In Nascar what does it mean to be loose in and tight off a turn?

Answer 1

All of the changes are aimed pretty much at how the car handles in the turns. This is where you can gain a lot of ground, or lose a lot of ground. Of course, a really loose car is also no picnic to drive on the straights either. The kind of adjustment depends on what the car is doing (or not doing). And its what the crew chiefs get paid the big bucks for knowing :) Whether or not it is easier to fix a tight condition or a loose condition depends on what is causing it. The hard part is to not over adjust. Lets start with the easiest and fastest adjustment: tire pressure. One pound of air is approximately equal to 20 pounds of spring pressure. That's why air pressure adjustments are in such small increments. Although there is a mandatory lowest air pressure (depending on the track and the tire) teams want to run as low as they can because the tire will "stick" to the track better. Since a tire is an air spring, raising tire pressure is the same as increasing the strength of the suspension spring. Increasing spring rate beyond the optimum reduces the mechanical grip of that corner of the car. Loose is often corrected by adding pressure to the right front, while a tight condition is corrected by increasing the right rear. Due to the asymmetric nature of oval racing, the opposite is true for the left-side tires. Spring rubbers: What a spring rubber actually does is connect the coils to coils in the springs, which drives the spring rate up and makes it stiffer. Spring rubbers come in various and hardness levels for precise corrections. The decision is based on whether the car is tight or loose. Typically they are put in the right front to tighten the car up. They are put in the left front to make the car turn better. Spring rubbers have little 'handles' attached to them so it is a matter of a second or two to pop one out. Track-bar adjustments are also a quick adjustment. The track bar is an element of the suspension that connects to the rear axle and to the frame of the car. The track bar keeps the tires centered within the car (rear roll center). Lowering the track bar will tighten the car; raising the track bar will loosen the car. When a driver complains about needing more forward bite - the ability to accelerate off the corner, the adjustment would be to lower the track bar. When the driver complains about needing more side bite - the ability to get through the corner quicker, the adjustment would be to raise the track bar. Wedge is the amount of the car's weight carried by the left rear and right front tires. Increasing wedge helps the left rear tire's grip. This allows the driver to power out exiting the turn, but hurts corner-entry response. If the car is "loose off," the team may add wedge.