RACING CHANGE-A-ROO
In the time you and I will be sitting here talking about it, the very nature of Stock Car Racing will be changed!
I'll agree with you that's biting off quite a trackful,, but you have to you have to keep up with what NASA has been doing recently to realize how racing has been given a boost which may well change the very nature of the sport.
We have to learn to use a newly coined word..
Get used to this mix of letters: NiCrAIY. It is being pronounced as :”nick-CRAY-ly.” It is an alloy; a mix of nickel, chromium, aluminum and yttrium which has a boiling point of over 3800 degrees. Think of it all as finely powdered materials which, when mixed with just the proper amount of zirconia – a ceramic thermal barrier - becomes a gooey substance which can be sprayed on metallic surfaces.
NASA has developed systems of spraying that depart from the usual routines so the substance can be sprayed as ultra-=thin layers. The system, being called “vacuum plasma application”- makes it possible to apply numerous layers on metal surfaces. It is applied to the molds for for making the parts and product surfaces themselves reedy to take on excessive load of heat.
Oddly enough this innovative method has a strange advantage in that it it is not take anyhing away from Bernays th Agna way from the treated surface n or didoes add anything. It may BE SAID tha titinterpoosed something helpful to both sides. Normally there are sharp bounderies between coatings and the combustion liners. As the exceedingly thin layers of NiCrITY are sprayed it provides a cushioning effect between the two surfaces, smoothing the surface out rather than imposing anything between them.. Often there is a harsh exchange between such surfaces which creates heat. Less stress means less heat.
Of course, many factor will be found which may may well keep this advancement at a distance for some time, such as cost, but it is obvious that when it does arrive the nature of racing could change a great many ways. Cars will faster, be more efficient and demand less maintenance delay and expense,when engines can be made to run smoother, faster, longer and without excessive heat problems in sustained track action. It will. Not doubt, come to be used in automobiles of street use.as well with their six to eight thousand rpms, as compared to racing's 12-thousand plus peaks. Both can be better performers with coatings of piston heads and engine block cylinder heads with NiCrITY and with better combustion, higher efficiency and hence longer periods of use.
We shall see, If more speed results some of the nation's short tracks may face some new worries. If , however, greater efficiency is possible racing may become more reasonable for everyone.
It may be a dream, but the the cost at the gate can be made more realistic, perhaps, so more people can enjoy more days at the races.
A.L.M. April 21, 2004 [c504wds]e
