NASCAR plans to begin using the Electronic Fuel Injection with the start of the 2012 season at the Daytona 500 and held a testing session at Kentucky for electronic fuel injection powered cars.
All four car manufacturers tested electronic fuel injection (EFI) this week
For more on this take a look at an excerpt from the transcript of the interview held with NASCAR's very own Robin Pemberton and John Darby, which can be found after the jump - (transcript provided by NASCAR).
Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesCrew members work on the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet test car with an electronic fuel injection system in the garage during testing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Kentucky Speedway on July 7 in Sparta, Ky. via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com
Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesCrew members work on the Penske Racing Dodge test car with an electronic fuel injection system in the garage during testing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Kentucky Speedway on July 7 in Sparta, Ky. via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com
Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesRicky Stenhouse Jr. test drives the No. 121 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with the electronic fuel injection system in the garage area during testing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Kentucky Speedway on July 7 in Sparta, Ky. via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com
Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesThe Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota with the electronic fuel injection system sits in the garage area during testing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Kentucky Speedway on July 7 in Sparta, Ky. via nascar-assets.americaneagle.com
Q. Robin, what else has to happen with fuel injection before next season? What about more tests scheduled?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: You know, we'll see what the racetrack has planned. We think they've done a great job here with the facility over the past few years getting things updated, getting enough seats in to hold the capacity crowd here. I understand they're sold out and it will be standing room only. We're all looking forward to that.
For the rest of the year, we have a test scheduled at Phoenix that will be a tire confirmation test later in the year. That's about all we have on the schedule for right now.
We do have some repaves that are on the books for next year and the year after. So we're still working on the schedules for all of those.
Q. But you're satisfied the fuel injection process is going, how it's working so far?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Absolutely. You have to remember, as far as the fuel injection goes, many of the teams have been testing a form of fuel injection over the past two years, two and a half years anyways. A lot of our engine builders out in the field, they do build engines for other forms, other leagues. They do have experience with that. All the input that we're getting, all the feedback is things are seamless right now.
Q. Robin, with the fuel injection, the drivers, they're really not going to be able to feel a difference, the fans aren't going to be able to see a difference, right? Isn't it really about making the car more relevant to what they're selling on their street models?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: I will say this: we wouldn't have done it if it would have been worse for us. This will be the same or better. We feel like our competition is the best that it's ever been. We'll put it up against anybody. This is just one more thing that we've tackled in the last year or so moving forward that will be more relevant out there.
Q. I don't think I've seen as many engineers at a news conference you have held forever. Talk about the competitive side of fuel injection, the competition side of it as the teams race to get it underhand. Also, talk about the cost of it. Is it true that it's up to $26,000 per car for fuel injection?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: You've been talking to car owners or engineers but not both at the same time.
We knew there would be some added cost to this. There's always upfront costs. Anytime you have a rule change, there's upfront costs. It's something we need to do. We need to do it for our sport, for our competition, and to be relevant out there. We knew this moving forward when we decided to take this on. Everybody knew the challenges. That's why the timeline was as long as it has been.
The easy part is, you know, anybody can do fuel injection, but to do it the way we've done it with our partners, with McLaren, all the manufacturers, Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Dodge, to keep a level playing field, that's the most important thing. Because at the end of the day it's about having a level playing field and our outstanding racing we've been able to put on. That's what's important to us.
Q. Can you talk about them working together rather than competing?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: Everybody works together in the early stages on any project. Today's probably the stake in the ground where everybody goes off and does their own thing. I'm speaking for them. They're all in the room. You should circle up with them and get their opinions.
But in my opinion right now I think everybody feels comfortable. There's a few little things we've got to get buttoned up, but they're minor details. I think today, it's a line in the sand, and we'll move forward from here and let the competition begin.
Q. Last week was another two-by-two race at a restrictor plate track. Some drivers were critical of that style of racing again. Are you satisfied enough with it to the point where there's still no changes planned or do anything that would break that up, or is that being looked at or considered at all?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: That's a good question and it's a tough question. I think if you look over time, whether it was two-by-two, single-file, pack racing, whatever you want to call it over the last number of years, you will always have critics no matter what you do.
But we have had great statistics. We've had a lot of leaders, a lot of lead changes. The competition is great. I think it's too close to the checkered flag from the Coke Zero 400 other than us gathering our thoughts about that, you know. But I'm sure we'll put some folks together and we'll talk about it.
But there will always be those that will be critical. I never saw anybody or a driver get out of a car after a wreck and compliment how things were going. I haven't seen it yet.
So, you know, there's elements of that that are different. It takes a while to digest that. There's quite a few folks that opinions have changed over the course of time. It's only been since we started the repaved racetracks. It's a backhanded compliment to how smooth the surfaces are at Daytona and Talladega that this type of racing has evolved. It's not necessarily anything new on the cars, whether it be the Nationwide or the Cup cars. The Trucks haven't had any change in the last few years, and they're starting to master that drafting technique.
It's going to continue to evolve and we'll keep an eye on it and see what comes out of this. But we talk about all types of racing, not just restrictor plate stuff, when events get done.
Q. As far as the fuel injection goes, are you asking the teams to do anything specific today or are you talking to them about anything specific, or is it pretty much they're testing and you're not all that involved?
ROBIN PEMBERTON: We're just getting their feedback. I mean, we're not telling them what to do. I would say that it's pretty broad right now what they can do. They're off experimenting with whatever they need to.
John would answer that question a lot better than I would in some of those areas.
But, really, it's about the teams, it's about the manufacturers, it's about the hardware, the software, and everybody out there competing right now.
KERRY THARP: John, you want to expound on that at all.
JOHN DARBY: You hate to just say it's as simple as logging laps. But really it's proving all the individual systems out. If you look at the whole package, right, fuel injection is way, way simpler than a carburetor from the design, all the moving little parts and functions that a carburetor does, to be replaced by an electronic module and eight injectors, it wasn't that it moved into a higher degree of difficulty, a lot more technology, but not difficulty.
Knowing after all the years of tuning and development they did on the carburetors, the teams know where the engines are optimized in regards to air/fuel ratios and everything.
Today it's a matter of working with their different maps, their tuning pages, their laptops, if you will, to get back to that point of optimization that they had with the package we're running now.
There's a lot of energy being spent in that direction. It's about looking at fuel pumps. It's about looking at different sensors. It's taking a lot of temperature readings from under the hood, inside the car, every place that there are components now that can fail because of heat, and doing everything they can do to ready themselves to be able to have all of those components survive and function properly through a 500-mile event as we head towards 2012.
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