Giant Treadmill Built For NASCAR Testing
By Andrew Liszewski
Man, how crazy is this? While wind tunnel testing is perfect for planes and other flying vehicles at times they’re not so perfect when dealing with cars, especially at very high speeds. The road surface sometimes leads to incorrect readings since wind travelling at 200+ mph likes to stick to the floor. So for a more accurate way to test their cars the Haas CNC Racing NASCAR team has created this full-size rolling road testing facility called WindShear Inc.
That track is actually a 1mm thick steel belt capable of rolling at over 180 mph! It has sensors located underneath that can take readings for each wheel and the whole setup seen here will be used inside a massive wind tunnel to accurately recreate the driving conditions on a NASCAR track. Minus of course the left-hand turns.
[ Jalopnik - Haas Builds Rolling Road Wind Tunnel ] VIA [ Autoblog ]
A larger picture of the testing rig is available after the jump that better shows the scale of this setup.
Related Tags: automotive, Sports
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Comments [14]
That’s pretty cool, though I’m not sure I’d want to be sitting right there at the end of it! LOL
Posted 4:30 pm on April 17th, 2007Hey Deb….since it’s testing speed in the car, I would think sitting in back of it might be more hazardous since that’s where the car would go if it came off…..that is, unless they were testing the speed of the reverse gear
Posted 9:03 pm on April 17th, 2007Keep in mind though that if the steel belt suddenly stopped the car would still be running at 180mph. That’s of course assuming the car is actually running and keeping pace with the belt.
Posted 9:19 pm on April 17th, 2007“That’s pretty cool, though I’m not sure I’d want to be sitting right there at the end of it! LOL”
Agreed. I think that guy at the computer should be in another room where it is somewhat safe… hehehe
Posted 1:15 am on April 18th, 2007Can we put an aeroplane on this?
Posted 9:53 am on April 18th, 2007What keeps the car on the tred surface? I do not think I would like to be in the room (when) they have thier first Accident !!!
Posted 4:24 pm on April 18th, 2007They aren’t going to run it right there. That looks like a shop, not a wind tunnel. I’m 100% sure that assembly will be recessed below the floor of the wind tunnel when it is done.
Posted 10:34 pm on April 18th, 2007nice photoshop!
Posted 6:44 am on April 19th, 2007LOL….nice work……a lot of free time to ps all the images.. cool
Posted 7:30 pm on April 20th, 2007i had heard of this and thought it was BS but now i know its not that is cool as @#%& thanks for the info! im a big nascar fan so where do sign up for a test driver on this thing???
Posted 8:07 pm on April 20th, 2007Nascar RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 4:40 pm on November 2nd, 2007i dont know how you would get an accurate reading, nascar is full of turns, and running it wide open in a wind tunnel in a straight line might be good for a TF dragster, but not for nascar. they should set it up to rotate, that way it can simulate corners, which are a big part in nascar.
Posted 3:51 pm on November 16th, 2007dude taht cool
Posted 2:34 am on March 22nd, 2008it stuck down by belts and it do helps alot for the way to road is the plate do the same withj grip
Posted 2:35 am on March 22nd, 2008