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Re: [Phys-l] racing



Mario Andretti's crash during a practice lap at Indy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMeE9NAh60I

He hit a tiny piece of debris at over 200 mph which launched him into the air where he flipped end over end several times. He walked away with a scratch on his chin.

Paul


On Oct 25, 2011, at 1:30 PM, chuck britton wrote:

I'm always 'amused' by front-wheel-drive cars that have rear
spoilers, purely as 'appearance items'.

Check out the videos from the Los Vegas 'Indy' racers smashup a week+
ago (Sunday). These seem to have gone airborne because of your stated
reasons. (Other cars, turbulence)

NASCAR added a rear flap in the roof some years back that drastically
cut down on 'going airborne' when a car would flip around backwards
on the track.
Previously when sliding backwards it was VERY common for the
lightweight rear end to 'catch the wind' and flip up into the air.

I wonder if the Open-Wheel / Open-Cockpit racers will have better
driver protection mandated after the Los Vegas death.

Simple physics formulae tell us that the friction force is
independent of contact area.
Race cars and bike racers know differently.
.
At 2:15 PM -0400 10/25/11, Anthony Lapinski wrote:
I'm teaching about friction now and a discussion came up about race cars.
I mentioned that these cars usually have a spoiler on the back end so that
air pushes down on the fast car, which increases the apparent weight,
which increases the frictional force. This is good as it makes the car
accelerate more on straight track and more stable on turns

Kids mentioned that race cars can "flip over" if they go too fast. My
question is how does a race car flip over going fast on a long stretch of
straight track.? Ignoring the spoiler, aren't these cars designed so that
they will grip the road better due to the aerodynamics? Or do most cars
become airborne due to interactions with other cars or air currents on the
track?

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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l