Tuesday, May 31, 2016

FM6 NASCAR Expansion: NASCAR Science



Since 2013, NASCAR debuted their Gen-6 cars which featured enhanced body designs to make close resemblance of showroom cars and better on-track performance. These machines may look like cars like the Chevrolet SS, Ford Fusion, or the US-Spec Toyota Camry but they're actually stock cars, powered by a 5.9L V8 engine producing 725HP of power while mated with 4-speed gearbox, all run in American ethanol due to emission regulations.



In the FM6 NASCAR Expansion, I am now going to do some NASCAR science, experimenting on how those Gen-6 stock cars work on the track and to find out, I got a selection of the three finest examples from three car companies; Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota.



Uh, more specifically, I have gone to the stock cars that came from three car companies but driven by the best drivers in the world of NASCAR. For the Chevrolet side, I've gone for the #48 Lowe's Chevy SS that was driven by Jimmie Johnson. On the Ford side, there's the #2 Brad K Fusion belonging to Brad Keselowski. And for the Toyota side, I've gone for the #18 M&M's Camry from Kyle Busch.

So, how does these machines work? To find out, I went to the Top Gear Test Track to do some NASCAR science. Hmmm. NASCAR meets Top Gear. That sounds too ugly even though the world of Top Gear has strong dislike against NASCAR (well, except for one anyway), but anyway, let's get this experiment on the way.

You see despite they look different in every way, these are Gen-6 stock cars with 5.9L V8 mounted on the front, 725HP of power output, 4-speed manual gearbox, and 3,300lbs of weight. I know that trying to tackle corners in a NASCAR sounds ridiculous but if you got the skills to master those all-American loop titans, it wouldn't be a slouch and the results will be very individual based on how well you master your favorite NASCAR machines driven by your favorite NASCAR drivers. Anyway, let's find out how good these machines are...




And now, the results...

#18 M&M's Camry - 1:16.671
#48 Lowe's Chevy  - 1:16.287
#2 Brad K Fusion - 1:17.146

As you can see that even though they have the same bodies, the same engines, and the same behavior, the results as I conducted on this experiment are very individual regardless on your skill on NASCAR mastery. No matter which machine you're driving, relying on your own driving skills and strategy is the key to master the world of NASCAR. Even though they have the same specs, no two NASCARs are the same because how the driver performs in these cars can become a clear difference between victory and defeat.

And this concludes a little NASCAR science lesson. Be sure to drive one of your favorites in the FM6 NASCAR expansion, available now.

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