Hoe come IRL cars dont race hen its raining?

Question

In F1, V8s and in most motor sport categories cars still race in the rain. How come IRL cars dont why dont they just put in a traction control if its so dangerous to race

Answer 1

Now that all these real race fans have answered your question, let me ask you this, HOE come somebody who knows about F1 and V8s can make such question about IRL HEN it's raining on ovals?

Answer 2

You are comparing road racing to oval track racing.

Nobody anywhere in the world runs on ovals in the rain.  The speeds are higher, the tire loads are higher, and there is a concrete wall instead of a run off like road courses.  Rain tires also overheat quickly and come apart if the track isn't soaked.  Since the corners are banked they wouldn't have standing water but the flatter straights could.  You also have more visibility problems.  Faster cars mean more spray.

Nobody has made a rain tire that can stand up to those situations.  The IRL, Cart/ChampCar (before they merged back with the IRL), and even NASCAR can run on road courses in the rain.

Answer 3

Why don't drivers race hen? Because that would make them chicken.

Answer 4

IRL will race in the rain on road courses, how ever they can not race ovals in wet conditions. It is a different type of tire in that they are slicks with now treads.

Answer 5

do u mean "when its raining?" well i live in Indy so ill tell u why. Its because they dont want huge wipe-outs like when danica ran in2 pit lane and hit 1 of her guys in the pit. the more crashes the more money it costs the speed-way and the sponsors 2 so thata y thye dont race when it rains

Answer 6

more crashes.

Answer 7

If the race is on a road course they run in the rain, but they do not race when they are on a oval track when it rains.

Go Helio

Answer 8

f1 is road courses

Answer 9

Most of the time, the IRL will run in rain during road races, but not ovals, because that would just be too dangerous.

Answer 10

IRL cars do race in the rain, on road courses.  St. Petersburg was run in the rain this year (I was working turn four).

NOBODY races on ovals in the rain.  It's not just a matter of grip, but visibility.  Ovals can be 300+ km/h all the way around, and the spray generated at those speeds would be completely blinding.

EDIT -- Also see above regarding rain tires, etc.....

Answer 11

Rain tires, by design, are a softer compound of rubber than racing slicks used on oval tracks. Because of this softer compound, on banked ovals, the tires (even in a downpour) would begin breaking down after 2-3 laps. Banked ovals are built strictly for cars to get downforce by centrifugal force, meaning the extra pressure exerted on the tires will cause them to break down quicker.

Unfortunately, if you want to run rain tires on an oval, the oval must have 0* of banking throughout the course. But then, you're really running a rather boring street/road course. I know of no 0* banked asphalt ovals. An intriguing question, to say the least, but unfortunately, I believe the tire companies, and the sheer physics of banked oval racing, have trumped victorious.

Traction control, on the other hand was eliminated from IndyCar racing about 2-3 years ago.  Can't recall the precise reason it was, but it may have been because of the introduction of more road/street courses coming (as you can see on the current schedule).

The IRL will run road/street courses in the rain.  However, as in the case of St. Petersburg earlier this year, there was a heavy downpour, and then it got dry.  You were seeing drivers trying to drive through the puddles - just to keep the tires cooled before changing over to slicks.  It was actually rather surreal seeing the drivers aim for the puddles in an IndyCar, but that's what they had to do.

Hope that helps a bit.

Answer 12

irl does have a treaded tire that they introduced last yr, that could if needed be used, its similar to the one used in f-1,but has had very little testing, they did use it at road america last yr in champcar,,, but heres why f-1 uses them all the time, because there circuit is made up of entirely road courses,, also f-1 runs a  higher gearbox ratio, which would not be condusive to run ovals,,, they would shatter their gear box in 20 to thirty laps,,,

the indy car series  used to just be cart,, which had both type of races , ovals and road coarses,, for a while the irl was strictly ovals , but have rekindled the road coarse here in detroit, but last yr elimianted the july race At MIS, which sucked,, cart/champcar, was still racing at road america and at cleveland,  as well as long beach, the regrouping of the series should help some, but will never put it at the level it was before the split,,  it was bigger than nascar then, nascar reaped the benifits from that ,,

Answer 13

on road courses if it rains they still race they put on rain tires and go for it but on ovals no

a sport that needs to man up and race in the rain on their only 2 road courses is nascar

Answer 14

you ummmmmmm have some spelling mistakes but its cuz the rain cause slick conditions causing more wrecks (they do race in rain in road courses though)

Answer 15

It makes em slip and crash...so its best to run on dry surfaces like NASCAR does.

Answer 16

they do when it rains during a ROAD COURSE.

F1 doesn't do ovals and if they did they would NOT race in the rain.