Denny Hamlinwas sitting atop the velocity charts after 30 laps of the early afternoon Cup apply at Martinsville Speedway. However his day rapidly went bitter when a chunk of rubber jammed his throttle open, and to be able to scrub velocity from the automotive, he turned the steering wheel, sending his automotive crashing backwards into the wall. As quickly because the TV announcers noticed the numerous injury to the suitable rear, they concluded that the No. 11 crew would want to tug out a backup automotive. Chris Gabehart, crew chief of the No. 11, and his crew at Joe Gibbs Racing, although, had a unique concept. They introduced in NASCAR’s Hawk-eye Optical Scanning Station (OSS) to judge the injury — serving to them restore a presumed-totaled automotive in mere hours.
This is how they did it.
1:20pm, Saturday
Joe Gibbs Racing personnel and NASCAR officers start analyzing the broken No. 11 automotive. Gabehart was clearly upset to see such a quick automotive in disrepair, however didn’t hesitate in working along with his group to begin reducing off broken panels. It took solely quarter-hour to take away the trunk lid and rear bumper, and expose the broken rear bumper helps. Preliminary observations revealed that the rear bumper helps had crumpled, which meant that they had finished their job to not solely defend the driving force, but additionally assist forestall injury to the rear clip and gasoline cell.
A NASCAR official observes the No. 11 crew and automotive whereas the OSS completes its scans.
Photograph by: Bozi Tatarevic
1:50pm
Mechanics from 23XI Racing joined their Joe Gibbs Racing counterparts to disassemble the rear of the automotive as rapidly as potential, and begin making ready the automotive for the OSS. The OSS makes use of structured mild scanning to measure bodywork and suspension right down to a tolerance of 0.150 inches and whereas it’s sometimes utilized for scrutineering functions, NASCAR will even open it as much as groups in particular conditions like this to see how far a automotive has shifted from its unique measurements. As soon as a scan is full, a warmth map is generated evaluating the bodywork to a CAD picture of the automotive that’s saved within the system together with an alignment sheet displaying measurements like camber and toe, very like you’d see for a avenue automotive.
Denny Hamlin takes a take a look at the injury on the No. 11 whereas JGR and 23XI crew members proceed to disassemble the automotive.
Photograph by: Bozi Tatarevic
The chance to even take into account all these repairs is made potential by the modular nature of the NASCAR Subsequent Gen automotive, which permits the chassis and bodywork to be assembled and disassembled in items. The earlier era automotive had a one-piece body, so when incidents like this one occurred, it sometimes meant going to a backup automotive as a restore would necessitate reducing and welding of the structural tubing.
Photograph by: NASCAR
As a result of the Subsequent Gen chassis is constructed round a middle part which is a security cell for the driving force that then has a entrance clip and rear clip bolted to it. These clips then have bumper helps which might be bolted to them that act as crumple zones for the automotive. The middle part has 4 factors beneath it which might be used as reference factors for the OSS scans. Within the case of the No. 11, they have been in a position to unbolt the broken rear bumper assist construction and unbolt the broken bodywork, then rapidly scan the remainder of the parts to check them to their earlier measurements.
2:00pm
Crew members pushed the automotive over to the OSS. Fifteen minutes later, they have been again within the storage with a choice to begin repairs based mostly on what the measurements confirmed. A big yellow field appeared on the liftgate of considered one of their vans, which mechanics swarmed to seize wanted parts like a brand new bumper assist together with bodywork.
The crew of the No. 11 automotive walks a yellow compartment field on wheels to their storage.
Photograph by: Bozi Tatarevic
One other serving to issue to the speedy restore was the storage field that was organized in a means that made grabbing mandatory parts straightforward. The workforce employs a 5S group methodology for labeling and sorting — which isn’t a shock contemplating that Joe Gibbs Racing runs Toyotas and 5S is a part of Toyota’s Kaizen philosophy.
Three Hours Later…
Components have been bolted to the automotive and the No. 11 workforce was setting wheels right down to the bottom for an additional run by means of the OSS to verify their repairs. The now repaired automotive was in the identical window as what it had proven throughout an earlier inspection. They introduced it again to the storage for some tweaks to the suitable rear nook to be able to get it to as close to excellent as potential.
6:30pm
The automotive was again on the bottom and pushed exterior to check the engine, in addition to confirm that the throttle physique wouldn’t have any extra points. After testing, and pleased with the measurements and look of the automotive, the No. 11 crew put it away for the night time.
Race day, Sunday
Hamlin’s automotive goes again by means of the OSS and the crew decides to make a few closing tweaks earlier than pushing the automotive to the grid for the race.
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, FedEx One Charge Toyota Camry
Photograph by: Peter Casey – NKP – Motorsport Photos
The modularity of the NASCAR Subsequent Gen automotive permits for parts to be transferred to a backup automotive pretty simply, however in probably the most ultimate conditions, utilizing the automotive you’ve spent weeks engaged on is all the time preferential. Within the case of the No. 11 automotive, the Subsequent Gen automotive was straightforward to carry again to life after a big crash and allowed the workforce to retain the automotive and velocity that they noticed in apply. And in reusing that quick main automotive, additionally they prevented a protracted night time of driving over two hours to their store in Huntersville and spending ten to 12 hours engaged on a backup earlier than making the 2 hour journey again.
As an alternative, they have been in a position to full a restore on the observe in lower than 5 hours. Permitting the crew members to wrap up earlier than 7pm and be prepared and rested for race day. Sadly for Hamlin, he must begin the race in thirty seventh place. However he would make his means into the highest 15 earlier than lap 100 and ultimately end the race in fifth place.