Engineering Blog is Back

Welcome one and all back to the engineering blog....For those of you who don't know, I used to do one on the Uprising when I used to work as an engineer at RGM. I don't work there anymore, but the masses have spoken, so I am bringing it back.

Thought I'd start with a little diddy about tires since they were such an issue this week. The obvious question would be "How did they miss it so bad?" Unfortunately I have no idea. They obviously tire tested there, so it baffles me. I have been to one tire test in my career and they go a little something like this. It is usually a 2 day test with 3-4 different cars from different manufacturers. They are usually conducted at a circuit where there is a points race (as opposed to Milwaukee and Kentucky), so it is a valuable opportunity to put data acquisition on the car and learn some stuff at a track you will race at. That being said, Goodyear runs the test. You start the first day and make a couple of runs to make sure the car is ok and handles half way decent. You do this on a baseline set of tires. Then you put a new set of baseline tires on and make a long run. Then you come in and put another set on and make a long run. You do this until they run out of different compounds and constructions to test. Goodyear writes down driver comments and asses temperatures, and tire wear. After the test, I assume they use this data to pick the best tire that will last a fuel run and the driver will like.

A fuel run at Indy is probably 30-32 laps, so they were not even close. It would have been fun just to let them race instead of all the cautions. Some interesting strategies may have played out and perhaps a less obvious result would have been in order.

Off to get some beauty sleep now....Big offroad RC race tomorrow night.

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Comment by Turtle7 on August 11, 2008 at 2:31pm: Hi Jeremy:

The question I have is what sort of data feeds can the crew cheif get while he is on the pit box and during a race. Can he for instance get a feed from the TV, Dish or cable? What about from local radio? Can he get track pass or use the data from the fan hand held scanners at the track? Of course there is communications via cell phone and can PC's be networked via wireless?

It would be interesting to hear what the NASCAR rules are. Also, could the teams run a pit strategy model on the lap top in the box or any other racing type program.

Comment by Blues on August 1, 2008 at 10:06am: Thanks Jeremy, always good to hear your insight on things.

Comment by NIKAL on July 31, 2008 at 12:25am: Thank you Jeremy for deciding to continue to do a Engineering Blog. For me that was one of the best parts of the Uprising. I was hoping the Uprising would have been more about the technical side of the sport and RGM. But we all know how that went. Thanks again and I lok forward to more insite from you.

Comment by Alison on July 30, 2008 at 8:10pm: Thanks Jeremy...nice to have you here and your insight as well!

Comment by BigOlePig on July 30, 2008 at 7:59pm: Thanks Jeremy...glad to see you over here. Saw your auctions on eBay...wondered about ya!!

Comment by Texas SpeedDiva on July 30, 2008 at 12:03pm: Thanks for the insight Jeremy. Now I can yet again impress all my friends with my wealth of knowledge (gained from your insightful posts)

Comment by Randy on July 30, 2008 at 11:56am: Thanks Jeremy, keep up the posts, the insight is great. Also, good luck on the job hunt! If you know, does Goodyear pay the teams cost for the test, or do the teams pay their own way?

Comment by FlyHiFlyLo on July 30, 2008 at 11:50am: RG is testing right now at RA.

Sadler bagged it hard this morning.

RG probally unloaded, ran two laps and said it was good...

Comment by TOG on July 30, 2008 at 8:25am: Did you still have to use the WRANGLER brand tires when you tested? Also, Robby is at Road Atlanta this week testing, where you part of the first test he did there and since Robby has been getting stung by bad fuel mileage on road tracks,did you guys work on fuel runs or just flat out speed ?