Racing Has Spawned Many Automotive Breakthroughs

From Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The next time you glance into your car’s rear-view mirror, remember it’s a chapter from racing history.

The ordinary rear-view mirror is one of a plethora of automotive technologies that evolved from the race track. Radial tires, disc brakes, fuel injection systems and safer car interiors also have strong ties to auto racing.

It’s like having a laboratory on four wheels. Much of what’s developed for racing eventually trickles down to ubiquitous vehicles such as sedans and minivans, said Ken Siwieck, assistant manager of the Newman/Haas racing team, from Lincolnshire, IL.

The rear-view mirror is a classic example. It first appeared in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 race in 1911, in a car driven by Ray Harroun, according to Ward’s Auto World.

"As per the custom of the day, all cars except Harroun’s carried riding mechanics who, among other things, helped the driver keep track of other vehicles during the race. Unable to find a mechanic to ride with him, Harroun installed a mirror on his car so he could view what was happening behind him and be alert to any cars overtaking him. Automotive historians credit this as the first use of a rear-view mirror on an automobile," Ward’s wrote.

In the early days of motor sport racing, especially, almost everything developed at the track found its way to the street. Cars are much safer now as the result of race-proven technologies such as seat belts, shoulder harnesses and vehicle rollover protection.

The notion of turning a car’s interior into a safety capsule came directly from racing, said Dan Davis, chairman of Victory Lane and Vintage Oval Racing magazines in Palo Alto, CA.

More powerful engines, improved gearing and innovations in automotive electronics also have come from the racing circuit.

"There will always be this caldron of creativity that will find its way into passenger cars," Davis said.

The current race cars are packed with sensors that provide drivers and mechanics with reams of performance data. During a race, some of the data is sent by radio signals from the cars to a mobile command center where it’s analyzed in a hurry.

Sometimes the connection is lost for a few moments as a car speeds around the track and slips behind a building. But seconds later it sends a "data dump" of information so that nothing is missed.

After the race, cars are plugged into laptops which download thousands of bits of information for detailed analysis. In some ways it’s like watching the "post game" film following a major sporting event.

Things such as the centrifugal force on a car as it ripped through turns on the track are studied in great detail. Teams also analyze videos taken from inside the cars and around the track, looking for clues about what worked and didn’t work during the race.

Special data recorders chronicle what happened seconds before a crash and measure the force of impact. That "black box" technology also is used in airplanes and now passenger cars.

"Your car probably has it," said Jeremy Dale, president of the CDW/RuSPORT Racing team.

Better tires are the direct result of racing. Through millions of laps around the track, engineers found that wide, low-profile tires delivered precise handling.

"When you look at today’s street tires, it’s very apparent," said Al Speyer, executive director of motor sports for Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC.

"Through racing, we developed tread designs for wet roads," Speyer said. A good tread design gets water out from underneath the tire, allowing it to make better contact with the pavement.

Tires are constantly being tweaked and refined.

"You never know what you will find around the next corner" of development, Speyer said.

Detachable rims are another innovation with roots in racing.

High-performance engines and better fuel economy evolved from the racing circuit as race teams fine-tuned their sport.

To get the attention of U.S. car buyers, German automaker Audi has introduced a diesel-engine race car. Audi hopes to show that diesel cars can be fast as well as fuel efficient, a concept still new in this country.

Some race cars are so specialized, they have little in common with their street cousins.

"Much of what they do to get extreme high performance isn’t really necessary for passenger cars," said John Reisel, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.

Still, a lot of things have trickled down from auto racing, Reisel said, and the sport has been a training ground for engineers. All of the top engineers at Honda Motor Co. are required to spend time with the company’s racing team. Every significant car company in the world has some role in racing. Henry Ford was one of racing’s early success stories, said Davis with Vintage Oval Racing. He used $1,000 from race winnings to start Ford Motor Co.