[9KK9fan4ever]

Racerduck,

Your explination on wedge was very good. My understanding was that when you make a wedge adjustment, you are moving the weight diagionally. You said that the weight transfers from the LR to the RR, so am I incorrect or is it also moving the weight diagionally across the car. I always listen to Kasey Kahnes audio (through nascar.com trackpass) and they frequently will adjust the wedge in the LR. I think I understand what the wedge does in the RR, for example Kahne's crew cheif will say ok lets go 1 up RR, will that make the car looser? Also when you go 1 round up is that taking weight off the RR and moving it diagionally across the LF? Or is it just moving the weight from the RR to the LR? My understanding is that it will move the weight that you took from the RR and move it to the LR and LF tires. I really would like to figure out what wedge means 100%, I know taking wedge out frees the car, and putting wedge in tightens the car, but I am curious to how the weight moves to the different corners of the car when you make a wedge adjustment.

Thanks for any help in figuring out the wedge

[Bob Tanner]

OK, Experts, I have a question. It's probably not what we had in mind when we started this thread but it's NASCAR connected and it's bothered me since I first saw it last season. If anyone has any ideas on the answer I'd appreciate hearing (seeing) them.

In the Sony DLP commercial you have a little girl with a magical box of light, the DLP #96 car, Tony Raines, Phillippe Lopez (his former crew chief), and an elephant. My question is what is the elephants purpose in the ad? He doesn't do anything; he makes no noise; he merely stands there, filling up the screen while doing absolutely nothing except slightly moving his trunk?

This one has bothered me since I saw it first aired last season. I think I know a bit about advertising, picture content, and even a little about the theory of refracted light. But I admit a total loss as to the reason behind the stupid elephant! Does anyone have any ideas which might enlighten me?

Thank you.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by 9KK9fan4ever

Racerduck,

Your explination on wedge was very good. My understanding was that when you make a wedge adjustment, you are moving the weight diagionally. You said that the weight transfers from the LR to the RR, so am I incorrect or is it also moving the weight diagionally across the car. I always listen to Kasey Kahnes audio (through nascar.com trackpass) and they frequently will adjust the wedge in the LR. I think I understand what the wedge does in the RR, for example Kahne's crew cheif will say ok lets go 1 up RR, will that make the car looser? Also when you go 1 round up is that taking weight off the RR and moving it diagionally across the LF? Or is it just moving the weight from the RR to the LR? My understanding is that it will move the weight that you took from the RR and move it to the LR and LF tires. I really would like to figure out what wedge means 100%, I know taking wedge out frees the car, and putting wedge in tightens the car, but I am curious to how the weight moves to the different corners of the car when you make a wedge adjustment.

Thanks for any help in figuring out the wedge

9KK9Fan4ever, I like your handle. Let's see if I can simplify this wedge thing.

As I said before "wedge" is also called "cross weight" and is measured as a percentage of the total weight of the car. It is the sum of the weight on the LR and the RF divided by the total weight.

Understanding how the weight transfer works when you adjust the wedge requires some imagination. So, imagine you have a big "X" (go ahead, make a big one on a sheet of paper .. I'll wait....) and if you label the ends of each leg of the "X" beginning at the upper left and proceding clockwise with the following: "LF", "RF", "RR" and "LR"; we now have a model of sorts that represents the chassis of the race car with each of the leg ends representing the "corners". One last thing, at the center of the "X" where the two lines cross, put "CG" for "center of gravity". The weight at the CG never changes 'cause it's the sum of the weights at the contact points that I call "corners"

Now, imagine that "X" is rigid and won't bend. So, if I lift one corner, at least one other corner will also raise as will the "CG", gravity holding the remaining corner(s) down.

Now, imagine I place the "X" on 4 points that are spring loaded so they are always touching the leg ends. If i press down on one "corner" the diagonally opposite corner will go up, or in different terms, the "X" will rotate around the axis represented by the diagonal I did not touch, i.e., I push down on "LR", then "RF" will go up while "RR" and "LF" remain where they are. The primary point to understand is the chassis rotates around the two axis represented by the diagonals of the "X".

What I do with wedge is "pre-load" the "LR" and the "RF" so that they "weigh" more than the other two corners combined. The total weight at "CG" never changes, but I can move my pre-load around to suit my needs. The two other needs I have are for specific pecentages of "left side" weight and "rear" weight. When I adjust the "pre-loads" on each corner so that simultaneously I have achieved my cross, left, and rear weights, my car is now setup to race with predictable results.

How do I "preload" the corners? Simple, each corner has a spring and one end of the spring is attached to the axle and the opposite end of the spring is attached to the chassis. However, where the spring attaches to the chassis I have an adjuster that will compress or decompress the spring by turning a bolt in or out. As I turn the bolt in (clockwise) I compress the spring which increases the load on that corner of the chassis. Turning the bolt out does the opposite.

When I make setup adjustments I always work with pairs of adjusters. For instance, if I am attempting to increase the rear weight, I can either raise the front of the car or lower the rear of the car. I do that by raising or lowering the adjuster bolts for either the front or rear corners. Anytime I raise a side of the car, I also raise the CG. This is important to remember because the higher the CG, the more weight will transfer dynamically (as the car turns and brakes or accelerates.)

When I do cross adjustments for setup I always work with all 4 corners at the same time. Here's how I do it: If I am increasing the cross, I will turn the LR and RF adjusters in an equal number of turns, then turn the LF and RR out the same number of turns. In other words, as I put weight on the LR+RF pair, I'm also taking an equal amount off the RF+LR pair. I do this so I don't change the left or rear percentages.

"What are some typical numbers?" you ask. Let's go with a 3500 lb car with 55% cross, 55% left and 52% rear, a typical setup. This is fully fueled with the driver in the seat with all his/her equipment. When I do the calculations I get the following amounts on the corners: LF=840 RF=840 RR=735 LR=1085. These figures produce 1925 left, 1820 rear and 1925 cross (representing my 55% left, 52% rear and 55% cross, respectively). By placing the car on a set of scales and adjusting the adjusters I can setup the car for different tracks (along with changes in shocks and springs) so that the car reacts predictably without over reacting. For example a high banked track like Talladega requires very strong springs while flat track like Martinsville produces better results with soft springs.

If you're mathematically inclined you can devise a formula to compute the individual corner weights, or you can create a spread sheet which does the computations for you, or you can purchase a program for your laptop that'll do the work. For the promise of a cool beverage when we meet, I'll be happy to send you the formulas I created years ago when I was a practicing math wiz. But unless you're a geek or actually have a race car, why bother?

So what happens to the weight when you make an adjustment at the track? Let's use your example where the adjustment is made at the LR. If I turn the adjuster one turn in (clockwise) I am adding weight to both the LR & the RF because as I'm pressing down harder on the LR, I'm also lifting the LR which transfers some weigh to the RF (the "X" rotates on the LF-RR axis.) it's not important at this point to know the exact number of pounds transfered, what you want to know is how it will affect the car, right? When you increase cross weight (or "Wedge") you tighten the car which means the front looses traction and the rear gains traction. Decreasing cross weight has the opposite effect: the front gains traction and the rear looses traction.

Now, if I went to the RR corner, instead, and took out a turn I'd also be increasing the cross weight by lightening the load on the LF & RR. But I need to make sure I'm in the "wedge" hole rather than the "track bar" hole because If I raised the right side of the track bar one turn I'd make the car tighter under braking but looser under power ('cause I raised the rear CG.) As you can see, this is not the effect I was after by adjusting the wedge.

I hope this simplified explanation (along with your wonderful drawing which is suitable for framing) provided the exact amount of information needed to clear up the "wedge" mystery in your mind. If not, fire back and I'll try a different way of explaining it.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

OK, Experts, I have a question. It's probably not what we had in mind when we started this thread but it's NASCAR connected and it's bothered me since I first saw it last season. If anyone has any ideas on the answer I'd appreciate hearing (seeing) them.

In the Sony DLP commercial you have a little girl with a magical box of light, the DLP #96 car, Tony Raines, Phillippe Lopez (his former crew chief), and an elephant. My question is what is the elephants purpose in the ad? He doesn't do anything; he makes no noise; he merely stands there, filling up the screen while doing absolutely nothing except slightly moving his trunk?

This one has bothered me since I saw it first aired last season. I think I know a bit about advertising, picture content, and even a little about the theory of refracted light. But I admit a total loss as to the reason behind the stupid elephant! Does anyone have any ideas which might enlighten me?

Thank you.

I only have a guess: the elephant is there to keep the tigers away. So far it seems to be working.

[LSC9901]

DLP Believes In Elephants





It's a well-known fact that elephants make advertising better. DLP also knows this. That's why their new commercial, entitled "Believe," appears to feature an elephant for no apparent reason. J. Walter Thompson, San Francisco did the spot and must have let DLP in on the elephant thing.

With this commercial, DLP adds their name to the long and distinguished list of pachyderm lovers. GE loves tap dancin' elephants, Bombay Sapphire loves nimble elephants, Skippy peanut butter loves rappin' elephants and TheGlobalFund.org loves elephants in any room.

All these creative use of elephants make using an elephant to promote a Zoo seem so cliché.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by LSC9901

DLP Believes In Elephants





It's a well-known fact that elephants make advertising better. DLP also knows this. That's why their new commercial, entitled "Believe," appears to feature an elephant for no apparent reason. J. Walter Thompson, San Francisco did the spot and must have let DLP in on the elephant thing.

With this commercial, DLP adds their name to the long and distinguished list of pachyderm lovers. GE loves tap dancin' elephants, Bombay Sapphire loves nimble elephants, Skippy peanut butter loves rappin' elephants and TheGlobalFund.org loves elephants in any room.

All these creative use of elephants make using an elephant to promote a Zoo seem so cliché.

Thank you, Steve. I knew that I was missing something and it bothered the crap out of me.

BTW, what site did you find this at? I'd like to bookmark it; it's the kind of site which obviously can reguritate up some trivial, useless but [to me] interesting information.

A sincere thanks again.

[LSC9901]

Got a PM headed your way right now Bob

[Janet4361]

Gosh, someone sure knows his stuff. Here's one that may stump you. Why is Darrell Waltrip not going to be broadcasting anymore? Thanks in advance. Janet

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by Janet4361

Gosh, someone sure knows his stuff. Here's one that may stump you. Why is Darrell Waltrip not going to be broadcasting anymore? Thanks in advance. Janet

I'm only kidding but would the correct answer be that my prayers have been answered ????

[Tuck4Bama]

Originally Posted by Janet4361

Gosh, someone sure knows his stuff. Here's one that may stump you. Why is Darrell Waltrip not going to be broadcasting anymore? Thanks in advance. Janet

Because his contract is with FOX

[Tuck4Bama]

Originally Posted by Janet4361

Gosh, someone sure knows his stuff. Here's one that may stump you. Why is Darrell Waltrip not going to be broadcasting anymore? Thanks in advance. Janet

I see this is your first post. Welcome to GoTeamsGo. We look forward to reading your pposts for a long time to come.

Again welcome aboard

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by Tuck4Bama

Because his contract is with FOX

I can't believe I'm this dense, but....

What, exactly, are we talking about? DW out of broadcasting -or- the annual "hand-off" between networks is at hand?

[Racer Duck]

Welcome Janet4361.

I hope you enjoy our banter at the NASCAR forum on GoTeamsGo and please feel free to jump right in .. the water's fine.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by Janet4361

Gosh, someone sure knows his stuff. Here's one that may stump you. Why is Darrell Waltrip not going to be broadcasting anymore? Thanks in advance. Janet

DW no longer broadcasting...???!!!
Oh, be still, foolish heart!

[Tuck4Bama]

I have a quesion. At one time I was told that all cars ran a Ford differential for the ease of changing ring gears. Is that true and does it still apply?