NASCAR racing is a high-tech battlefield that is armed with the latest mechanical and technological developments in the automobile industry. To make sure that this field is a level playing ground with fairly designed cars, the promotion uses special tools such as the Optical Scanning Station today. But this level of advancement wasn’t always prevalent in the sport.
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In the 1940s and 1950s, the sport was in its infancy. So car inspections were simple and pretty straightforward with basic checks for the engines, shocks, safety mechanisms, and fuel tanks. In the 1960s, templates were brought in to measure the cars and ensure that they were within the prescribed dimension limits. These templates became more complex in the 1970s and the 1980s.
1992 is a crucial year in this timeline. It was when the fourth-generation cars were introduced with heavily modifiable body panels. To make sure that teams were in line with the rules, NASCAR used highly precise templates to make sure the cars were legal. The body shapes continued to evolve till 2003 when they were made common throughout the field.
The fifth generation car that came out in 2007 had one massive claw template that was used to check the entire car at the same time. The sixth generation car in 2013 brought forth the use of laser inspection techniques. It was in 2018 that another major advancement was made in the field. The optical scanning stations were introduced and they completely revolutionized things.
They were also called “hawkeye” and used highly precise lasers to check the cars. Every station has sixteen cameras and eight projectors that work together to create a heatmap of the car.
Officials inspect this map to spot things that are out of the ordinary. The problem with this tech is that it cannot scan clear objects. So, windshields and wheels are covered before the car is put inside the station.
Reports mention that the station used 157,000 laser beams in a matter of 30 seconds to generate the heatmap. The output helps officials see how close the car is to the CAD model of the ideal body.
Plus or minus 150,000 of an inch and the teams will have to take the car back to the shop and work on it. Several drivers have been victims of this highly stringent model, all for the better.
