Speed... I Am Speed

Cars started out slow... they went slow, they stopped slow. Early vehicles used to follow a man on foot holding a flag... but that didn't last! Evolution and technical revolution has increased speeds!

In racing chassis designers, teams, engine builders, tyre specialists, engineers, drivers all spend a lot of time and money making cars faster, and brake manufacturers make the cars stop better than ever before. Each generation of race car becomes faster, changes gear quicker and stops quicker than the last.

Some forms of racing attempt to limit the constant advances by introducing restrictors, or by banning technological advancements, or by making the engines smaller. 

The question is... Can a race car be too fast??

 

I raise the question after reading a quote from Alan Gow, the British Touring Car Championship chief at this year's Autosport International show. Talking about the "Next Generation Touring Car" he said... (taken from Autosport.com)

"Very basic explanation behind it - it will be cheaper, faster and better looking,"

"How we have achieved that - basically you don't have to go through an expensive homologation process."

"The championship going forward will be cheaper to compete in, better for spectators to look at, and the cars will be nicer to drive and faster."

"We are not trying to make a race car out of a production car, it is a proper race car underneath,"

"There is no reason why it should not have been quicker, and this is just a beginning of development - there will be five cars on the grid to full NGTC spec – and the cars will get quicker and quicker all the time."

I like some of the ideas behind the NGTC (lower costs, standard mechanical parts, more saloon bodies, less emphasis on manufacturers to build cars), and dislike others (still front wheel drive, wings, wide arches, sequential 'boxes, big brakes) but I couldn't help but wonder... Can a race car go too fast to produce good racing?

I am generally of the opinion that the faster race cars go and the better they brake, the more aerodynamically efficient they are, the harder it is to overtake. So will starting with the premise that the new spec cars will be faster help the racing or hinder the racing?

The only time I can think of a championship slowing a new generation of race car was with the introduction of the NASCAR "COT" which slowed the speeds in the turns allowing for more side by side racing through those turns, but even the boxy COT is now quick again.

Is there a vehicle size, to speed, to tyre size and grip, to braking power, to engine power, to aero grip and drag ratio which makes for good racing, and does changing this ratio hurt the racing?

On one hand you have F1... huge cars with huge amounts of grip, huge power levels, huge amounts of technology, hugely aerodynamic cars, and very little "good" racing!

On the other hand you had the first generation of Ginetta Junior race car in the UK. 1.4 litre engines, no technology, no aerodynamics to speak of, long braking distances, and rear wheel drive made for some really good racing with lots of drafting and overtaking!

Ok, two very different series which you can't really compare, but you get the idea.

I genuinely hope the NGTC kick starts the BTCC as I want to like the series again but find it hard to at the moment. More cars on the grid, more types of cars on the grid can only be a good thing! I am looking forward to an interesting couple of years!