Tech Q&A: Gil Martin

March 24, 2001
12:34 PM EST (1734 GMT)

NASCAR.com: Certain things are important for success at certain track, such as aerodynamics at Talladega or tires at Darlington, what is the vital component at Bristol?

Gil Martin: "You really have to worry about getting the car as soft as you can get it without it hitting the racetrack. Tire wear here is an issue, so you need to be able to keep the car where it will stay on the bottom all day long because if you get shoved up in the top line the freight train's gonna go by you and you'll be sent straight to the back."

NASCAR.com: What does the term aero-push mean?

GM: "An aero-push is kind of like when you pass a tractor-tractor on the Interstate. You're driving straight and all the sudden a gust of wind hits you and pushes you off to the side. In racing, we'll get air like that over the top of the car and it will just lift the front of the car off the ground and take the weight off the front tires and physically moves the car over."

NASCAR.com: How does camber affect a racecar?

GM: "Camber affects the racecar by, when you go in the corner with the banking, you need to have the right tire-patch on the ground, so you want the tire leaning at the proper angle. That way, when you get into the corner you've got the optimum tire patch on the ground in the center of the corner."

NASCAR.com: When they say a team is "taking a round of wedge out," or "putting a round of wedge in," what does that mean?

GM: What that means is, we've got screw jacks on top of the springs in all four corners of the car, and say on the left-rear, if we screw it up one-round it actually takes weight off of that wheel and puts it on the right-rear and the left-front and takes it off the right-front. We can also screw the right-rear down one-round, and put weight on that tire and on the left-front. By doing that, it frees the car up."

NASCAR.com: How does spoiler angle affect how the race car handles?

GM: "By increasing the spoiler angle, say from 60 to 65, you'll give the car more downforce in the rear, which also will actually give it a little bit more in the front. But by increasing the spoiler angle, you also increase drag, which is the amount of horsepower it takes to push the car through the wind. So it's best to have as much downforce on the car as you can have, with the least amount of drag you can have."

NASCAR.com: Are Winston Cup and Busch Series motors pretty much the same this year?

GM: "They are pretty much the same, except that the Winston Cup motors have flat-headed cam-shafts and the Busch motors have roller cam-shafts. We also have a carburetor difference The Busch cars run a 390, and the Winston Cup cars run a much larger carburetor."