The wings on a Champ Car work in conjunction with the car's Ground Effects to provide downforce
to keep the car glued to the road. Wings and
wing configurations differ depending on the
type of track that is being raced on. For road
courses and short ovals, wings are adjusted to
achieve maximum downforce. Superspeedway
events call for less downforce so wings are
configured to reduce drag and obtain maximum
speed.
If the turbo over-pressurizes the air flowing
into the engine, the Pop-Off Valve goes off,
resulting in a sudden drop in horsepower. This
keeps the playing field and manifold pressures
even amongst all CART teams. The Pop-Off
Valve is named so because it makes a loud
“pop” when it goes off. CART provides this
manifold pressure relief device to every Champ Car team before each practice and race.
Radial tires were introduced to
road course events in 1985 and
superspeedways in 1986. There is a misconception that the tread pattern of a tire provides traction.
This is true in dirt, snow or on wet pavement, but on dry pavement the maximum
amount of "contact patch" is desirable. Each racing tire weighs 16-19 pounds, depending
whether it is for the rain or dry, front or rear of
the Champ Car. Depending on the
event, a team may use 28-48 tires per
weekend at a cost of $1200 per set (four tires).
Champ Car teams can utilize up to 75 radios
during a race. There are also eight or so
transmitters on the car itself that report
telemetry data, like tire pressure, back to the crew. Teams use
only two radio channels and only one member
of the team is designated to talk to the driver.
Everyone on the team monitors both channels
to hear all communications. The driver only
monitors one channel.
