New Gas Cans For 2011 In The Sprint Cup Series

Gone from the 2011 Nascar Sprint Cup series is the catch can man, and in are new ventilated fuel filler cans that will hold the new E15 ethanol based gas that the Sprint Cup drivers will be using to power their cup cars for the new season.

This is where things are going to get interesting.In the past the job of the catch can man was not only to catch the gas coming out of the car when the tank was full,but also to adjust the right height of the rear of the car as it pitted,if adjustments needed to be made.

In the past the gas guy was always done fueling the car before the tire changers were done with their job, but with the new ventilated gas can it has many more parts to it that is hard to line up correctly slowing down the gas guys job,so now the tire changers are going to be done while the car is still getting fueled up,and if that isn’t enough to turn things around in the past the team would weight what was left in the gas can and also what was in the catch can to determine how much gas actually made it into the tank of the car.With the new can you pretty much are going to have the can to deal with.

It’s going to be very interesting during the Daytona 500,to see how these pit stops play out and what crew member will be making the the adjustments to the rear of the car. From what I can see the gas guy it going to play a huge roll in determining how long the pit stop is and also if all of the fuel actually made in into the tank.

With the new gas can theres a clear tube that shows the gas guy when the system is fill by letting out a burp and splashing gas up into the clear tube.Now here’s the tricky part if you’re the gas guy do you burp the car once or twice.

Man these guys are going to be under some pressure. I’m not sure if I’d sleep the night before the Daytona 500 if I played that role.

Image Borrowed from www.nascar.com

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Ormond Beach Florida "The Birthplace of Speed"

Many people recognize the salt flats in Utah as the place where land speed records are held, but what a lot of people don't know is that this all started in 1902 on Ormond Beach in Fl.

In 1902 many daredevils figured out that Ormond Beach was the perfect place to go fast and to break land speed records. It was long and flat and in the beginning there was plenty of room to go 127 miles an hour. They started over in Ormond Beach and as the times got faster they used Daytona Beach as the shut down area.

When a driver was scheduled to make an attempt at the record the Daytona Beach fire station (which still stands) located on the corner of Beach Street and Orange Ave. would blow it's siren to alert spectators, police, National Guard and the Halifax Medical Center that the race was about to take place. People would be let out of work and children were also let out of school to witness the event (can you imagine?).

All of this went on until Britain’s famed driver Sir Malcolm Campbell showed up at Daytona Beach. He was known for breaking many land speed records on the beaches of England. He set three consecutive land speed records on Daytona Beach. In 1932 he went 253.968 mph, 1933 272.465 mph, and on his last attempt in 1935 he broke 276.465 mph.

On the last attempt he realized in order to make a run at 300 mph he needed a larger area because he went under the Daytona pier at 276! If you have ever driven the family car under that pier at 10 MPH there's not much room.

On September 3, 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new record of 301.129 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.

Pictures Borrowed from:

http://www.birthplaceofspeed2006.com/

http://www.floridamemory.com

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