Taking the lug nuts off a NASCAR

[Dennis Valet]

Slow motion view of a tire changer taking the lugs off with his gun. Cool to see how he pulls the gun away before actually getting the lug off.

If the image loads too slow (it's 20mb and huge) click the link below which will take you to an HTML5 version which is much smaller and loads faster (But can't be embedded)

https://gfycat.com/LinedUnimportantGrayreefshark#



and if you're really bored, here's a six minute video from Sports Science about nascar pit crews which is the source of the slow mo video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQQbEfr9irE

[rickb99]

LOL 12.12 seconds? That's sad compared to Ricardo's crew doing a 4 tire change in 2.8 seconds.

But I gotta say seeing them lug nuts going around at 10 RPS's (a second) and basically removing themselves is impressive.

[Bob Wright]

Years ago I spent a little time as a front tire changer for a NASCAR Grand National team. The guns were Ingersoll Rand 1/2" drive and blueprinted. We pushed 300+ psi of N2 through them. The socket had a spring in it and was pinned to the gun. Taking them off or putting on you pulled the trigger, spinning it up to about 10,000 rpm then slammed it on the lug nuts one after another without ever releasing the trigger. Sparks flew as did the lug nuts. The trick was not to hammer the nut when you put them on- one hit, then on to the next. Each hammer cost you a tenth of a second or more. You were supposed to be able take 5 lug nuts off in less than 3 seconds. The lugs were glued to the wheels with 3M rubber cement and the studs were tapered at the ends. Another piece of trivia- the nuts were much softer metal than the studs and the guns were so powerful it didn't really matter if you cross-threaded them. They came right off on the next pit stop.

It was very physically demanding coupled to an amazing amount of adrenalin.

[mmi16]

The other thing that amazes me is the Tire Carrier slinging around 85-90 pound wheel & tire and getting them on the studs the right way the first time.

[Charlie Schmidt]

How far do those lugnuts go when they do a burnout over them?

[Marshall Mauney]

The threads on the studs are interesting. It looks as if the unthreaded portion lines the nut up as the new ones go one, and also means that the nut only has to be turned off a few rotations before it can just spin loosely off the end of the stud.

What does the inside of the socket look like? How does it settle onto the nut while turning without jamming?

[65kfstbk]

Marshall-The socket has a big spring in it that pushes the lug nuts out as the impact is moved to another stud. The sockets are also slightly tapered to give the changer a slightly bigger target. Even with the spring and the tapered socket you will still see some lug nuts jam from time to time. If you watch a spot and the changer is slamming the gun onto the ground repeatedly that is more than likely what happened. Bob would probably know more about that .

Charlie-They go a few pits down if they are spun over. You learn not to watch the close cars spin off and turn your back to them.

mmi16-Tire Carriers are awesome to watch and very impressive. I was a cup/busch jackman from 06-09. I got the opportunity to carry a few times and never was too good. The trick is how they hold the tire. A piece of tape the lines up a spoke where they grab it. That spoke lines up one hole, as they throw the tire on they watch that one stud and they know their hand is next to the hole....through practice they achiever perfection as for as squaring the tire to the hub so the other 4 holes line up and not knocking off the glued lug nuts.

[Tiago Santos]

Be right back guys, just gonna get my wife so she can learn how to speed up my tire changes at the track.