Watched some stupid NASCAR race today. Is there any more pointless sport out there? Why sit inches off the bumper of the car in front at 200+mph and not try to overtake?

I think it’s like, the most exciting, like, car racing thing, like, ever!

I would be too tempted to brake test the guy behind.

Pursuit cycling? Try to avoid racing for as long as possible.
Cricket? Play for 4 days and STILL end up with a draw?

it’s all drafting and witch craft. they play some mad strategy for 500miles to do with fuel/tyres and then have a fight of whos made it to the last 10 laps or so?

It’s not like F1 is any more interesting.

I would be too tempted to brake test the guy behind.

Remember the ker-fuffle last time somebody suggested that on here!? 🙄

loddrik – Member
It’s not like F1 is any more interesting.

Erm, yeah it is.
And that’s saying something!

Brake test = AWESOME flounce.

What amazes me is that nascar’s the biggest spectator sport in the world. Some of the races get 400k + people just at the stadium, mental.

If you rate the attendance on the combined IQ of the crowd it isn’t that massive. 😉

Nascar’s great. We always criticize things we don’t understand.

I think it’s a bit like mountainbiking on tv, it loses something in the translation. Actually being there, with the sound and smell of a couple of dozen two-ton cars draughting each other at 180mph with the ever-present possibility of a car being nudged sideways then catapulting into the air shedding body parts all over the track has a fair bit to do with it.
Personally, I rather enjoy watching NASCAR races, but I was into US muscle cars and hot rods in my teens, and still enjoy the sound of a big V8 being hammered hard.
Modern NASCAR cars are pretty tame compared to these:

NEVER MIND MOTO GP IS BACK SOOON PROPER RACING. 🙂

Surrounded By Zulus – Member
… Is there any more pointless sport out there? Why sit inches off the bumper of the car in front at 200+mph and not try to overtake?

Training circuit for Audi drivers?

You can only drive Nascar if your daddy drove NASCAR

the most pointless thing ever ? A SINGLE SPEED mountain bike 👿 why why why

The lack of understanding suggest not many people here ever got behind the wheel of a nice 7 to 8 litre hot V8 🙂

Richard Petty, nice 😉

Yeah NASCAR is a but silly in some ways but it’s a great spectacle. They don’t braketest because drafting makes both cars faster.

They don’t braketest because drafting makes both cars faster.

Are you saying that when you have two cars, car A, and car B, that if car B drafts car A, car A will go quicker?

I call BS. Unless they are actually touching, and car B is pushing car A.

Sorry Realman, clubber’s right!

Trailing vortices, eddies and all that stuff slows a car down loads so having a car right on its bumper WILL make Car A faster.

Good ol’ physics.

Exactly. Even a casual viewing of Days of Thunder would have told you that 😉

Hmmm, ok. Just read this

That same reduction also benefits the lead car as the presence of the trailing car reduces the pressure drag off the back of the lead car. The result is a speed increase for both drivers.

Can’t really understand or visualize it at all, but I guess I can accept it is true.

Topical – two car drafting http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89487

Realman – if you imagine one car driving fast, it leaves a hole in the air which basically sucks the car back, slowing it down. With a second car right behind, that hole is smaller so there’s less drag overall.

To a much lesser extent the same happens in road racing.

Yup, Clubber’s spot on, you can have a train of cars running faster than a single car due to the aerodynamics

Then there’s bump drafting, whilst drafting the car ahead give it a little nudge, the car in front’s speed increases as does yours as you’re in the tow

Bump drafting can also cause the car in front to lose rear end grip and spin out @ 200mph. muhahahaha….

Its the “world championship” of NASCAR

never mind that real man draft your mates and then use science to explain how you are helping them to be faster 😉

I shall tell that to the next roadie on my commute who gets huffy with me for sitting on their arse. Thanks for the tip, JY! 😉

might watch Taladega nights now!

<French accent>Rickeee Bubby

Nascar is great, more overtaking in one race of nascar than a full seaon of F1. Watch the Daytona 500 from two years ago (2008). It was won on the final lap and at the time anyone of six guys could have won it going into teh final straight.

Bump drafting takes a lot of skill and trust, it makes teh front car fastest and means that all the cars behind are using less power to do the same speed. Hence the slingshot pass. Again watch the race a mentioned above its a great example.

NASCAR is great if your there aswell. Much better than F1. It maybe american but its the biggest spector sport on earth by a long way. Americans love there motorsport, indy is the biggest F1 race of teh calender aswell. Americans now how to put on a show and NASCAR is the bigest of them all. the superbowl being the biggest one off.

Wrong. TdF is the biggest. FACT (really)

Fwiw NASCAR has too much overtaking for me (eg it’s too easy to do) but each to their own.

NEVER MIND MOTO GP IS BACK SOOON PROPER RACING

I’d normally agree with you however last year was a bit of a snoozathon.

Let’s hope the rider swaps in the top teams spice things up a bit this year.

or football or cricket if you mean armchair spectators
A billion Indians help the cricket somewhat though

To the layman, the TfF looks totally pointless, I mean, they just ride along in a bunch right? Obviously there’s more to it than you see on the surface.

Its the same with NASCAR.