The most intriguing seminar of the first day of the 2014 AETC event came in the second segment, hosted by Arrow Racing Engines founder and longtime racer Bill Hancock.
His presentation, entitled “An Engineering Guide To Creative Rules Interpretation”, was informative for the concepts that were presented along with the concepts that weren’t. As you might gather from the title, Hancock covered all sorts of ways to incorporate ingenuity and innovation in an approach to “the rules”.
He opened the presentation with one of our favorite quotes, “Necessity is the mother of all invention”, first made famous by William Horma in 1519. He says, “Until you can consistently finish in the top ten percent of your particular segment, don’t waste your time and money trying to be creative.”
An interesting outlook, but one that has much merit. We’ve seen countless racers over the years trying to figure out ways around the competition before ever being able to make three or four consistent runs in a row, let alone achieving the top 10% of their given segment. His solution? “Master the basics first”.
There are many ways to create a competitive advantage, according to Hancock. He suggests becoming a student of physics, fluids, statics, dynamics, and strength of materials, as each of these disciplines will give you that advantage without ever getting creative in the engine department.
Hancock then talked about the definition of the word rules. “ A framework to guide a particular activity or organization.” He suggests that rules often present an unintended blueprint for innovation, and are as important for what they do say as well as what they don’t say. Any leading racer will tell you to interpret the rulebook.
He touched on a particular example, which reads as follows:
Multiple disc clutches are prohibited. Only single disc clutches may be used. No titanium parts allowed.
This particular rule leaves much to be desired, and he explained how a way around it was found by the use of a particular single disc clutch that would hold the power for that particular engine, and a lot of time spent machining lightweight parts that were not titanium. Needless to say, the creativity was successful.
According to Hancock, there are three specific ways to interpret a rule. Learn what causes the rule to be written, determine what is the true or intended purpose behind the rule, and consider the unintended consequences of breaking the rule, i.e. don’t spend $5000 to bend a rule for a class that pays $500 to win.
Application of the particular also comes into play. How is it applied, how is it measured and enforced, who is the enforcer, and what tools and method do they use to enforce the rule. Lastly, what are the penalties of non-compliance, which plays into his earlier point up above.
One interesting point he made was this – laws have consequences, while rules are merely guidelines. We find that interesting and enlightening all in one, as it makes perfect sense yet is often overlooked in the quest for that last little bit of elapsed time or lap time.
Hancock also focused on circle track performance, suggesting that it’s much more important to pay attention to the shape of the torque curve for everything except wide-open-throttle operation. Suggestions were also made to look at friction reduction, as it’s often less expensive to reduce friction than to find an extra “X” horsepower. Windage, rotational inertia, torsional vibration, and blowby reduction were also mentioned as ways to improve performance.
Valvetrain testing, track testing, and wind tunnel testing were all touched on during his seminar.
Perhaps his most important recommendations? “Read the rulebook, then read it again. Go watch tech inspection closely, be nice to the old-timers and ask how and what they did, and go back and read the rulebook one last time.”
He covered a number of other topics, one of which we found interesting. The most important elements to a successful racing program is the loose nut behind the wheel. In his words, “the driver is the easiest part of the car to change – they’re only held in with seatbelts.”
And his parting shot was one to remember. “If you have identified an opportunity and developed a solution, your toughest task lies ahead. Keep it a secret, use it sparingly, make it last, and don’t be greedy.”
In other words, if you’ve figured out a competitive advantage, don’t beat the guy in the other car by half a lap when you only need a fender.