The future of NASCAR pit stops will be filled with a lot less lug nuts.
Officials from the sanctioning body announced that cars in the 2021 Cup Series will ditch the 15-inch, five-lug steel wheel in favor of a BBS 18-inch aluminum wheel featuring a single lug nut.
NASCAR Senior Vice President of Innovation and Racing Development John Probst does assure, however, that the "choreography of …
The single nut is interesting, as is using aluminum wheels.
But...I'm trying to imagine the learning curve for both NASCAR and F1 when they transition to low profile tires. That has to impact every single specification and adjustment in the car.
Guess no more lug nut cheating lol
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Sometime ago in the deep dark past I read that F1 cars were set up so hard most of the movement came from the tires.
Does the move to an 18" wheel mean the cars will get larger brakes?
In reply to Ian F :
That's a great question.
I find it somewhat odd to think that someone is concerned about and/or wouldn't like a "pit stop where people will be on their knees waiting for the car to come in."
Streetwiseguy said:The single nut is interesting, as is using aluminum wheels.
But...I'm trying to imagine the learning curve for both NASCAR and F1 when they transition to low profile tires. That has to impact every single specification and adjustment in the car.
I remember (barely) the transition to radials. That was carnageous, since the slip angle curve is much peakier on a radial, and the drivers were falling off the edge of grip instead of being able to overdrive and still come out okay.
It is peakier still with a low profile tire.
I can't wait to see what people build with the cast off wheels, spindles, and hubs. Aw yiss.
Stock car racing now with even less stock cars!
Snark aside, the prospect of watching people with deeper projects play with the cast offs for their toys will make for interesting youtube videos.
In reply to Error404 :
When was the last time a car (or heck a truck) came with 15" wheels and could fit a 275/60 tire?
Didn't they have a gun head that could run all 5 lugs simultaneously anyway?
I have a hard time believing that a single lug nut will take the same amount of time to change as five lug nuts. Unless there's some regulation about how many ugga duggas their impacts can put out.
Edit: I was typing as Duke posted. If he's right, that would explain the article's claim.
Appleseed said:I can wait to see what people build with the cast off wheels, spindles, and hubs. Aw yiss.
I'm already waiting for the ads.
In reply to Duke :
No.
They previously enacted a (controversial among teams) spec air gun to limit costs, so I would imagine that rule would carry over. Perhaps the new one will be a different design to work with the uber-lug, but it will probably still be a low-cost spec design, which I imagine may be why he thinks it will take almost as long as the 5-lug style.
Duke said:Didn't they have a gun head that could run all 5 lugs simultaneously anyway?
Lancia-Martini did in the 80s.
Even back then it looked like a single gun would be faster.
Annnnnd they've wrecked the test car.
https://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/fontana-test-next-gen-byron/4714667/
I'm old fashioned: I like my NASCAR's to have sheet metal and steel wheels. Oh and I want Smokey Yunick back while we're at it.
ha! whats next? IRS suspension? Non v8 cars? Lmao. A liiiiiiiittle late ASSCAR.
In reply to wae :
They aren't planning to allow anyone to kneel and wait for the cars as of now. There's too much chance for contact on pit road for that to be a good idea. From everything I've read so far stops shouldn't look much different than they currently do.
We'll see how easy it is to retrofit them onto my car
Duke said:Didn't they have a gun head that could run all 5 lugs simultaneously anyway?
There's a team in the Creventic endurance series that has a special 5 lug gun. I believe it's the team of Honda England employees. They are much faster at swapping tires than their competition.
Colin Wood said:
Who would have guessed that Cars 3 was prophetic:
In reply to Knurled. :
I can imagine that's part of the reason they made the move to larger wheels, it's a little closer to what you are likely to find on street cars.
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