Robby Gordon isn't surprised by Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s continued engine problems. A year ago, he went through the same problems. Earnhardt's engine blew during the final restart of last Sunday's race at the Martinsville Speedway. It was the seventh engine failure for Earnhardt this year - five since he announced in May he was leaving Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the season. A year ago, Gordon bought engines from DEI. After he announced he was leaving Chevrolet for Ford in October, he had five engine failures in the final six races. "It doesn't surprise me a bit," Gordon said. "I've been there. I don't think they're giving him bad engines, but I do think they're probably giving him some experimental engines. He's probably getting some (research and development) stuff." -- Savannah Morning News
2007-10-24 08:59:26 · 21 answers · asked by beth 6 in Sports ➔ Auto Racing ➔ NASCAR
Look all you open wheel fans. It isn't Nascar fans fault the only overtaking is in the courtroom and your champs have fled to Nascar. Don't come trolling around here. England nor Honda make 5.7L overhead valve engines that make 850hp. If they could they would be in Nascar. They are welcome any time they think they can qualify.
2007-10-24 09:18:48 · update #1
...It could be possible but I as a fan I want to know exactly what part of the engines are failing. Is it in the valve train? Is it deeper in the motor? Is it the crankshaft? Is it the rods? Is it the amount if silicone in the cast of the pistons? Is it the bearings that aren't holding up?
...Before I could make a judgment on exactly what could be the problem I would need to know what is breaking. Is it constantly the same parts that are defective?
...I find it hard to believe that when they ran the same engines in most (not all but most) of the DEI and RCR cars at Talladega and they all had engine failure that it is just a random problem.
...I would love to know the full details. It would have me so preoccupied trying to figure it out. I am the type of person that loves to dissect problems but there is not enough information available to the public to do it.
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Did I use the wrong term Silica or Silicon?
OK he "Slid" that one in on me....
I will not correct my mistake just so the "Tech Heads" can have a laugh....lol
http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2007/10/22/scene_daily87.html
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...Based on the information I found on it Jr admitted to one case of a missed shift. Martin Truex had a case where there was a mistake made by a top engine builder for DEI. Some earlier problems they were having in the year was valve spring related. They ordered new vavle springs from different suppliers as a work around in hopes of getting better material. Some of the problems has been research and development in a quest for additional power. Three of the cars at Talladega had parts coming out of the oil pan in identical spots probably meaning a rod related problem which may be attributed to the high RPMs and extra power they have found. They had one or two more cars that stayed together but was running on 7 cylinders so that gave them something to study the probable cause of those particular failures. DEI and RCR has been trying different combinations of parts (I would assume a process of elimination) between DEI parts and RCR parts to determine what is the best engine combination and what parts compliment what other parts best.
...Dale Jr said that he has had some power that his cars has never had before which may be the reason the cars can't hold together. If DEI can keep that power and make them stay together then everyone else has something to worry about.
2007-10-24 09:43:44 · answer #1 · answered by Tina 4 · 7⤊ 4⤋
I think Robby's very likely correct. I've said it before and I'll say it again. DEI has figured out how to get great power from the R07. They just haven't figured out how to get it to stay together. It would seem very reasonable to me that if you were going to try anything experimental it would be with Jr and not the driver you have in the chase. Hopefully they learn all they can now and can provide their drivers with quality engines next year that will make awesome power and stay together. If it plays out like I think it will, DEI will be stronger in the long run for doing what they have been, and Jr will be better off when he gets to a new team.
2007-10-25 05:34:40 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I've said it before, and i'll say it again. They have some uncomprehensive technicians, and somebody should lose their job over this. A decent research department should build an engine that doesn't fail. If it fails they aren't applying their theorys correctly. Obviously the people building those engines don't know what they're doing or someone is paying them big money to build engines designed to fail. Either way DEI needs to re-establish new connections, and that responsibility would go to the team owner. When an engine fails, the research department learns from it's component malfunction. If in the developmental stage of the process they keep building bad engines, they aren't the people you wanna do business with.
2007-10-24 22:02:30 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 2⤋
I don't think this is anything new. Jr knew that they were trying new things with the engines. I remember after the 4th engine failure in a post race interview Jr said something like (not an exact quote) 'yea we've been trying something new with these engines. The horse power out there was amazing, up until she quit. I don't even care about the failure as long as we continue to get horse power like that...' in fact, He and Eury Jr continued not to care up until the point they didn't make the chase. They've got nothing to lose at this point. They are solid for 13th. RnD parts or not, Jr was not left in the dark on this one, thus no conspiracy.
2007-10-24 17:39:23 · answer #4 · answered by Crazy Ant 5 · 5⤊ 3⤋
thats probably pretty close, either that or he's getting engines that just arent up to snuff cause the bad azz ones are going to someone else since they know Jr. is gone.
2007-10-24 18:52:02 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋
Maybe Tina is on to something. Maybe they are using silicone instead of silica in the casting of his pistons. and this is for solar43 if the Indy engines were naturally aspirated with no computers and you couldn't adjust on them from the pits by engineers, they wouldn't make a good go kart race engine
2007-10-24 16:54:01 · answer #6 · answered by sllde 3 · 5⤊ 7⤋
That's why I like Robby Gordon - he tells it like it is. Dale Jr won't have that problem with Hendricks!
2007-10-24 16:02:57 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 11⤊ 5⤋
Thats interesting and probably true.
2007-10-25 07:06:51 · answer #8 · answered by David G, Jeff Gordon Rules !!!!! 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Yep, Robby does tell it like it is..I'd like to hear what is the real problem, Tina has some good ideas here....But. heck Jr is not going to have to worry about this at all next yr.. He will be with the best engines at HMS...
Go Dale Jr & Hms in 2008
2007-10-24 17:05:56 · answer #9 · answered by Go Team Penske 7 · 2⤊ 9⤋
Well, you think you're pretty smart there don't ya Missy?
Well let me tell you you a little secret....
Ouch, ouch, dammit Theresa stop hitting me, ouch, ow,ow,ow............
2007-10-25 13:01:03 · answer #10 · answered by tom p 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋