison.

There are quite a few other advantages to electric motors aside from this. The thermal efficiency is often >80%, while a typical high performance ICE will be lucky to get 15% efficiency out of the gasoline it burns. The overall package size and weight of the engine itself is greatly in favor of the electric motor. Same with reliability: a gasoline engine has a lot of moving parts from the crankshaft up to the valvetrain, while an electric motor just has the core that spins.

The two of us sat there and discussed this topic for quite a while, and realized how amazing it would be. There is just one significant technical hurdle left to overcome: the batteries. Getting the range and power output needed for a rally car will weigh a lot. However, it is definitely something to consider as a possibility for the future of rally racing. What do you think about it? What other unforeseen problems do you think there would be? We would really like to hear what you think.

Subaru Wheel Wells and Snow Accumulation

I had a problem this winter: whenever I would go out and play in the snow with my WRX, snow would be melted by the tires and refreeze on the wheel well. I was wondering if you could give me some insight in how to prevent this. So leave a comment, tell me how to fix my problems.

I was thinking that maybe a wax coating would prevent it from happening.