One Size Doesn’t Fit All

pixonaut/Getty ImagesThe rules for the Kelly American Challenge, which ran from 1977 to 1989, based minimum weight on engine size. To determine engine size, a tech inspector measured the displacement of one cylinder and then multiplied it by the number of cylinders. Sounds cut and dried. What could go wrong? Well, in the engine bay of Tommy Riggins’ Chevy Malibu, one cylinder was especially easy to access, so it was used to measure engine size. But at Road Atlanta in 1983, a contrarian tech inspector chose to check a different cylinder and came up with a different displacement number. How? The cylinder that was usually tested was undersized, while the one on the other side of the V was correspondingly oversized. So even though the engine was legal, the car was too light since the minimum-weight calculation was based on the Mini-Me cylinder.

Plategate

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>Toyota Team Europe came up with an insanely sneaky way to bypass the restrictor plate during the 1995 World Rally Championship season. The hose that connected the air intake to the turbocharger of the Celica GT-Four was fitted with a metal collar. Screwing it into place compressed elastic washers, thereby moving the restrictor plate 5 millimeters away from the turbo. This allowed air to pass around the plate rather than through it. Hello, 50 extra horsepower! But the real genius of the design was that the very act of taking the unit apart to inspect it released the tension on the springs and caused the restrictor plate to snap back into its original, legal position. The fiddle wasn’t discovered until Rally Catalunya, near the end of the season. The FIA stripped Toyota of all points in 1995 and excluded the team from the 1996 championship.

Smokey’s Bandit

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>You know those wild stories told about the Chevelle that Smokey Yunick didn’t race in the Daytona 500 in 1968? That it was seven-eighths scale? That Yunick drove it back to the Best Damn Garage in Town after leaving the gas tank with mystified tech inspectors? Bogus, most of them, but it’s still the greatest cheater car in racing history. There was virtually no piece of that Chevelle that Yunick didn’t massage. The chassis was scratch-built, with a Watt’s linkage and faired-in suspension components. The engine was positioned on the centerline of the chassis, as required, but Yunick moved everything else to the left, including the driver. To optimize aerodynamics, he shaved the door handles, channeled the grille, and flattened the roof. Yunick insisted the car didn’t break any rules. But as he wrote in his memoir: “Was this car a ‘cheater,’ Smokey? You’re goddam rite [sic] it was.”

 

 

Modern NASCAR’s Most Cheating Team

The Iceberg
43.4K subscribers
Michael Waltrip is one of the best personalities in NASCAR. He also is one of the most popular personalities in NASCAR as well. But what many tend to omit from his legacy in NASCAR is that his team was not only the subject of one major cheating scandal but two. This is about Michael Waltrip Racing. This is modern NASCAR’s most cheating team.

 

How to Cheat at NASCAR 202,436 views Jan 9, 2021


NascarAllOut
49.2K subscribersDrivers and crew chiefs interviewed about the ways they cheated to gain an advantage over their competition. As the old adage goes 'if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying'.

 

Addition to post #44

 

10 genius F1 innovations that were outlawed

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Nov 4, 2021

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THE RACE
768K subscribers
Formula 1 designers are always pushing the boundaries to come up with new ideas that will give their cars a technical edge. And even as the rules get more restrictive, the best minds in the paddock still find new ways to exploit the regulations. But sometimes ideas are so clever, the rules end up being changed to prevent something that was never supposed to be allowed in the first place,

or would be needlessly expensive for everyone to copy. Or sometimes, rival teams just complain enough that eventually they manage to get it banned. In this video Edd Straw picks out 10 incredible ideas that are no longer allowed today

 

The Illegal Formula 1 Innovations Making A Comeback In 2022

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Feb 24, 2021

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Autosport
353K subscribersFormula 1's 2022 cars may look completely new, but what about the illegal ideas that are returning for the new wave of F1 machines? From venturi tunnels to wheel covers and more, F1 is looking to improve on the current formula with both old and new ideas, so Jake Boxall-Legge takes a look at what Formula 1's 2022 cars will bring back from the dead, why we don't see the banned ideas on F1's current cars.

 

Racing Around the Rules - How to win.... The Unfair Advantage

HRN
5.74K subscribers1,149,045 views Mar 23, 2019
Sorry About the sound issues... The Friday seminar at The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance was entitled, The Unfair Advantage: Racing Around the Rules - and a number of car preparers, team bosses and legislators gave their views on some of the grey areas teams loved to exploit

 

Jeff Gordon's T-Rex: Working in the Grey Area

Jesse King
3.7K subscribers225,731 views Sep 20, 2019
In the 1997 Winston, Jeff Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports team unveiled T-Rex. They

 

Another story from someone who never read the rule book....
and probably doesn't know much about cars.

And if it's not in the rule book, it's not illegal

Junior Johnson: NASCAR's Most Notorious Cheater

NFJJ
72.1K subscribers
39K views 11 days ago

Junior Johnson is one of the most iconic names in NASCAR’s history. Junior became one of the early greats in NASCAR racing after being brought up by bootleggers and even spending some time in jail himself. He had an amazing driving career and switched to team ownership, where he made an even bigger impact on the sport and cemented his legacy as one of the sport’s greatest innovators. Today, we’re going to dive into the legacy of NASCAR’s most Notorious Cheater. …