The Physics of Nascar

In her new book, Diandra Leslie-Pelecky covers the science—and the humans—behind America's most popular racing series

By Gregory Mone Posted 02.22.2008 at 11:59 am 4 Comments

Given that 75 million people are fans of the racing circuit, physicist

The Physics of NASCAR:

Diandra Leslie-Pelecky probably doesn’t have to worry too much about finding an audience for her book on the intricacies of stock-car racing, The Physics of Nascar. But this is hardly just a story for race fans. It’s a crash course in chemistry, physics and more. In the first few chapters, she gets down to the molecular level–at some points literally–in describing the stock car chassis, diagrams how welding works, and even takes a few paragraphs to explain why the white paint on a car appears white to our eyes.

But it’s when she moves out of the shop and onto the track that the book really takes off, as she breaks down engines, brakes, tires, drag and lift; the dynamics of racing itself. Her approach might be too granular for some, but if you’re not one to speed through a book as quickly as those drivers rip down the track, and you’re willing to get into the details, it’s fascinating stuff. Plus, it’s not all dry science.

Leslie-Pelecky, a physicist at the University of Texas, Dallas, doubles as a reporter here. She does a nice job bringing to life the technicians and engineers behind the Nascar curtain, and confesses that she abandoned being impartial, effectively joining the team she been followed. Some of the behind-the-scenes details might wear on non-racing lovers, but the Nascar crowd will probably gobble that stuff up. And anyone will appreciate the scenes in which she actually gets behind the wheel of a stock car, and finds her legs wobbling as she walks away afterwards.

For more information on the book, check her Web site here.

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4 Comments

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Michael Moyer

02/22/08 at 12:35 pm

I saw somewhere that she talks about aerodynamics using the common incorrect explanation of lift, not the simple, precise, correct explanation—that lift happens when an object (in this case, a stock car) pushes the air flowing over it downwards, thus producing an equal and opposite push upwards. Is that so? How could a physicist mess up an explanation of lift? Time to sick the aerodynamicists from NASA on her.

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jjfish

03/19/08 at 9:26 pm

That's not true that she uses the incorrect explanation of lift. On pages 99-110 she discusses that very topic and why it is wrong. Don't worry, it's a good book. They don't just hand out Phd's to anyone.

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aronj

04/14/08 at 4:52 pm

Both Newton's third law and the Bernoulli equation (or Euler Equations) are required to analyze and discuss the concept of aerodynamic lift. Newton's third law is very useful to explain (without analysis) unsteady lifting motions such as a raptor taking off with prey in its talons.

However, quasi-steady lift is best explained by using field equations such as the Euler Equation or RANS equations to calculate the pressure and velocity fields around an airplane wing or albatross (limited flapping) wing at a given free stream velocity. These pressure field calculations are then integrated over the wing surface to obtain lift forces. Such a calculation would be nearly impossible to accomplish by analyzing the deflection of an unknown mass of air downwards as suggested by Associate Editor Bjorn Carey in his reply in the May 2008 issue of Popular Science.

Circulation theory also explains why birds find it advantageous to fly in the upwash just outside the wing tip of an adjacent bird in the formation.

From another PhD in Fluid Mechanics

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