Conservative party is sponsoring a sport that burns leaded g
Schleihauf @ Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:42 pm
Toro Toro:
If Dion sponsored a car, it would go 40 mph, max.
baylee @ Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:48 pm
Schleihauf Schleihauf:
Toro Toro:
If Dion sponsored a car, it would go 40 mph, max.
Typical response from a boy who claims to be 18 years old, has never voted, and knows nothing about what is going on in the world
hwacker @ Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:50 pm
baylee baylee:
Schleihauf Schleihauf:
Toro Toro:
If Dion sponsored a car, it would go 40 mph, max.
Typical response from a boy who claims to be 18 years old, has never voted, and knows nothing about what is going on in the world
Shit coming from you that’s hilarious.
baylee @ Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:08 pm
hwacker hwacker:
baylee baylee:
Schleihauf Schleihauf:
Toro Toro:
If Dion sponsored a car, it would go 40 mph, max.
Typical response from a boy who claims to be 18 years old, has never voted, and knows nothing about what is going on in the world
Shit coming from you that’s hilarious.
Typical response from someone who has no life except to sit and wait on a forum, for someone to respond to anything...anyone.
7286 coming up?
GerryHurt @ Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:45 pm
for all you cons that have been too lazy ( as usual) to refute this.
$1:
Nextel Cup going to unleaded fuel in 2007: NASCAR will make the transition to unleaded fuel one year earlier than previously announced as it plans to have all three series run almost the entire 2007 season on unleaded fuel. The lone exception, involving the Nextel Cup Series, will be the season-opening Daytona 500. Crew chiefs said Friday at Martinsville Speedway they were informed of the decision this week, and a NASCAR official confirmed the move.(SceneDaily.com)(10-21-2006)
http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2006/ ... ly394.html
ridenrain @ Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:53 pm
The matter really wan't what fuel the cars ran on, the matter was that the CPC spend their own money to advertise on a race car. I'm not a racing fan but it's their money and they can spend it on what they like.
My point was that the Libs have no place to talk considering they gave Villenuve 12million Taxpayers dollars, simply to put a Canadian flag on his racing suit.
Rev_Blair @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:16 am
$1:
You're wrong. Entirely. The fundamental design elements of the engines are essentially the next couple of model year's engines. That's why the engines themselves normally cost upward of a full million dollars.
The Dodge motor is based on a 1960's 340 small block. It's bored out and has a different crank, bringing the displacement up to 358 (I think) cubic inches. They use a fairly radical camshaft, which varies with the track, but basically keeps the valves open for longer. Are you saying that a motor that was originally designed over forty years ago with the same kind of modifications that have been used by hot-rodders since the late 1940's represent the coming state of the art in automotive design?
If you want to know about racing, Patrick, watch Speed channel. They talk about these things.
Patrick_Ross @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:39 pm
Rev_Blair Rev_Blair:
$1:
You're wrong. Entirely. The fundamental design elements of the engines are essentially the next couple of model year's engines. That's why the engines themselves normally cost upward of a full million dollars.
The Dodge motor is based on a 1960's 340 small block. It's bored out and has a different crank, bringing the displacement up to 358 (I think) cubic inches. They use a fairly radical camshaft, which varies with the track, but basically keeps the valves open for longer. Are you saying that a motor that was originally designed over forty years ago with the same kind of modifications that have been used by hot-rodders since the late 1940's represent the coming state of the art in automotive design?
If you want to know about racing, Patrick, watch Speed channel. They talk about these things.
I've worked pit for a CASCAR race crew. There's nothing you can tell me about Stock Cars.
Streaker @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:43 pm
Patrick_Ross Patrick_Ross:
Rev_Blair Rev_Blair:
$1:
You're wrong. Entirely. The fundamental design elements of the engines are essentially the next couple of model year's engines. That's why the engines themselves normally cost upward of a full million dollars.
The Dodge motor is based on a 1960's 340 small block. It's bored out and has a different crank, bringing the displacement up to 358 (I think) cubic inches. They use a fairly radical camshaft, which varies with the track, but basically keeps the valves open for longer. Are you saying that a motor that was originally designed over forty years ago with the same kind of modifications that have been used by hot-rodders since the late 1940's represent the coming state of the art in automotive design?
If you want to know about racing, Patrick, watch Speed channel. They talk about these things.
I've worked pit for a CASCAR race crew. There's nothing you can tell me about Stock Cars.He's just told you a whole lot.
You're just pulling shit out of your nexus.
Patrick_Ross @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:51 pm
Streaker Streaker:
Patrick_Ross Patrick_Ross:
Rev_Blair Rev_Blair:
$1:
You're wrong. Entirely. The fundamental design elements of the engines are essentially the next couple of model year's engines. That's why the engines themselves normally cost upward of a full million dollars.
The Dodge motor is based on a 1960's 340 small block. It's bored out and has a different crank, bringing the displacement up to 358 (I think) cubic inches. They use a fairly radical camshaft, which varies with the track, but basically keeps the valves open for longer. Are you saying that a motor that was originally designed over forty years ago with the same kind of modifications that have been used by hot-rodders since the late 1940's represent the coming state of the art in automotive design?
If you want to know about racing, Patrick, watch Speed channel. They talk about these things.
I've worked pit for a CASCAR race crew. There's nothing you can tell me about Stock Cars.He's just told you a whole lot.
You're just pulling shit out of your nexus.
:roll: Except the fact that he's overlooking about half of the engine's design. Perhaps if the "esteemed" reverend could explain to the rest of us why a NASCAR engine still costs upwards of a million dollars?
I know I can. I know why.
Streaker @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:56 pm
Patrick_Ross Patrick_Ross:
Streaker Streaker:
Patrick_Ross Patrick_Ross:
Rev_Blair Rev_Blair:
$1:
You're wrong. Entirely. The fundamental design elements of the engines are essentially the next couple of model year's engines. That's why the engines themselves normally cost upward of a full million dollars.
The Dodge motor is based on a 1960's 340 small block. It's bored out and has a different crank, bringing the displacement up to 358 (I think) cubic inches. They use a fairly radical camshaft, which varies with the track, but basically keeps the valves open for longer. Are you saying that a motor that was originally designed over forty years ago with the same kind of modifications that have been used by hot-rodders since the late 1940's represent the coming state of the art in automotive design?
If you want to know about racing, Patrick, watch Speed channel. They talk about these things.
I've worked pit for a CASCAR race crew. There's nothing you can tell me about Stock Cars.He's just told you a whole lot.
You're just pulling shit out of your nexus.
:roll: Except the fact that he's overlooking about half of the engine's design. Perhaps if the "esteemed" reverend could explain to the rest of us why a NASCAR engine still costs upwards of a million dollars?
I know I can. I know why.
Well.... Good for you, son!
Go ahead and school us: What is it that makes an engine with such an archaic design philosophy so expensive?
OnTheIce @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:31 pm
Patrick_Ross Patrick_Ross:
Streaker Streaker:
Patrick_Ross Patrick_Ross:
Rev_Blair Rev_Blair:
$1:
You're wrong. Entirely. The fundamental design elements of the engines are essentially the next couple of model year's engines. That's why the engines themselves normally cost upward of a full million dollars.
The Dodge motor is based on a 1960's 340 small block. It's bored out and has a different crank, bringing the displacement up to 358 (I think) cubic inches. They use a fairly radical camshaft, which varies with the track, but basically keeps the valves open for longer. Are you saying that a motor that was originally designed over forty years ago with the same kind of modifications that have been used by hot-rodders since the late 1940's represent the coming state of the art in automotive design?
If you want to know about racing, Patrick, watch Speed channel. They talk about these things.
I've worked pit for a CASCAR race crew. There's nothing you can tell me about Stock Cars.He's just told you a whole lot.
You're just pulling shit out of your nexus.
:roll: Except the fact that he's overlooking about half of the engine's design. Perhaps if the "esteemed" reverend could explain to the rest of us why a NASCAR engine still costs upwards of a million dollars?
I know I can. I know why.
Please, go ahead. I'm itchin' for a good laugh.
Patrick_Ross @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:55 pm
Because you're relying on just that: the design philosophy to try and make your point, while at the same time overlooking all of the other developmental design elements that go into a typical NASCAR engine.
Take, for example, this site from Howstuffworks.com, which will explain a number of things for you. I'll include all of the things that the esteemed reverend was right about -- which I'll point out in boldface -- as well as the stuff that he was wrong about -- which I'll point out in italics. I'll just go ahead and add my notes in blue.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/nascar4.htm
$1:
The engine in the NASCAR race car is probably the most crucial component. It has to make huge amounts of power for hours on end, without any failures.
You might think that these NASCAR engines have nothing in common with the engine in your car. What we learned was a little surprising: These engines actually share many features with street-car engines. Which is actually what makes them such an excellent platform for development and testing.
Dodge provides the engine block and cylinder head for the engines used by Bill Davis Racing. They are based on a 340-cubic-inch (5.57-liter) V-8 engine design that was produced in the 1960s. There is actually a reason for this. NASCAR engines still rely on carbeuration, whereas fuel injection was phased into North American cars beginning actually in the 1950s, but increasingly throughout the '70s, until fuel injectors entirely supplanted carbeurators by the '80s. Carbeurators actually do help boost horsepower, although modern drivetrain technology translates more of that horsepower into power at the street level. Combine the two, however, and you have a much faster machine.
This is also one of the things that makes NASCAR an excellent platform for testing transmission technology, as it helps improve the tolerance levels. But hey, what do I know? I've only been under the hood more often than you've even watched races.
The actual engine blocks and heads are not made from the original tooling. They are custom-made race-engine blocks, but they do have some things in common with the original engines. They have the same cylinder bore centerlines, the same number of cylinders and they start out at the same size (they get a little bigger during the building process). Like the original 1960s engines, the valves are driven by pushrods (see this page for information on the different types of valve arrangements).
The engines in today's NASCAR race cars produce upward of 750 horsepower, and they do it without turbochargers, superchargers or particularly exotic components. How do they make all that power?
-The engine is large -- 358 cubic inches (5.87 L). Not many street-cars have engines this big, and the ones that do usually generate well over 300 hp.
-NASCAR engines have extremely radical cam profiles that open the intake valves much earlier and keep them open longer than in streetcar engines. This allows more air to be packed into the cylinders, especially at high speeds (see How Camshafts Work for more details).
-The intake and exhaust are tuned and tested to provide a boost at certain engine speeds. They are also designed to have very low restriction -- that is, to provide little resistance to the gases flowing down the pipe. There are no mufflers or catalytic converters to slow the exhaust down, either.
-They have carburetors that can let in huge volumes of air and fuel -- there are no fuel injectors on these engines.
-They have high-intensity, programmable ignition systems that allow the spark timing to be customized to provide the most possible power. Most of these are essentially prototypical systems as well.
-All of the subsystems, like coolant pumps, oil pumps, steering pumps and alternators, are designed to run at sustained high speeds and temperatures. Which makes NASCAR an excellent testing and development platform because it helps test (and increase) the upper tolerances of the omponents in question.
When these engines are machined and assembled, very tight tolerances are used (parts are made more accurately) so that everything fits perfectly. The precision-sized parts are a hallmark of modern engine design. Consider that the engine of the average car manufactured today is within microns of tolerance, as opposed to milimeters a few decades ago, and that becomes apparent. When an engine (or any part, for that matter) is designed, the intended dimensions of the part are given along with the allowable error in those dimensions. Making the allowable error small -- tightening the tolerances -- helps the engine achieve its maximum potential power and also helps reduce wear. Like I just said. If parts are too big or too small, power can be lost due to extra friction or to pressure leakage through bigger than necessary gaps. Precisely.
Several tests and inspections are run on the engine after it is assembled:
-It is run on the dynamometer (which measures engine power output) for 30 minutes to break it in. The engine is then inspected. The filters are checked for excess metal shavings to make sure no abnormal wear has taken place.
-If it passes that test, it goes back on the dynamometer for another two hours. During this test, the ignition timing is dialed in to maximize power, and the engine is cycled through various speed and power ranges.
-After this test, the engine is inspected thoroughly. The valve train is pulled and the camshaft and valve lifters are inspected. The insides of the cylinders are examined for abnormal wear. The cylinders are pressurized and the rate of leakdown is measured to see how well the pistons and seals hold the pressure. All of the lines and hoses are checked.
Only after all of these tests and inspections are finished is the engine ready to go to the races. Insuring the reliability of the engine is critical -- almost any engine failure during a race eliminates the chance of winning.
You might think that these NASCAR engines have nothing in common with the engine in your car. What we learned was a little surprising: These engines actually share many features with street-car engines. Which is actually what makes them such an excellent platform for development and testing.
Dodge provides the engine block and cylinder head for the engines used by Bill Davis Racing. They are based on a 340-cubic-inch (5.57-liter) V-8 engine design that was produced in the 1960s. There is actually a reason for this. NASCAR engines still rely on carbeuration, whereas fuel injection was phased into North American cars beginning actually in the 1950s, but increasingly throughout the '70s, until fuel injectors entirely supplanted carbeurators by the '80s. Carbeurators actually do help boost horsepower, although modern drivetrain technology translates more of that horsepower into power at the street level. Combine the two, however, and you have a much faster machine.
This is also one of the things that makes NASCAR an excellent platform for testing transmission technology, as it helps improve the tolerance levels. But hey, what do I know? I've only been under the hood more often than you've even watched races.
The actual engine blocks and heads are not made from the original tooling. They are custom-made race-engine blocks, but they do have some things in common with the original engines. They have the same cylinder bore centerlines, the same number of cylinders and they start out at the same size (they get a little bigger during the building process). Like the original 1960s engines, the valves are driven by pushrods (see this page for information on the different types of valve arrangements).
The engines in today's NASCAR race cars produce upward of 750 horsepower, and they do it without turbochargers, superchargers or particularly exotic components. How do they make all that power?
-The engine is large -- 358 cubic inches (5.87 L). Not many street-cars have engines this big, and the ones that do usually generate well over 300 hp.
-NASCAR engines have extremely radical cam profiles that open the intake valves much earlier and keep them open longer than in streetcar engines. This allows more air to be packed into the cylinders, especially at high speeds (see How Camshafts Work for more details).
-The intake and exhaust are tuned and tested to provide a boost at certain engine speeds. They are also designed to have very low restriction -- that is, to provide little resistance to the gases flowing down the pipe. There are no mufflers or catalytic converters to slow the exhaust down, either.
-They have carburetors that can let in huge volumes of air and fuel -- there are no fuel injectors on these engines.
-They have high-intensity, programmable ignition systems that allow the spark timing to be customized to provide the most possible power. Most of these are essentially prototypical systems as well.
-All of the subsystems, like coolant pumps, oil pumps, steering pumps and alternators, are designed to run at sustained high speeds and temperatures. Which makes NASCAR an excellent testing and development platform because it helps test (and increase) the upper tolerances of the omponents in question.
When these engines are machined and assembled, very tight tolerances are used (parts are made more accurately) so that everything fits perfectly. The precision-sized parts are a hallmark of modern engine design. Consider that the engine of the average car manufactured today is within microns of tolerance, as opposed to milimeters a few decades ago, and that becomes apparent. When an engine (or any part, for that matter) is designed, the intended dimensions of the part are given along with the allowable error in those dimensions. Making the allowable error small -- tightening the tolerances -- helps the engine achieve its maximum potential power and also helps reduce wear. Like I just said. If parts are too big or too small, power can be lost due to extra friction or to pressure leakage through bigger than necessary gaps. Precisely.
Several tests and inspections are run on the engine after it is assembled:
-It is run on the dynamometer (which measures engine power output) for 30 minutes to break it in. The engine is then inspected. The filters are checked for excess metal shavings to make sure no abnormal wear has taken place.
-If it passes that test, it goes back on the dynamometer for another two hours. During this test, the ignition timing is dialed in to maximize power, and the engine is cycled through various speed and power ranges.
-After this test, the engine is inspected thoroughly. The valve train is pulled and the camshaft and valve lifters are inspected. The insides of the cylinders are examined for abnormal wear. The cylinders are pressurized and the rate of leakdown is measured to see how well the pistons and seals hold the pressure. All of the lines and hoses are checked.
Only after all of these tests and inspections are finished is the engine ready to go to the races. Insuring the reliability of the engine is critical -- almost any engine failure during a race eliminates the chance of winning.
So, in essence, there are two reasons why (as you described it) the "archaic philosophically designed" engine is so expensive. First off, because it is precisely engineered to its specifications, and because many of the engine components are test models.
GerryHurt @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:02 pm
Patrick.....you're wrong, plain and simple. Even the car manufacturers acknwledge what Nascar is now used for......and it aint a test bed.....
OnTheIce @ Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:10 pm
Patrick_Ross Patrick_Ross:
Because you're relying on just that: the design philosophy to try and make your point, while at the same time overlooking all of the other developmental design elements that go into a typical NASCAR engine.
Take, for example, this site from Howstuffworks.com, which will explain a number of things for you. I'll include all of the things that the esteemed reverend was right about -- which I'll point out in boldface -- as well as the stuff that he was wrong about -- which I'll point out in italics. I'll just go ahead and add my notes in blue.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/nascar4.htm
So, in essence, there are two reasons why (as you described it) the "archaic philosophically designed" engine is so expensive. First off, because it is precisely engineered to its specifications, and because many of the engine components are test models.
Take, for example, this site from Howstuffworks.com, which will explain a number of things for you. I'll include all of the things that the esteemed reverend was right about -- which I'll point out in boldface -- as well as the stuff that he was wrong about -- which I'll point out in italics. I'll just go ahead and add my notes in blue.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/nascar4.htm
$1:
The engine in the NASCAR race car is probably the most crucial component. It has to make huge amounts of power for hours on end, without any failures.
You might think that these NASCAR engines have nothing in common with the engine in your car. What we learned was a little surprising: These engines actually share many features with street-car engines. Which is actually what makes them such an excellent platform for development and testing.
Dodge provides the engine block and cylinder head for the engines used by Bill Davis Racing. They are based on a 340-cubic-inch (5.57-liter) V-8 engine design that was produced in the 1960s. There is actually a reason for this. NASCAR engines still rely on carbeuration, whereas fuel injection was phased into North American cars beginning actually in the 1950s, but increasingly throughout the '70s, until fuel injectors entirely supplanted carbeurators by the '80s. Carbeurators actually do help boost horsepower, although modern drivetrain technology translates more of that horsepower into power at the street level. Combine the two, however, and you have a much faster machine.
This is also one of the things that makes NASCAR an excellent platform for testing transmission technology, as it helps improve the tolerance levels. But hey, what do I know? I've only been under the hood more often than you've even watched races.
The actual engine blocks and heads are not made from the original tooling. They are custom-made race-engine blocks, but they do have some things in common with the original engines. They have the same cylinder bore centerlines, the same number of cylinders and they start out at the same size (they get a little bigger during the building process). Like the original 1960s engines, the valves are driven by pushrods (see this page for information on the different types of valve arrangements).
The engines in today's NASCAR race cars produce upward of 750 horsepower, and they do it without turbochargers, superchargers or particularly exotic components. How do they make all that power?
-The engine is large -- 358 cubic inches (5.87 L). Not many street-cars have engines this big, and the ones that do usually generate well over 300 hp.
-NASCAR engines have extremely radical cam profiles that open the intake valves much earlier and keep them open longer than in streetcar engines. This allows more air to be packed into the cylinders, especially at high speeds (see How Camshafts Work for more details).
-The intake and exhaust are tuned and tested to provide a boost at certain engine speeds. They are also designed to have very low restriction -- that is, to provide little resistance to the gases flowing down the pipe. There are no mufflers or catalytic converters to slow the exhaust down, either.
-They have carburetors that can let in huge volumes of air and fuel -- there are no fuel injectors on these engines.
-They have high-intensity, programmable ignition systems that allow the spark timing to be customized to provide the most possible power. Most of these are essentially prototypical systems as well.
-All of the subsystems, like coolant pumps, oil pumps, steering pumps and alternators, are designed to run at sustained high speeds and temperatures. Which makes NASCAR an excellent testing and development platform because it helps test (and increase) the upper tolerances of the omponents in question.
When these engines are machined and assembled, very tight tolerances are used (parts are made more accurately) so that everything fits perfectly. The precision-sized parts are a hallmark of modern engine design. Consider that the engine of the average car manufactured today is within microns of tolerance, as opposed to milimeters a few decades ago, and that becomes apparent. When an engine (or any part, for that matter) is designed, the intended dimensions of the part are given along with the allowable error in those dimensions. Making the allowable error small -- tightening the tolerances -- helps the engine achieve its maximum potential power and also helps reduce wear. Like I just said. If parts are too big or too small, power can be lost due to extra friction or to pressure leakage through bigger than necessary gaps. Precisely.
Several tests and inspections are run on the engine after it is assembled:
-It is run on the dynamometer (which measures engine power output) for 30 minutes to break it in. The engine is then inspected. The filters are checked for excess metal shavings to make sure no abnormal wear has taken place.
-If it passes that test, it goes back on the dynamometer for another two hours. During this test, the ignition timing is dialed in to maximize power, and the engine is cycled through various speed and power ranges.
-After this test, the engine is inspected thoroughly. The valve train is pulled and the camshaft and valve lifters are inspected. The insides of the cylinders are examined for abnormal wear. The cylinders are pressurized and the rate of leakdown is measured to see how well the pistons and seals hold the pressure. All of the lines and hoses are checked.
Only after all of these tests and inspections are finished is the engine ready to go to the races. Insuring the reliability of the engine is critical -- almost any engine failure during a race eliminates the chance of winning.
You might think that these NASCAR engines have nothing in common with the engine in your car. What we learned was a little surprising: These engines actually share many features with street-car engines. Which is actually what makes them such an excellent platform for development and testing.
Dodge provides the engine block and cylinder head for the engines used by Bill Davis Racing. They are based on a 340-cubic-inch (5.57-liter) V-8 engine design that was produced in the 1960s. There is actually a reason for this. NASCAR engines still rely on carbeuration, whereas fuel injection was phased into North American cars beginning actually in the 1950s, but increasingly throughout the '70s, until fuel injectors entirely supplanted carbeurators by the '80s. Carbeurators actually do help boost horsepower, although modern drivetrain technology translates more of that horsepower into power at the street level. Combine the two, however, and you have a much faster machine.
This is also one of the things that makes NASCAR an excellent platform for testing transmission technology, as it helps improve the tolerance levels. But hey, what do I know? I've only been under the hood more often than you've even watched races.
The actual engine blocks and heads are not made from the original tooling. They are custom-made race-engine blocks, but they do have some things in common with the original engines. They have the same cylinder bore centerlines, the same number of cylinders and they start out at the same size (they get a little bigger during the building process). Like the original 1960s engines, the valves are driven by pushrods (see this page for information on the different types of valve arrangements).
The engines in today's NASCAR race cars produce upward of 750 horsepower, and they do it without turbochargers, superchargers or particularly exotic components. How do they make all that power?
-The engine is large -- 358 cubic inches (5.87 L). Not many street-cars have engines this big, and the ones that do usually generate well over 300 hp.
-NASCAR engines have extremely radical cam profiles that open the intake valves much earlier and keep them open longer than in streetcar engines. This allows more air to be packed into the cylinders, especially at high speeds (see How Camshafts Work for more details).
-The intake and exhaust are tuned and tested to provide a boost at certain engine speeds. They are also designed to have very low restriction -- that is, to provide little resistance to the gases flowing down the pipe. There are no mufflers or catalytic converters to slow the exhaust down, either.
-They have carburetors that can let in huge volumes of air and fuel -- there are no fuel injectors on these engines.
-They have high-intensity, programmable ignition systems that allow the spark timing to be customized to provide the most possible power. Most of these are essentially prototypical systems as well.
-All of the subsystems, like coolant pumps, oil pumps, steering pumps and alternators, are designed to run at sustained high speeds and temperatures. Which makes NASCAR an excellent testing and development platform because it helps test (and increase) the upper tolerances of the omponents in question.
When these engines are machined and assembled, very tight tolerances are used (parts are made more accurately) so that everything fits perfectly. The precision-sized parts are a hallmark of modern engine design. Consider that the engine of the average car manufactured today is within microns of tolerance, as opposed to milimeters a few decades ago, and that becomes apparent. When an engine (or any part, for that matter) is designed, the intended dimensions of the part are given along with the allowable error in those dimensions. Making the allowable error small -- tightening the tolerances -- helps the engine achieve its maximum potential power and also helps reduce wear. Like I just said. If parts are too big or too small, power can be lost due to extra friction or to pressure leakage through bigger than necessary gaps. Precisely.
Several tests and inspections are run on the engine after it is assembled:
-It is run on the dynamometer (which measures engine power output) for 30 minutes to break it in. The engine is then inspected. The filters are checked for excess metal shavings to make sure no abnormal wear has taken place.
-If it passes that test, it goes back on the dynamometer for another two hours. During this test, the ignition timing is dialed in to maximize power, and the engine is cycled through various speed and power ranges.
-After this test, the engine is inspected thoroughly. The valve train is pulled and the camshaft and valve lifters are inspected. The insides of the cylinders are examined for abnormal wear. The cylinders are pressurized and the rate of leakdown is measured to see how well the pistons and seals hold the pressure. All of the lines and hoses are checked.
Only after all of these tests and inspections are finished is the engine ready to go to the races. Insuring the reliability of the engine is critical -- almost any engine failure during a race eliminates the chance of winning.
So, in essence, there are two reasons why (as you described it) the "archaic philosophically designed" engine is so expensive. First off, because it is precisely engineered to its specifications, and because many of the engine components are test models.
Patrick, while all that makes perfect sense, you've forgotten what you initially said.
Your comparison that the NASCAR version of a Monte Carlo is a more sophistiacted version of the street car is massive understatement. Then to go on and say that the cars we see out on the track are those which we will be able to buy in a few years is laughable.
$1:
For the most part, the cars you see ripping around a NASCAR track are the same cars that people will be buying a few years down the road.
Ummmm. No. Not even close bud.