– why does track temp affect Indy and Cup cars differently?

244 viewsOther

I may be wrong, but with Indy, higher track temperatures are better, otherwise it negatively impacts the way the car drives or something? But with Cup cars a lower track temps positively impacts the car? Is that because of the different weights of the cars and downforce?

In: Other

Anonymous 0 Comments

Track temperature is relative to the tires you are using. What you want to do is maximize the time spent in the best operating temperature of the tire. Tire too cold, not enough grip. Tire too hot, it will shred and degrade way too fast. Nascar and Indy car are not using the same rubber compound in their tires so the required temperature is different. Also, you said “higher track temp are better”, there is still a limit, it might be higher, but it can be too hot. You can easily see the effect of temperature oj tires in formula 1 since they have 3 different compounds per race. When they use the softest tire available, they have to bring them up to temperature slowly or else the tires will be done too quick. The harder tires, they have to push hard to get them to heat up before they are fast enough.

You are viewing 1 out of 1 answers, click here to view all answers.