Truck Racing

Due to the sheer size and weight of these speedy six-wheelers - minimum weight limit is 5500kgs - right from the beginning of the sport a maximum speed limit of 100mph (160km/h) was enforced for safety reasons. Close racing One side-effect of this rule is that the racing tends to be extremely close. No-one can run away into the distance purely because of a superior top speed. Of course this places a premium on acceleration and braking – something a modern Racetruck excels at. The 12-litre turbocharged diesel engines used by the majority of the field are tuned up to produce in excess of 1000 horsepower, which is more than double the output of even the most powerful road version. Combined with the vast torque figure of over 3000Nm, this gives the Racetrucks amazing straightline performance.

From a rolling start - standing starts are not used in truck racing - a Racetruck is capable of out-accelerating a Porsche 911 up to 100mph. It's stopping power isn't too shabby either; thanks to water-cooled disc brakes and six, super-sticky racing tyres. All the front-running teams take advantage of a ‘loophole' in the regulations that allows them to move the engine position, so the traditionally very front-heavy truck ends up with a virtually mid-engined layout. The rules specify a minimum front axle weight of 3300kgs – so there is a limit to how far back the engine can be moved.

Of course, when on a track barely wide enough to place two of these vehicles side-by-side, the task of overtaking becomes pretty tough, especially when the entire pack is equipped with the same potent machines and the same desire to defend their position. BTruck Racing is a non-contact formula, but the truth is that bumps, scrapes and exchanges of paintwork are a regular part of the action and just as in Touring Car racing it's this physical aspect of the sport that helps to attract enormous audiences.

Modern NASCAR vehicles share very few attributes of the commercial models they are associated with; for example, the production Chevrolet Monte Carlo weighs nearly the same as the NASCAR Chevy Monte Carlo, but the NASCAR vehicle has an eight-cylinder engine driving the rear wheels, whereas the production car has a front-wheel-drive V6 (a V8 is optional). According to NASCAR, about 6,000 US gallons of fuel is consumed during a typical NEXTEL Cup weekend. [10] For the 2006 season, which includes 36 points races, the total for the season would be 216,000 US gallons. One environmental critic recently estimated [11] NASCAR's total fuel consumption across all series at 2 million US gallons (7.57 million liters) of gas for one season; however, the methodology used has been a point of dispute. Supporters note that this is a modern condition: when NASCAR first started 50 years ago, the race cars were substantially similar to production vehicles, but the safety and performance needs of modern racing have required custom-built race cars. Supporters also note that the strict equipment rules place less emphasis on getting a technological advantage, and thus more emphasis on individual driver skill. All of NASCAR's series also run on spec tires made by certain tire manufacturers such as Goodyear and American Racer. Some note that this discourages tire competition and development, which leads to the absence of rain/wet condition tires, or to races (such as the 2005 Coca-Cola 600) where tires seem to self-destruct.