Re: [Phys-l] racing

[chuck britton <cvbritton@mac.com>]

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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