[Sorenson41Fan]

hey, sorry if this is too noobish a question but what's the deal on shifting at martinsville ... i assume drivers have to downshift in the corners, right? can anyone tell me what is the sequence, is it just between 4 in the straights and 3 in the corners, or do they go down to 2, or what

i know boris said raced the 9 car in the first martinsville bush race this year, i assume for his shifting expertise (i know, because i'm expecting delivery of a piece of that car's sheetmetal next week hehe)

do different drivers do it differently? if you geared the car right could you get by with no shifts or would you definitely blow up your engine.

thanks guys!

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Sorenson41Fan

hey, sorry if this is too noobish a question but what's the deal on shifting at martinsville ... i assume drivers have to downshift in the corners, right? can anyone tell me what is the sequence, is it just between 4 in the straights and 3 in the corners, or do they go down to 2, or what

i know boris said raced the 9 car in the first martinsville bush race this year, i assume for his shifting expertise (i know, because i'm expecting delivery of a piece of that car's sheetmetal next week hehe)

do different drivers do it differently? if you geared the car right could you get by with no shifts or would you definitely blow up your engine.

thanks guys!

I think the only actual shifting they do is when they start and restart the race. The rest of the time they are set in one gear and using the brake alot. That's why they talk up brake usage so much. Boris' shifting expertise comes into play at the road courses. He's been trying to get a ride in the cup series.

[nascarfan24]

yeah i think they stay in 4th around the whole thing

[Sorenson41Fan]

thanks guys. i guess that's where the massive torque comes in handy.

[Jean Costa]

Originally Posted by nascarfan24

yeah i think they stay in 4th around the whole thing

yes for all the races excluding the Road courses, they stay in 4th gear. They used to shift at pocono but now they made that gear rule change so they dont shift.

[Souporscotty]

They should just put automatics in them so the gurls can drive.

[clutch]

Originally Posted by Sorenson41Fan

thanks guys. i guess that's where the massive torque comes in handy.

glad you mentioned that, did you notice how much the front end would lift when they put their foot into it.
I especially noticed it with Kurt Busch and thought it was unusal how much travel the front end did, but they all seemed to rise

[Dupont4five]

Originally Posted by Souporscotty

They should just put automatics in them so the gurls can drive.

if they do that it'll be like Daytona, it'll take them like 5 laps to get up to speed

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Dupont4five

if they do that it'll be like Daytona, it'll take them like 5 laps to get up to speed

That's restrictor plates. Automatics just mean once the tranny goes, that's it. No replacing a gear and returnin to the race.

[Dupont4five]

Originally Posted by Quality88

That's restrictor plates. Automatics just mean once the tranny goes, that's it. No replacing a gear and returnin to the race.

yeah but the difference between stick and automatic is that automatic takes WAY much longer to accelerate.

[Sorenson41Fan]

Originally Posted by Jean Costa

yes for all the races excluding the Road courses, they stay in 4th gear. They used to shift at pocono but now they made that gear rule change so they dont shift.

That's interesting, what was the rule change, can someone explain how that changed the Pocono shifting deal?

[nascarfan24]

yeah i wondered that too?

[Dupont4five]

Originally Posted by Sorenson41Fan

That's interesting, what was the rule change, can someone explain how that changed the Pocono shifting deal?

I think they made a ratio change to the gears, so if the drivers tried to downshift in the corners the car will be way to high in RPM's and downshifting will be pointless and can harm the engine big time.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by nascarfan24

yeah i think they stay in 4th around the whole thing

I believe they stay in 2nd or 3rd gear with an equivalent of a 4:56 or a 5:18 rear gear. At Martinsville I believe the rev limiters kick in at about 9500 RPM's. Nevada can probably give the exact ratio's and red line on this one; it's been years since I've played with stock cars and I could be waaaay off with my estimated ratios and gears.

[Sorenson41Fan]

Originally Posted by Dupont4five

I think they made a ratio change to the gears, so if the drivers tried to downshift in the corners the car will be way to high in RPM's and downshifting will be pointless and can harm the engine big time.

well i thought that the teams were free to choose their own gear ratios ... did that not use to be the case? or maybe there were certain limits.

i don't even know why i care so much ... i guess it beats working