[elky] Re: Drag Racing Report

  • From: Ray Buck <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:39:53 -0600

I agree.  LSR is more of a rush and less of...I dunno...it's not a heads-up competition, more of an internal thing, trying to reach a goal.  And, yes, yer right...with enough power you can break stuff.  Just ask George Poteet.  I dunno how many driveshafts, rear ends, transmissions and Gawd-knows what-all else (well, one 2800 hp, 347 CID motor that developed a hole in the side...I was asked not to photograph it by the builder) he and his Speed Demon team has gone thru in the last coupla years.  Yeah, they're dealing with 2500+ hp, but look at the spares they had ready:



I bleeve they sealed the end caps of the u-joints with a Loctite 2-part structural adhesive (H3300) and held 'em on hand for when the next one failed  Sheesh!  I think the biggest disappointment for him was when he made a qualifying run of 462 mph and broke something in the transmission/driveshaft...it may have been the time he was blipping the throttle to keep it cleaned out and hit the button to put the Liberty air-shifted tranny into 1st...but the revs were too high and it snapped the slip yoke...just like one I showed to the driveshaft guys this morning.  :)  Anyway, maybe if he'd just taken an extra second to make sure the revs were in a safe zone before engaging the transmission....and of course if I'd taken an extra day or two to make sure everything was right on my race car before it got to the salt, maybe I wouldn't have broken it, either. 

Since I'm rambling on about this topic, I'll mention something that came to mind a few years ago when I was working as a course steward at the 5 mile mark at a World of Speed event.  I saw car after car and bike after bike turn out early...they never made it thru the timed miles (SCTA and USFRA have 3 timed miles on the long course) because something went wrong.  Compare that to drag racing.  It seems to me that the greater percentage of racers make it all the way thru the quarter (or eighth) mile without breaking something or having some other type of failure.  In LSR, things are different.  First, in drag racing (or any other type of heads-up competition) in order to win, you have to beat the 2nd place competitor.  In LSR, you have to beat every 1st place competitor that's gone before you.  That means that the race vehicles have to be much closer to the absolute edge and reliability (in most cases) isn't an issue.  I'm not talking about 130/150 Club cars, but those that run for SCTA records.  One engine builder (Les Leggit) is known for building grenade motors.  They either go faster than hell or they blow up.  Then there are all the other systems that have to function properly.  Ignition, fuel delivery, any electric/electronic stuff, safety equipment (it's not all that unusual to see a car run all the way down to the 6 Mile mark trailing a parachute that deployed as the result of vibration or the driver brushing the switch inadvertently) and so on.  A failure or marginal performance in any of those systems results in a less-than-satisfactory run and generally a "turn-out." 

Compare that with drag racers who know that if they win the round they're in, they have to be ready to come back and do it again in the next round...sometimes with very little time in between 'em.  So reliability seems to mean that in the classes other than the big dragsters and funny cars, there isn't time to tear 'em down and go thru things between rounds.  Maybe pull a plug and/or change 'em or make a timing or fuel system adjustment, but the car's supposed to be able to keep making passes without some sort of failure.

I dunno.  It just seems to me that LSR is the more difficult form or racing, but it's also the most enjoyable from (for me) a participant's and an observer's point of view.  It'll never be televised live (unless someone comes up with a public-access system and a buncha volunteers to man cameras, etc.  Fat chance.) but for those who understand what's happening, it can be more exhilarating and captivating than any other form of motorsport.  I offer the 2010 Top Speed Shootout as evidence where the Ack Attack motorcycle liner went thru hell chasing a myriad of problems for a week (tires that were incorrectly manufactured, transmissions that wouldn't shift, wrong gearing, etc.), the meet was extended for a day and ended with something even a Hollywood script writer couldn't have come up with...and they bumped the record by 20 mph and had an exit speed of 394 mph...on 2 wheels!  The 09 Shootout was the same way with the Buckeye Bullet fighting technical gremlins all week (I think they burned out their electric drive motor at least twice and had to have it re-wound in Salt Lake City overnight) and finally set a record over 300 on the final run of the meet.

Well, there's my 299 cents' worth.  I'm gonna stay with it for the foreseeable future.  I may try some twisty course racing with a different set of wheels and tires, but that will have to wait until next year at least.  For now, I've gotta pick up the driveshaft and get the thing off the trailer.

r


Speakin of driveshafts, I got one from a wrecking yard, but the slip yoke was so corroded that it wouldn't fit.  It's being fixed today so I can get the car off the trailer.



On 10/24/2011 10:12 AM, Chris Lindh wrote:
That is a cool Camaro.  I'd get involved in SETA if someone got it started.

Having done both in a relatively short time, I'd say land speed racing is more enjoyable than drag racing.  With drag racing I could care less who is in the other lane, how fast they are, their reaction time, etc.  I would prefer the other car wasn't deafeningly loud to the point of distracting me.  Maybe it would be more fun if I was bracket racing and trying to run my dial in?... but with the traction issues I'd never make it out of the first round, my ETs are all over the place.

Drag racing IS fun for me because I can drive fast in a safe environment.

Land speed racing, especially on the salt, is fun because the race track is longer so the racing is longer, and you go faster.  I think there is less likelihood of parts breakage since traction is limited... (although some parts will find their limit at speed, as we found).  Less shock loads on parts like drag racing.  Also land speed racing is solo, so you're not distracted by another racer.

I'd like to continue racing the Elky in sportsman racing within a reasonable distance.  The plan as of now is once the bugs are worked out give it a race car paint job and add the company logo.  A rolling billboard to show the manufacturers products and I would create content for my site and social networking based on projects and racing.

I discovered what I thought was a leaking header collector gasket was actually the header to cylinder head gasket.  Turns out if the front two bolts holding the header to the head vibrate loose the the point of falling out the gasket will not seal...  I replaced the gasket and noticed white residue in the exhaust port near where the exhaust was leaking... this may indicate a head gasket leak.  I'll re-torque the head and keep an eye on it.

On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 12:25 PM, Ray Buck <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 10/23/2011 9:15 AM, Chris Lindh wrote:
I'd like to find another land speed racing event within a reasonable driving distance...

Aha!  Salt Fever has ya in its grasp.  :) 

Lessee here...there's the Texas Mile is in Beeville, Tx...about 900 miles.  A little long for a weekly test n' tune, but still doable for one or two meets a year.  Then there's the newly relocated Maxton Mile which has moved from Maxton, NC...that's about 350 miles.  A lot closer, but still not a commute.  But they ain't there any more.  They moved to Wilmington, OH, and that's about 500 miles from ya.

They're all closer than the 2000 miles between you and the salt flats.  There are also venues at Loring in Maine and the newest one is the Mojave Mile located between Barstow and Bakersfield, CA...but that one's about 2200 miles from ya.

You may have to find a lightly-used or abandoned airport with a 2 or 3 mile runway and start the SETA (South East Timing Association) for LSR folks in that part of the country, now that the ECTA ain't at Maxton no mo'.  I bet you'd have some folks like Bill Reilly:



(who lives in Florida and has competed at Maxton and on the salt) who would jump at a chance to run at a venue closer to home. 

Here's a video I found of that car on the dyno:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5kyCJIZII

r
ps.  Keith Turk, half-owner of the ECTA lives in Enterprise, AL.  I dunno how far you are from there, but ya never know.  Here's his Facebook profile:
http://www.facebook.com/keith.turk and his email is kturk@xxxxxxxxxxxx 

It might be interesting to see if there's support from that corner for a SE LSR venue.

 




Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. elky
  3. Archive
  4. 10-2011