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Gears And Tears is a documentary series which follows the rivalry amongst the Smiths and the Wainmans who compete against one on the stock car circuit.

Episode 6

The grand finale of the stockcar season arrives, and with it, the final showdown between the Smith and Wainman clans. Has Frankie Wainman still got the hunger to beat the Smiths, or has he lost his focus? It's time for a dose of tough love to get Frankie's season back on track. But Frankie's eyes are on a different prize as he prepares his 10-year-old son for his first big race; a new generation of Smiths and Wainmans is waiting in the wings.

The final episode of Gears and Tears concentrates on the battle for the National Series Championship, also known as the silver roof. This has been awarded since 1956, and has been won 15 times by the Smiths and 16 by the Wainmans.

F1 stock car racing?s heritage lies in the shale or dirt track ovals, usually speedway tracks, which were available in the early fifties. However, tarmac tracks started being used in the mid-sixties and drivers now race on both surfaces regularly. The top drivers all have two cars, one for each surface, but a great many budget racers use just one car and convert its gearing and suspension to suit the surface.

The obvious difference between the two styles of car is the wing. Tarmac cars use a normal wing on their roof to generate down-force, while shale cars use a large angled and upright ?sail? wing which allows the cars to drift sideways through the bends against a cushion of air. Shale is a mixture of crushed brick and sand and is ?bladed? back into the centre by a snowplough-like machine and then dampened down throughout the meeting, so that the cars have a consistent but slippery surface on which to race.

Stock car racing uses a system of flags and signals to control the on-track action:

Green waved = Race is on.
Red waved = Race is stopped.
Chequered waved = Winner and subsequent places.
Union Jack waved= Race halfway through.
Waved yellows = Danger on track. The race is slowed while the danger is removed and then restarted from a rolling start. Although the positions remain the same, a hard-won lead over a following car is wiped out as the field is restarted as a bunch.


Een mooie Engelse documantaire over een FANTASTISCHE sport, waarbij je als gewone man nog dicht bij de coureurs kunt komen.

Zondag 12 september Laatste ACON Cross St. Maarten (NL)
Zaterdag 18 september Emmen (NL) Gouden Helm F1-F2- Vrije standaard 

#1 (391) Andy Smith: NEW Champion of the World 2010