Science + Talent = Eddie Dickerson makes it sound so simple. Our goal is to build cars with the most power and the least resistance. The team that does it best gets the checkered flag. DuPont materials, the engineering skills of Hendrick Motorsports, and Jeff Gordon s driving prowess put #24 in the winner s circle Dickerson is director of chassis engineering at Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), the powerhouse North Carolina racing organization that is fielding seven teams in 2001 in NASCAR s Winston Cup, Busch Grand National and Craftsman Truck series. Driver Jeff Gordon in the #24 car sponsored by DuPont has seen enough checkered flags to capture three Winston Cup Series championships for HMS. Gordon s 55 th win June 10 in Michigan gave HMS its 100 th Winston Cup victory. Hendrick Motorsports was the first to build its own cars from scratch and is still the only team building the whole car including the engine, Electrical engineer Jim Wall electronically designs and stress-tests engine components before they are machined in Hendrick shops.
says Dickerson. Each team needs 15 to 20 cars a year. It takes about a week to build the chassis and another week to hang the sheet metal on it. Then it s off to the wind tunnel to study the car s down force. Even though every #24 car is built the same, each performs differently because it s hand-built. Hendrick Motorsports is leading the way technologically supported by more than a dozen graduate engineers to use the most advanced materials and science to build cars and then Two cars a primary and a back-up are prepared for each NASCAR race. duplicate the things that work. Earlier this year, for instance, Jeff really liked the car he drove at Atlanta, so we digitized it by electronically measuring 15,000 points on the body. Having all this data available should help us build a match. Checkered flags go to the cars that generate the most down force and, more important, make the best use of it. Explains Dickerson: We try to adjust the balance of the car springs, shocks, tire pressure and such as precisely as possible so the car will maintain its grip on the track in corners. This is what TV announcers are talking about when they say a car is loose or tight not enough grip or too much. If the car is balanced frontto-back and side-to-side, the driver can go through corners without letting off the gas significantly. Obviously, the driver who can keep his foot on the gas the most has an advantage. He notes that circumstances are different at short tracks such as Bristol, Martinsville and Richmond where drivers must brake often hard to negotiate corners. Pristine in the shop, hard-working brake assemblies glow fiery orange on short tracks. Car handling isn t all springs and shocks, however. HMS engineers are working on a radiator that will cool more efficiently so they can then reduce the size of the air opening in the front grill. This, in turn, will give the aerodynamic experts more control of the air around the car to generate more down force. Besides building engines, we re intensely involved with GM in engine development, testing parts for durability and performance, says Randy Dorton (right), director of engine development, with Rob Benson, director of dyno operations.
As NASCAR racing has become more sophisticated, taking the checkered flag depends more and more on the smallest of details, points out Randy Dorton, director of the HMS engine program. Much of our R&D effort now goes into adapting technology so we can find those elusive hundredths of a second that add up to wins. For example, while we were looking for a new material for engine bearing applications, we learned that DuPont TM Vespel polyimide resin is used to make thrust washers in an Allison transmission that s standard equipment on some GM vehicles. This production use immediately gave us All #24 cars are painted with DuPont ChromaPremier from DuPont Automotive Finishes. confidence to try it in our bearing application. We ve since replaced needle bearings in the rocker area with Vespel parts and trimmed weight in the process. The strength of Vespel allows us to get good pivoting and still use less metal in the rocker area. And because the Vespel needs only slight lubrication, less oil has to be pumped to that part of the engine. That means the horsepower required to pump the oil can be used instead to power the car. Each car starts with a roll cage built to NASCAR specifications. After years of aerodynamic scrutiny of the visible portions of the car, Hendrick Motorsports is testing new underbody configurations to improve handling and gain speed, according to Eddie Dickerson, director of chassis engineering.
We re always trying to make #24 the slickest car on the track, says crew chief Robbie Loomis. Having DuPont as sponsor of the #24 Monte Carlo puts us in a different relationship with our sponsor than most other teams, says Dickerson. Sponsors candy and burgers and such certainly are good products, but they won t make a car run faster. DuPont, on the other hand, brings us materials and technology. We didn t need to develop Vespel ; it was already there for us. We just needed to learn to apply it. Similarly, HMS mechanics learned to use DuPont TM Krytox performance lubricant to prevent the rubber/silicone boot on spark plug wires from adhering to the plug s ceramic insulator because of the intense heat generated under the hood. When a mechanic tried to remove the wire, Dickerson explains, the wiring assembly pulled apart. We discovered that by applying a small dab of Krytox inside the boot, we eliminated the problem because the Krytox easily stands up to the heat. Now Krytox is used on General Motors production cars to solve this same problem. Each Winston Cup team will use 60 to 80 tires Moving fluids around the #24 are lots of hoses and tubing of DuPont TM Teflon per race, including practice sessions. PTFE. HMS engineers have found that the strong, lightweight material is ideal for the very tight bends necessary to fit all the fluid lines into cramped spaces. The hoses are extruded in a convoluted configuration rather than a smooth bore to prevent collapsing in sharp-radius bends. Developing engine components is no small part of the HMS operation. Each year, the HMS engine department builds more than 700 engines for its own teams and for lease to a number other NASCAR competitors. As important, the engine department is an extension of the GM Motorsports technical program. Most recently, HMS played a key role in the development and testing of the new SB2 engine that powers all GM cars in NASCAR Winston Cup competition. DuPont Motorsports Network sponsors of #24 include Corian, Tyvek, Stainmaster, Nomex, and Sontara. We ve brought together a lot of talent electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineers, as well as specialists in metallurgy and combustion to build engines that are not only powerful, but durable, too, says Jim Wall, engineering group manager for Hendrick Engines. There s a careful balance between power and durability, which is why we re always seeking new materials that will last without sacrificing horsepower.
The department currently is working on a new configuration for a cylinder head. Wall and his team heavy users of computer-aided design and manufacturing systems will design, model, and test the part in the computer before any metal is ever shaped. We test stress and thermal loads in the computer so we re very close to the final part design before we make the first prototype. We give the race teams the basic tools, then they put them all together. The drivers do the final testing. It s incredible what drivers like Jeff can sense in a car he can feel a 5-horsepower difference in an engine. He s got extraordinary hand-eye Jeff Gordon s dashboard is set so instruments and track are directly in his field of coordination and a very sharp mind. He takes maximum advantage of the tools we give him. At Hendrick Motorsports, putting all the basic tools together involves the efforts of some 320 employees working in 400,000 square feet of building complex spread over 67 acres near Charlotte, North Carolina. Each of those 320 people is critical to the success of the Hendrick race teams, says Robbie Loomis, crew chief for Gordon. Nothing symbolizes this better than the pit crew on Sundays. They are so in tune with each other, they re almost like one person out there. That s the only way we can have stops of 14 and 15 seconds race after race. HMS was the first organization to field professional pit crews that train four to six hours during the week. Members are selected for their agility, experience playing team sports, and their will to win. And every crew member can use the services of a HMS fitness trainer to assure that they are in shape and race-ready. This reflects Rick Hendrick s attitude toward The #24 air dam is reinforced with Kevlar people, concludes Loomis. He has a knack for for strength without unwanted taking ordinary people and making them give 110 percent. He knows that, ultimately, it s people who win races. To learn more about Hendrick Motorsports and Jeff Gordon, go to www.hendrickmotorsports.com or www.jeffgordon.com. The red-tipped probe digitizes a cylinder head to ensure conformity with specifications.