How Race Car Drivers Use Math By Sheri L. Arroyo Math Curriculum Consultant: Rhea A. Stewart, M.A., Specialist in Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education Math in the Real World: How Race Car Drivers Use Math Copyright © 2010 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea Clubhouse An imprint of Chelsea House Publishers 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arroyo, Sheri L. How race car drivers use math / by Sheri L. Arroyo; math curriculum consultant, Rhea A. Stewart. p. cm. — (Math in the real world) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-60413-609-8 1. Mathematics—Juvenile literature. 2. Automobile racing drivers—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. QA135.6.A78 2010 510—dc22 2009021476 Chelsea Clubhouse books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Chelsea Clubhouse on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Developed for Chelsea House by RJF Publishing LLC (www.RJFpublishing.com) Text and cover design by Tammy West/Westgraphix LLC Illustrations by Spectrum Creative Inc. Photo research by Edward A. Thomas Index by Nila Glikin Photo Credits: 4, 21, 22: Getty Images; 6: JASON REED/Reuters/Landov; 8: © Wm. Baker/GhostWorx Images/Alamy; 10: © Tony Watson/Alamy; 12: RUSSELL LABOUNTY/CSM/Landov; 14, 25: AP/Wide World Photos; 16: TIM WIMBORNE/Reuters/Landov; 18: ALESSANDRO BIANCHI/Reuters/Landov; 20: PAULO WHITAKER/Reuters /Landov; 24, 26: AFP/Getty Images. Printed and bound in the United States of America Bang RJF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. Table of Contents Racing and Math ..................................................... 4 Track Design ............................................................ 6 Drag Racing ............................................................. 8 E.T. Racing ............................................................. 10 Go as Fast as You Can! .......................................... 12 NASCAR: Winning the Championship ................. 14 Formula One ......................................................... 16 F1: The Driver and His Team ................................ 18 The Fuel ................................................................. 20 The Tires ................................................................ 22 How’s My Driving? ................................................ 24 Driver Training ..................................................... 26 If You Want to Be a Race Car Driver .................... 28 Answer Key ........................................................... 29 Glossary ................................................................. 30 To Learn More ....................................................... 31 Index ...................................................................... 32 Answers and helpful hints for the You Do the Math activities are in the Answer Key. Words that are defined in the Glossary are in bold type the first time they appear in the text. Racing and Math he drivers have suited up and Tclimbed into their cars. Engines roar. All eyes are on the checkered flag. The flag drops. The drivers roar off—challenging themselves, their teams, and other drivers to perform to the best of their ability. Math is used by the drivers, by their pit crews, and by race car designers before, during, and after a race. This is a sport where everything is measured and analyzed! The Math of Racing Cars race around the track at the Talladega There are different kinds of racing. Superspeedway. Each has a different kind of car and 4 track. In all of the types, though, math is used in many ways. How much fuel should be put in the car before a race? How fast was the driver’s qualifying time, and how does it compare to the times of other drivers? What was the driver’s speed on the straight part of the track compared with the curves? The driver and team answer these questions and more by doing math. You Do the Math Fastest Times Before races on an oval track, drivers who want to compete in the race take 2 laps to drive as fast as they can. The amount of time it takes a driver to complete his fastest lap is his official qualifying time. How fast each driver went as he raced around the track is his qualifying speed. The bar graph shows the fastest (best) qualifying speeds recorded at 10 tracks in the years 2000–2008. Use the graph to answer the questions. 1. Which track’s best qualifying speed was fastest? Texas Motor Speedway 196 2. Which track’s best qualifying Las Vegas Motor Speedway 185 speed was slowest? Auto Club Motor Speedway 188 3. What is the difference Michigan International Speedway 194 between the fastest and Lowes Motor Speedway 193 slowest best qualifying Indianapolis Motor Speedway 186 speeds? Chicagoland Speedway 188 4. How much slower was the Atlanta Motor Speedway 195 Race Tracks Race Tracks best qualifying speed at Talladega Superspeedway 192 Daytona International Daytona International Speedway 191 Speedway than at Texas Motor Speedway? 184185 186187 188 1891 19091 192193 194195 196 1971198 99 Qualifying Speeds (in miles per hour, MPH) 5 Track Design here are special tracks for differ- Tent kinds of races. NASCAR races take place on oval tracks, such as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In NASCAR races, the cars look very much like regular cars. NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. Drag racing, or hot-rod racing, is a short but fast race between two cars at a time. Drag racing is held at special tracks with a 1 -mile-long 4 straight path for the cars to race on. Indy Car races and Formula One A view from the air of the races use extremely fast, specially Indianapolis Motor Speedway. designed race cars. Indy cars race on oval tracks. Formula One races are held on road courses. Track Types Oval tracks are grouped by their length. The length of a track is the 6 distance around the track once, beginning and ending at a starting line. Short tracks are oval tracks that are less than 1 mile in length. Intermediate tracks are from 1 mile to 2 miles in length. Superspeedways are tracks greater than 2 miles in length. Road courses are not oval in shape. They have irregular shapes and many turns (some- thing like an actual road with many sharp curves). They are more than 2 miles long. You Do the Math Comparing Tracks Look at the table with data about different oval tracks. The table tells how long each track is and how many people it can seat. Data about Oval Tracks Track Length Seats Dover 1.0 miles 140,000 Daytona Beach 2.5 miles 168,000 Charlotte 1.5 miles 165,000 Indianapolis 2.5 miles 250,000 Kansas City 1.5 miles 82,000 Martinsville 0.5 miles 65,000 1. Order the race tracks by spectator seats from the track that has the least number of seats to the track that has the greatest number. 2. Which tracks are superspeedways? 3. What is the difference in length between Daytona Beach and Martinsville? 4. Indianapolis has sold 135,000 seats for an upcoming race. How many seats are still available? 7 Drag Racing drag race is a contest between A two race cars that is held on a track called a drag strip. The cars 1 drive 4 of a mile straight down the track. After a car crosses the finish line, the driver releases a parachute, which helps bring the car to a stop. A drag race event will often have many cars entered in it. As each two-car race is run, the los- ing car is eliminated. Each winning car keeps racing until only one car is left that hasn’t lost a race. That car is the winner of the event. Elapsed Time, Speed, and Reaction Time A race begins with a signal from an electronic device called a Christmas tree. The device has different colored lights. When the green light goes on, the race begins. The device used to signal the start of a drag race is called As each car takes off, it crosses a a Christmas tree. line and starts an elapsed-time clock. The clock stops when that car cross- es the finish line. The start-to-finish 8 time is the car’s elapsed time. The car with the shortest elapsed time wins the race. Each car’s speed is also measured in a 66-foot stretch that ends at the finish line. Speed is important to win a race, but so is the driver’s reaction time. This is how quickly the driver reacts to the green light. A driver with a slower speed can still win the race if he had the fastest reaction to the green light and got his car to accelerate (pick up speed) faster at the beginning of the race. You Do the Math Who Wins? The tables below show the elapsed time and the speed in miles per hour (mph) for two races. Use the tables to answer the questions. Results of Race #1 Driver Elapsed Time Speed Steph 8.35 seconds 181.48 mph Tran 8.09 seconds 181.45 mph Results of Race #2 Driver Elapsed Time Speed Jason 7.68 seconds 192.51 mph Ed 9.18 seconds 107.88 mph 1. In Race #1, which driver had the shortest elapsed time? Who had the fastest speed? Who won the race? How do you know? 2. In Race #2, who lost the race? What was the difference between his elapsed time and the winner’s elapsed time? 9 E.T.