Introduction
Today’s NASCAR organization looks completely different than the one I watched as a kid growing up in Chicago in the 1970s. Back then, watching a NASCAR race was a little like watching a demolition derby. It seemed to me that the crashes created the allure within the races.
Fair warning. This article is a little longer than my other Interesting Things articles! There were too many interesting things for me to share!
NASCAR Did A Time Lapse On Me
I wasn’t really paying attention, but when I fast-forwarded my life by about half a century, I no longer could recognize NASCAR. As I now find myself working right in the heart of NASCAR, I’m not sure how all the magnificent changes have happened within this organization. I will have a lot more to say about this in upcoming articles.
The Bad News and The Good News
Last week, I was in Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 race. The bad news was that the race was rain-delayed for a few days, and I missed seeing it in person. The good news was that the rain delays allowed me and my “Essential Charlotte” credentials into areas that are usually off-limits to spectators.
Figure 1 – Although the pass says I was essential, I wasn’t. I was just a mesmerized 10-year old kid reliving his childhood.
The Professionals at Hendrick Motorsports
Right next door to our new GM Charlotte Tech Center (Figure 2), is the world-class Hendrick Motorsports facility (Figure 3). They had a fan festival last Friday, so I took the opportunity to see what I could learn.
If you happen to be a race car driver going to work at Hendrick and you find yourself running a little late, what do you think you would do? Figure 3 gives you the answer!
How Fast Can You Build An 850-Horsepower Racing Engine?
The Hendrick Motorsports team has some of the best engine builders in the world. Their success on the track doesn’t just happen by chance. To keep this article short enough, I will end it with an engine-building demonstration that I thought was Very Interesting.
Two engine builders were teamed together for this demonstration. One builder is very experienced, while the other builder found himself in his first timed “demonstration.” His Mom, Dad, Wife, and young son were there to witness his premier event. I could tell that his nerves were firing a little more than usual.
They start building the engine upside down and install the lower components. A part of the process looked like this short time-lapse video (Video 1):
They flip the engine over and assemble the top portion of the engine. Video 2 shows some of that action.
Near the completion of the engine assembly, I captured some real-time video footage (Video 3). After watching the time-lapse videos, it looks like they were taking their time!
Be sure to watch them ignite the engine at the end of the video. The engine rumbled the air in my lungs like the Space Shuttle did the first time I saw it fly in 1985.
The Fun-Facts of This Demonstration
The record for the fastest assembly of this engine is 21 minutes and 40 seconds. This occurred in a previously timed competition.
In this demonstration, the team took 23 minutes. Considering that this was the first time this team worked together in this type of demonstration, this was a tremendously fast time. The assemblers were also answering questions and inviting the audience to participate.
Now, here is the fundamental and interesting insight. If this engine can be assembled in just over 20 minutes, how long do you think it takes the engine builders at Hendrick to produce a race-ready engine that you might watch on a Sunday afternoon in a NASCAR race? The answer is 40 hours! It takes over 100 times longer to assemble, measure specifications, and do the other things that allow these engines to run for hours at a time flawlessly.
Thanks for reading.
