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STAGE 2 PHYSICS THE PHYSICS OF CAR RACING INTRODUCTION Physics is the science of measurement. When theories are taken to the laboratory (or the race course) for testing, all the mathematics must boil down to quantities that can be measured. In racing, the fundamental quantities are distance, time, and mass. Equations that don't involve mass are called kinematic. The first kinematic equation relates speed, time, and distance. If a car is moving at a constant speed or velocity, v, then the distance, s, it travels in time, t, is s = vt or velocity times time. This equation really expresses nothing more than the definition of velocity, and is the basis of car racing. NEWTON’S 3 LAWS OF MOTION IN RELATION TO CAR RACING The first law: a car in straight-line motion at a constant speed will keep such motion until acted on by an external force. The only reason a car in neutral will not coast forever is that friction, an external force, gradually slows the car down. Friction comes from the tires on the ground and the air flowing over the car. The tendency of a car to keep moving the way it is moving is the inertia of the car, and this tendency is concentrated at the Centre of Gravity (CG) point. The second law: When a