312 is divisible by 3 and by 8, allowing various splits. 311 laps is a more exact 500 km, but 311 is prime, precluding splits. Guess which is more important to the racing community.
--- On Mon, 2/28/11, Bill Hooper <[email protected]> wrote: From: Bill Hooper <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:49952] RE: NASCAR Subway 500 To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, February 28, 2011, 2:58 PM The race will be 312 laps, where each lap is a mile, thus the race is 312 miles or 502.115 km. The race is not a true 500 km race. That's odd, isn't it. If they had made it 311 laps (1 mile each lap), the total distance would be 500.4 km. That would be a "true" (almost) metric race (within a half kilometre). Maybe there is something that makes it convenient to race for an even number of laps? Regards, Bill Hooper Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA ========================== Make It Simple; Make It Metric! ==========================
