A couple of days ago, I wrote that Carl Edwards' penalty seemed somewhat harsh for a missing oil tank cover, but new evidence has been revealed which casts a different light on this matter.
In an ESPN article today, Lee White (GM of Toyota Racing Development) quotes some very relevant figures. First, Toyota apparently tested the difference made by removing this cover (which apparently is a big triangular object inside the car, not just a standard circular screw-on cap) and their wind tunnel results were 170 pounds of downforce. White added that Edwards' crew can be seen during a pit stop making other modifications to increase downforce as well (by 70 pounds, according to Toyota's wind tunnel). I'm going to ignore why Toyota might have been testing these particular configuration. Jeff Burton agreed, saying from "past experience" that removing the oil tank lid increases downforce and decreases drag.
So Edwards illegally increased his downforce by around 200 lbs and slightly reduced his drag in a race where a tenth of a second per lap is a huge margin? Yeah, that sounds like cheating to me. Downforce is everything, allowing the car to turn better and maintain more speed through the corners, and a reduction in drag is obviously good. Edwards' team claims the cover shook loose through vibration during the race, but I haven't heard anything about finding the part in the bottom of the car, or wear on the part, or a stripped screw. Burton added that the mechanics are meticulous about checking every detail of every car. It looks like the #99 team got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, and they deserved every bit of that punishment.
March 7, 2008
Did Carl Edwards (and Team) Cheat?
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The fact that Toyota bothered to test the car without the mandated oil cover is enough to tell me that the teams were aware that it provided a great advantage. Granted, Edwards drives a Ford for Roush, but I assume all the teams knew that not having the cover is a great advantage.
As we've seen in other aspects of sports, this now calls his win in California into question. One thing I never understood is why Edwards is penalized 100 pts for cheating but those points are not proportionally distributed among those who finished behind him. That's not only punishment but it helps rectify the unfairness to the 2nd through 10th drivers.
"That's something that has gone on for a long time, particularly at Daytona and Talladega." --Burton
Now with the restrictor plates at those tracks, Vegas, Atlanta, and the other mid-size tracks actually run faster speeds some times.
Alright, physics boy, how does removing an object from the car increase downforce AND decrease drag? Did it provide lift? That's the only way I can figure it.
Answered my own question. Looks like without the cover, there's a vacuum created under the hood which would explain the increased downforce and reduced drag.
Its the housing for the oil tank and is open on the bottom, which in turn allows a vacuum to be created by the opening and air flow. The "cap" is really a thin metal plate.
It was a well known cheating trick and they got caught and tried to explain it away with weak mechanical excuses. I really think NASCAR found out they deliberately set the bolt up to fail or come unscrewed. All they had to do was put a smaller diameter bolt into the device that seemed to tighten down, but would pop out from harmonics during the race. Which could have been dangerous to cars following also.
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