A Champ Car has spoilers like upside-down wings, providing the opposite of lift: downforce. The car's aerodynamics also create significant downforce at 230 mph. Together, 2.84 g (or 2.84 times the car's weight) push down on the car during the turn, helping it stick to the track. In addition, a portion of the 1 g from Earth's gravity also puts some weight on the tires: 1 g x cos24° = 0.91 g. So, with a 24-degree banking, 1.93 g adds weight to the wheels. To figure out what portion of the g-force gets adds weight to the tires, you multiply the g-forces by the sine of the banking degree. Traction is proportional to the weight on the tires (the more weight, the more traction).īanking a turn allows some of the g-forces created in the turn to increase the weight on the tires, increasing the traction.

If a Champ Car tried to make a flat turn at 230 mph, it would slide right off the track because it doesn't have enough traction. The banking doesn't affect how we calculate the g-forces on the driver, but without the banking, the cars could never go around such a tight turn at 230 mph.

The Texas Motor Speedway has 24-degree banking in the turns. How can the car stay on the track under this kind of force? It's because of the banked turns.

151 / 32 = 4.74 g experienced by the drivers.

The acceleration due to gravity (1 g) is 32 f/s2.

Calculation of g force formula