Okay,this post might be "out there",but does anyone think that if someone is passing you at the 1300 ft by 30 mph or more,that they can actually cause the slower car to speed up and break out?

First of all, congrats on a great weekend, Daryl!

Your 1000-1320 split is definitely a lot quicker in R6 than it was in R5, but so is your 660-1000 split. Even though your 1/8 MPH was down, you were charging harder all through the 2nd half in the final.

The semi-final round looks like the outlier of the event as far as the 2nd half of the racetrack is concerned.

In summary, no, I don't think the faster car whizzing by had an impact. Now, two cars of similar ET in a crosswind situation might be a different story.

I have a racing friend who swears it happens like swimmers that draft each other in races. I have never bought into it. We don't get to race 1/4 enough for me to prove or disprove him though.

Curtis

I suppose if the track is narrow enough there could be some side draft going on. ...ala Daytona and Talledega

Posible given perfect situation with big difference in mph. If they are passing you early enough to make difference would it really matter.

Does slower car being close to centerline push air into opponents lane cause more air drag? Does car in one lane block cross wind from effecting other car? Does tail wind help slower car more?

There is a local car, same as mine actually (Maverick)-when we run each other, we're both faster by a few hundredths. I keep all my time slips as well as logs, and every time I run that car, we both are a little faster. Consistently. Interesting. And we're about .3 apart in the 1/8 (me being the faster car).

cant answer your question ,but i watched the prepping at gateway and they would prep only the top end sometimes and back to the 1/8 some times and all of the way sometimes .and at least once maybe none. so maybe better traction once for you ?????

As I understand it, the side-drafting in NASCAR is not really "drafting" or getting a tow by being in the other car's aerodynamic wake. What's really going on is, the car slightly trailing the other car gets extremely close to the other car's door, forcing air that was riding between the cars to now ride over the leading car's rear spoiler, increasing drag and slowing it down.

Or, stated another way, side-drafting doesn't speed one car up, but rather it slows the other car down.

My engineering mind would suggest that you park your car equal distance away from the highway or freeway and see if you can detect passing cars and have your friend drive by 30mph. My guess is you won't even feel a nudge meaning it's doubtful it's doing anything. If the cars were close together maybe a tad but drag cars are pretty far apart.

Interesting thought but I seriously doubt that there is any draft effect. I would think the cars are too far apart to have any effect.

I doubt the slow car would ever get enough draft to change the ET in any situation. In a headwind situation, with the perfect wind, and perfect angle it may affect the fast car.