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Re: Size of Indy car tire

 A.Cooke@roe.ac.uk writes:
 >
 >	this ought to be in a faq.  there was a good answer a while
 >	back (jim carr? jim someone else?) along the lines of...
 Yeah, which means I should have saved it.  Will comment later, maybe, 
 but I have stayed out since the other answers are pretty good.  Basically, 
 the friction constant isn't.  Take a look at 
    "http://reality.sgi.com/employees/rck/PhOR/"
 for the Physics of Racing documents or do your own experiments.  The 
 coefficient is not even the same front-to-back as sideways because 
 of the role of tire dynamics in 'traction'. 
 By the way, the best top fuel E/T was 4.665 (308.74 mph through 
 the timing trap) for the quarter mile (134.11 m) at Memphis. 
 Those performances continue to define just what a tire can do. 
 >	p.s.  indy car?  isn't that the competition they have in the
 >	states to let retired formula one drivers earn some spare
 >	cash?   :-)
 Nah, that's where they go when they discover the concept of passing.  ;-) 
 After they get that down, they might move up to NASCAR.  =8-0
     <followup to rec.autos.rant-and-rave?>
 I love F1, but I prefer to watch the time trials rather than the "race", 
 particularly since most of the feeds we see use only short clips of the 
 in-car camera during the race.  For real racing, you poor euro folks 
 ought to watch ESPN for a NASCAR race on a road course, since you can 
 do a lot more in closed wheel cars (like WSC) and the rules are designed 
 to have lots of close running (unlike WSC).  But the real thing is sprint 
 cars on a dirt track, or figure 8 racing.  The latter is almost as cool 
 as unlimited chain saw competition or street luge. 
 -- 
  James A. Carr   <jac@scri.fsu.edu>     |  Yesterday: high 97, low 75 F
     http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~jac/       |             dewpoint 73 (22 C) 
  Supercomputer Computations Res. Inst.  |  Near ideal training conditions 
  Florida State, Tallahassee FL 32306    |  for the British Olympic Team