The Indy Double - 1100 miles of racing

[budman]

Only 5 racers have tried this before and when Katherine Legge hits the green flag at the Coca Cola 600 in her Camaro she will be the 6th. Good luck young lady!!!!

Young to me. She is a vet and became the first woman to win an Indy Car race in '05.

Pisses me off you have to have IG to view her profile.

 

[Tally Whacker]

That is a whole lot of left turns.

 

[berth]

Sounds exhausting.

Indy drivers really suffer the g-forces in the turns from their speed, I think more so than NASCAR drivers do. I don't know if it's a banking thing or simply just top speed.

 

[budman]

I believe you are correct. The massive downforce on an Indy car means more corner grip which equals more G forces.

 

[flying_hun]

Sounds exhausting.

Indy drivers really suffer the g-forces in the turns from their speed, I think more so than NASCAR drivers do. I don't know if it's a banking thing or simply just top speed.

I believe you are correct. The massive downforce on an Indy car means more corner grip which equals more G forces.

While Indy cars have much greater downforce and ultimate grip compared to NASCAR, I think what the driver experiences is greatly impacted by the banking angle. Daytona maxs at 31 degrees, and Indy is only 9 degrees. Indy pulls the driver's head sideways, while Daytona forces the driver down in the seat and compresses the suspension. Neither is easy, but it seems like Indy takes the greater toll on the driver.

 

[berth]

While Indy cars have much greater downforce and ultimate grip compared to NASCAR, I think what the driver experiences is greatly impacted by the banking angle. Daytona maxs at 31 degrees, and Indy is only 9 degrees. Indy pulls the driver's head sideways, while Daytona forces the driver down in the seat and compresses the suspension. Neither is easy, but it seems like Indy takes the greater toll on the driver.

I once heard, with no evidence, that Indy drivers experimented with pressure suits.

The issue was that at speed, the blood of the driver was being forced to their right side, and that it was impacting blood flow to the brain. The blood was not able to recover quickly enough in the straights to overcome the force of the G's in the turns, and would cause the drivers problems. They essentially in a large centrifuge.

I don't know if they still use something like that, or if they made them slow down overall to limit the effect, or what.

 

[BillSmith]

So, if I am following this correctly, Indy drivers are more right-brained, while NASCAR drivers have blood thrust to the seat of their pants.

Seems historically true to form.

 

[budman]

Watching practice the cars were in the 230+ range some touching 240 mph top speed.

That is pretty bad ass

 

[Racinfrk]

Katherine is amazing. She will be doing a couple of firsts in racing history. She will be the first woman to compete in the "Double" and the oldest person ever.

I saw a top speed of 242mph during qualifying on Sunday (a lot were hitting 239mph).