Tabla de contenidos para September 2017 en Circle Track

EDITOR’S LETTER When scheming up ideas for this month’s column, I looked back at what I wrote for last September’s issue. I saw that I had told you some stories about my time in Spottersville and thought it might be a good time to break out some of those stories again. Of course, there will be a take-home point attached to this, so be ready for that. Hopefully, it provides you with some wisdom. If not, heck, these stories should be pretty entertaining I don’t necessarily consider myself a very dangerous person. I’m not the one behind the wheel of a race car. Unless the microphone goes on the fritz, or I get struck by lightning on top of a tower somewhere (wow, I really hope that doesn’t happen), my…

Moroso’s Got the Flow Moroso has introduced a new external, singlestage oil pump. It features a rear 3/8-inch hex fuel pump drive with 1:1 ratio that accepts the popular 1.450 inner diameter (ID) and threebolt, fuel pump swivel clamps. The pump is designed to be lightweight and efficient, as external oil pumps run cooler than internal pumps and also eliminate the spark scatter and camshaft loads that may arise with an internal pump. An external bypass allows easier adjustment, and it comes with all the necessary fittings. Moroso’s pump has a spur gear 1.200 pressure section. For more information, call (203) 453-6571 or visit www.moroso.com. Revolutionizing the REV The Rev2 Lite from NecksGen weighs in at only 1.2 pounds and carries the same level of protection and certifications as the…

Ty Majeski is a Midwest driver who is always at the front and wins a lot of races at a lot of different racetracks. There is a lot of talk around his neighborhood and across the country among other racers as to why. Of course, they want to know. Everyone wants to duplicate that success for themselves. Here, I will offer my opinion as to why Ty wins, and how he does it. It doesn’t matter whether you have ever heard of Ty, and if you are racing against him or not, this story and the subject matter will apply to everyone who has to race against dominant teams. I base my evaluation and conclusions on some 50 years of observing drivers, setting up cars, winning races and championships, and…

Racers are forever trying to find more forward bite. The problem is greater for higher hp motored cars than with the Crate Classes, but nonetheless, everyone experiences times when they could definitely use more bite to help them use more throttle off the corners. Over the years, these methods have changed somewhat, but the overall goal remains the same. Just what is that goal? It is to cause a mechanical change in the load distribution on the rear tires, so there will be a more equal loading of the two rear tires. It’s as simple as that. We have known forever that the more equally loaded a pair of tires, the more traction they will have. That is why cars running greater left-side weight go faster through the turns than…

When two surfaces must move against each other (whether in the presence of a lubricant or not), the heat produced represents energy lost to the process, which could otherwise be used productively. So reducing this energy loss becomes a plus to whatever system is involved. Now, that’s an academic perspective of what goes on in a running internal combustion engine. What may be helpful is to break this down into the various conditions that relate to power losses in such engines. Fundamentally, for an internal combustion engine, there are two basic friction categories: mechanical friction and pumping friction. Let’s begin our discussion by addressing mechanical friction. Mechanical friction could be defined as the resistance to movement of such mechanical parts as pistons, crankshafts, camshafts, and other similar components. Elementary physics…

Imagine you’re putting together your own engine. You’ve gone through the process of picking out the best products and are starting to put them together to build an awesome power plant. But then you notice something isn’t quite right. Now, you have to take apart the engine and start from scratch. Thankfully, our friends at Baril Engine Rebuilding won’t be letting that happen to our Project Modified Engine. They take the time to do a dry assembly on every engine they put together to make sure all the new components mesh together well. “The dry assembly is to make sure that everything clears with the brandnew components,” Larry Sannes from Baril says. “We want to be sure the connecting rod and crankshaft have clearance on the block and that it…

This is not your average, run-ofthe- wind tunnel aero story. Nope, this one you’ve most certainly never heard before. It is sure to shake up a few individuals in the industry who engage in the promotion of wind tunnels and extol the benefits thereof. This is for you, the racer, not the professors or proponents of the more conventional aero technology. It will make sense, and you’ll see my point, unless you have an agenda that unfairly contradicts this point of view. First off, these are not my thoughts or conclusions. Far from it, although, I have come to completely agree with them. This information comes from people deep within the aero design and engineering industry who, rather than teach the properties of aero, live the properties of aero. There…

You may recall last month’s episode about Smokey Yunick’s ongoing plights, he’d just been offered a crew chief’s job for the 1967 Indy 500. However, he was heavily involved with Chevrolet and his 1967 Chevelle project for NASCAR events. He’d been the fastest car at the Atlanta race and again at Daytona where the car sat on the pole amid a bunch of factorybacked Fords and Chrysler entries. So picture Smokey eating dinner by himself at an Atlanta motel where he’s approached by Goodyear’s Larry Truesdale and three of his lieutenants who simply want to talk with Smokey about Indy. But his response to their offer is not a typical Smokey reaction, at least based on prior history of such events. He [Truesdale] throws a 40grand check on the table,…