When putting your car together after an update, or when building up a car from the frame off, you need to consider the drive line alignment when mounting the engine and rear end. Because this is one of the basic design features of the car, it can and must be done initially to save a lot of work later on. The quality of the final product depends on this.

This topic was discussed as far back as the mid ‘60s in car magazine as one of the most important considerations for hot rodders in general. It was firmly impressed upon the readers that if you didn’t get this right, there could be plenty of problems down the road. That fact has not changed over the years.

When working with high horsepower applications and when making modifications, we need to consider that our driveline angles may be changing in the process, and that each part will be taking much more force and must be upgraded if we don’t want to run into serious problems with broken driveshafts, yokes and bearings.

We now have available a good amount of information about drive shaft technology and geometry. This technology had initially been developed for production cars, but high horsepower applications require a closer look and slightly different approach to this information. The advantages of this knowledge are in the area of reduced power loss and increased component life. To begin with, we need to know what to call the various components related to our driveshaft.

Drive Line Terminology – The component names for the driveline parts are as follows:

Slip Yoke – this is the yoke at the front of the driveshaft that goes into the transmission and can slip to take up the slack of chassis movement.

Weld Yoke – is the yoke at the each end of the drive shaft that attaches to the pinion yoke at the rear end and the Slip yoke at the front. These are welded to the shaft tubing.

Universal Joint Kit or U-Joint (UJ) – is the actual part that forms the rotational connection between the driveshaft and the transmission and rear end.

Tubing – is the metal tubing between the weld yokes.

Pinion Yoke – is the yoke that is attached to the pinion shaft at the rear end.

Controlling Driveline Vibration – The sources of vibration in our high performance drivelines, in order of importance with the most critical at the top, are:

1) Run-out

2) Improper Drive line Angles

3) Looseness in the fit of any of the parts

4) Unbalanced parts

5) Component Deflection

6) Reaching Critical Speed

We will examine some of these causes and see how we can cure many of them just by using better parts that are designed for the high horsepower environment.

Drive Line Angles – Basically the transmission output shaft and the pinion shaft need to be parallel to one another, and if they are, the angles they make with the drive shaft will be the same and opposite. And, when a U-Joint operates with any significant amount of drive line angle, it creates a problem. The bearings speed up and slow down twice per revolution of the driveshaft. This causes an oscillation in the power train. The more angle that we have, the higher the peaks of oscillation we see and therefore the greater chance of vibration.

Drive shaft angles are not only measured from a side view, but also from a top view.  Some designs can have a lateral displacement of the rear of the drive shaft from the front. That creates a drive shaft angle at both the transmission and the pinion. So, we can align the drive shaft from a side view to zero angle and still have some degree of drive shaft angle present.

There is the thought that the driveshaft must have some angle to the pinion and transmission yoke so that the U-Joint bearings will rotate to help lubricate them. This is true, but we should keep the driveline angles as low as possible and most importantly keep the angles equal and opposite at each end of the drive shaft.

Changing Driveline Angles – We can change either the front (transmission output shaft angle) or the back (pinion angle) height of the driveshaft. The front may take more effort, so we usually make changes to the back, or pinion angle to match the transmission angle.

To change the driveline angles, you need to check to see if the overall driveshaft to pinion or transmission angle is excessive. In almost every case, the transmission shaft is higher than the pinion shaft. So to reduce the angle to the driveshaft, you would need to drop the transmission mount height and angle the engine/transmission down to the rear.

Over four degrees could be considered excessive for transmission/pinion to driveshaft angle. In this case, you will need to change the engine/transmission angle first. This can possibly be done by changing the height of the transmission mount. This may, or may not, be possible.

Then you can change the pinion angle by adjusting the lengths of any links in a typical four link aftermarket system. For older leaf spring systems, companies offer wedge inserts that go between the leaf spring and the spring pad on the axle tube. These are available in different degrees of angle.

If your car must have drive line angles from a design standpoint, the angle of the drive shaft to both the transmission output shaft and the pinion shaft should be equal and also opposite.

Yoke Design – The only attachment design for holding the U-joints that is suitable for high performance applications is the strap design. The U-bolt attachment that is commonly used on passenger cars and trucks is not considered acceptable for several reasons.

One reason is that it has less strength than the strap design, two it may distort the bearing caps if over-torqued, and three, it grips the cap at three points whereas the strap design grips it in four places which translates to less distortion of the caps.

U-Joint Kit Designs – There are basically two designs of U-joints available. The popular standard zerk designs are used for production vehicles and have a zerk fitting for lubrication.  Inherent in this design are hollow shafts that provide the means for the grease to reach the bearings. This hollow design also makes the part weaker than if it were solid.

The other design is called the Sealed Design, or Solid U-joint and has no grease fitting and therefore a solid core.  This unit has precision seals that keep the lubricant with the bearings while also sealing out dirt.  Because it is solid, the sealed design is therefore much stronger.

Proper lubrication of the sealed U-joint is simple but can be overdone.  We always want to coat the bearings, but not excessively. We also need to fill the trunnion cavity with grease, but not overfill it. If too much grease is applied, then when we attach the caps, the pressure from the grease trying to escape will literally blow out the seals and ruin them.

Adjusting Run-out at the Pinion Yoke – A major cause of driveline vibrations is when the pinion yoke has a measurable degree of run-out.  We can test the run-out after the installation of the U-joint in the pinion yoke by using a dial indicator attached to the rear end housing.

We measure at both sides of the u-joint and then if the offset is different, we must remove the pinion yoke and rotate it on the pinion shaft to find a position that will index more correctly. This is a very important and necessary step in reducing driveline vibration.

Balancing the Drive Assembly – The only true way to balance a drive shaft is through the use of a Two Plane balancer, or one that simultaneously balances both ends and has the capability to Cross Talk between ends. This allows the equipment to derive a dynamic model of the forces of the imbalance to determine the force vectors involved and formulate a solution that takes into account both ends influence in the overall balance of the shaft.

A simple automotive drive shaft balancer is fine for grandma’s car, but for high performance and drag racing, with the very high RPM we experience, we need more precision. It would be a very good idea to send your driveshaft off to a company with a proper balancer rig if your area does not have one.

And remember that the higher RPM your driveshaft will encounter, the larger the diameter of the tubing you will need. In the above list of causes of vibration, the last one, Reaching Critical Speed means that if the tubing is too small, it will flex at high RPM and wobble. The larger the diameter of the tubing, the less chance this will occur.

Snap Ring Failure – A common failure in high performance drivelines is when the retainer snap rings come out of the yoke.  There is a simple and easy way to reduce this occurrence by applying a spot of epoxy to the ring. This prevents the ring from collapsing and falling out of the ring groove. Be sure that the snap ring is seated completely inside the groove in the yoke before applying the epoxy.

Conclusion – The important things to remember for high performance applications are to use drive line parts that are made specifically for extreme use when possible. Make sure you install the components correctly to reduce drive line vibrations and parts failures.

Check the alignment of your system and correct any miss-alignment. When buying the drive shaft, make certain it is up to the task for the intended RPM and horsepower range you will be running in your type of car. Periodically check driveline parts for cracks or for signs of a bent or dented shaft.

The professional drag racing teams that run the top series always use new drive line parts for each race. We don’t necessarily need to do that at the street level, but knowing they do that says something about the importance those teams place on the driveline components. That same concern should be shared by all high performance automotive enthusiasts.

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Sources:

Classis Performance Products; 866/593-2423; ClassicPerform.com

Drive Train Specialists; 800/556-6126; DriveTrainSpecialists.com

Energy Suspension; 888/292-1250; ENERGYSUSPENSION.COM

Performance Online; 800/638-1703; PerformanceOnline.com

Performance Suspension Technology; 877/224-1699; P-S-T.com

QA1;  800/721-7761 QA1.net

Quick Performance; 515/232-0126; QuickPerformance.com

Strange Engineering; 847/663-1701; Strangeeng.net

Summit Racing Equipment; 800/230-3030; SummitRacing.com

The post Understanding Driveline Alignment and Eliminating Driveshaft Vibration and Failures appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Well, it has been two days since we posted comments on a couple of not so good incidences of track safety. The readers response has been huge. What we have learned is that there are strong feelings about this and mostly that there are a lot of tracks doing the right thing.

In the comments portion of the posted story we heard from racers saying things like,

“It’s a shame this happened. I have been following this and I am disappointed that the series has not provided an answer other than we are investigating it. How hard is it to ask what happened in this case? I am thinking there is more to the story.”

“It’s pretty sad this driver or when any driver, has to put his own fire out! Run over to a safety truck, grab extinguisher, and put it out while safety crew stands there and watches!”,

“The series should be responsible also. Joke.”,

“That car could have been saved!!”.

In years past we came to the conclusion that only a very small percentage of the readers who have an opinion actually responded and write to us about an article, even one that has this much passion attached to it. Based on that assumption, there has to be thousands of racers irate over this incident. On this topic, I received many emails. Here are a few of the comments to me. In keeping with my promise, I won’t reveal all of the names.

“Can’t tell you how many times I’ve screamed at my TV, live feed, and in person, at some of the near tragedies I’ve witnessed. In 2017 we have limitless research, skilled engineering, solid science, just plain old smart people, that can make facilities better. Please note I didn’t say ‘safer’, simply better.”,

“Evaluation for Flat Rock Speedway – I’m a driver in a weekly series at the track and unfortunately, I am scoring it a one (1). It is a great track, has a descent owner with ARCA backing but they have no regard for safety or the investment we have in our equipment. I’m also not sure of their training and whether or not they are prepared.”

Not all of the comments were negative. These readers wrote to praise their safety crews:

“If I would have rated them last year it would have been about a 5 at most. But this spring Kalamazoo Speedway had training classes and our safety crew attended, they learned a lot, and the plan is for them to attend every. This year I would rate them about a 7, and willing to learn more!”

“I race at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. and they use Speedway Safety Services. These are the same crews that work the Cup races at NHMS. I feel very comfortable with safety there and would rank them at a 10. They’re all trained in motorsports emergencies and have specifically designed trucks and equipment. What Star has should be the standard for short tracks across the country.”

“I just read your article on track safety crews. I race at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario, Canada. I can’t complement our guys enough. They are well trained, and we’ll equipped. They take their job seriously often getting to the crash site before the car comes to rest. A couple of years ago I barrel rolled out of turn two. There was some fluid leaking. They got me out of the car in about 20 seconds and had the car on its wheels almost immediately.”

“Maryland International Raceway. They get a 20!! Two fire trucks, two ambulances, and dedicated people to run them.”

“We run at Berlin Raceway in Marne, MI. I have to give our safety crews a 10. I have seen plenty of accidents, rollovers, and fires with my husband being involved in a couple that destroyed our car. They are always prompt and professional and always have what is needed in every situation that comes about. I thank you for wanting to improve track safety all over.”

We also got a lot of responses from promoters and safety officials at race tracks too, like these:

“Dear Sir, I am the director of Emergency Services at Raceway Park.  I read your recent online article and in some ways tend to agree with you.  Here, all my staff are certified EMT’S or Firefighters with at least Fire 1 certification.  On top of that ALL staff take the NFPA 610 Racetrack Response course. The majority of my staff have been here for more than five years, myself for 45. We do everything possible to insure our driver’s, moto riders and patrons safety.  Sadly, those few “bad apples” shine a bright negative light on us all. I hope you’ll get a few positive responses from our racers. I welcome all honest feed back. Bob Jessen, Director of Emergency Services, Old Bridge Twp Raceway Park.” 

“I have been thrust into situations in the South (Bob Bolles, you were there for some of those races) where, if I had my druthers, we would have loaded up and gone home. We raced and got lucky. I’ve been fortunate to have quality rescue and fire services at the tracks I have promoted. You get what you pay for as a rule. And if you care about your racers you will pay willingly.”

This one is a bit long, but packed with good information:

“I am the Operations Chief for Speedway Volunteer Fire Department. Speedway Fire is a State recognized volunteer Fire Department that specializes in Motorsports fire rescue. Speedway provides fire rescue services to local tracks in the inland empire and I would consider us to be one of the best in the business. Most all of our Volunteers are certified firefighter EMTs and have extensive training in motorsports fire rescue.

One of the biggest problems I see at other small tracks is a lack of training as well as proper equipment and personal protective gear. If the rescuers are not properly equipped and trained how can they do their job safely and effectively. One major issue and question to ask is whether the fire crew are properly trained for medical situations.

My Firefighters train extensively on driver assessment as soon as we get to the driver providing there are no immediate threats such as fire. First and foremost is life before property and driver safety is our #1 priority. If it means putting ourselves in harm’s way to rescue a driver from a burning car, well that’s just part of the job.

Track safety I think has gone to the wayside at the local level due to money. We get less and less respect from track officials as well as drivers. Track officials want to get the wreck cleaned up and resume racing as quickly as possible with little to no regard for drivers and allowing the driver to get checked out. I have actually had Firefighters shoved out of the way by drivers for simply trying to make sure they are ok.

We operate on a shoestring budget and all of our Firefighters are Volunteer and it makes it very hard to keep our crews motivated and willing to do the job when we don’t get the backing and respect at the tracks. I feel that most Safety crews probably feel the same and are not going to put in the effort if they don’t have the backing from the track promoters or the drivers and the teams. I feel the track promoters should take a more active role in making sure they have trained and properly equipped crews working their tracks. Thank you, Ronnie Gilman, Operations Chief, Speedway Volunteer Fire Department.”

And finally this one:

“Tracks have a responsibility to be better at hosting a dangerous sport. I’ve worked everything from Concord’s 1/5th mile to Indianapolis Speedway. They can all do better.”

Seeing all of these responses tells me something profound. If the promoters who are not doing the best job of putting together a responsible safety crew think that the racers are ignorant of your disregard for their safety, then maybe you need to take a good look around you at the next race. Talk to a few of the teams and get their opinions on how you are doing with track safety. Or, are you afraid of the answers you might get? If so, then maybe you need to find something else to do.

In the past, racers have taken it upon themselves to send a message when they think their lives and property are in danger. Some years ago, at Texas Motor Speedway, Indy car drivers decided it was way too fast and way too dangerous to race there and refused to participate that year. I’m not saying you should do that at your track necessarily, but then again, what’s more important, a race or the safety of the participants. It’s your choice by the way, nobody is forcing you to race.

I find it interesting that many promoters think that they are providing the racer with the opportunity to race and those same racers should somehow get down on their knees and thank said promoter for allowing them show up. This is not the way it is friends. Without the racer, the promoter does not have a show. So, who should be down on their knees? Just saying, you the racer can and should control the level of safety at your track.

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Tips From The Experts

Everyone in the business of race car safety will tell you that there is no such thing as a completely safe race car. Race cars are designed to go as fast as possible within the limits of the applicable sanctioning rules and the laws of nature. There is and will always be danger that comes with that whole scenario. What we can do is try to make our cars as safe as possible and hope for the best. We can always have a safe-er race car.

While there have always been fatal accidents in racing, there are certain periods in history where the death rate was higher. The 1980’s in Northeast modified racing saw quite a few fatalities until someone caught on that the front frame rails were way too stiff. Although I don’t know the exact cause of death in each instance, one can assume that Basilar Skull fracture was associated with many of those because of the many fatal head-on impacts involved.

The years 1999 through 2001 saw numerous driver fatalities from impacts with concrete walls. The most well-known involved Dale Earnhardt, Sr. That one event caused the ground to shake in every racing community, stock car especially. Most will agree that Dale’s tragic end was the catalyst that served to saved many lives since. Nearly every sanction and track now requires head and neck restraints and many tracks now have soft walls installed.

Looking back at the possible causes of the problem, there was a reason why all of a sudden, drivers were not able to withstand the force of impact for each of these periods.  Something changed along the way that caused the impacts to affect the driver more severely. Reviewing those changes, and ones still taking place, is how we learn how to do things better.

The Chassis Becomes Stiffer – From approximately 1995 on, the teams and car builders continued to make changes to reduce the amount of flex in the chassis.  The primary part of the cars that presented the biggest flex problems was the right front corner.  As time went on, the right front corner became stiffer.  The problem we are faced with is that in many cases, the first part of the car to contact the concrete wall is the right front of the car.

Brain injuries started to appear in the period between 1997 and 1999 when we saw several well-known drivers suffer serious brain related injuries.  The problems associated with the stiff chassis were beginning to show on a scale that was definitely noticeable.  Then in 1999, teams were allowed to increase the wall thickness in the tubing that is a part of the front of the chassis.   This further increased the stiffness of the front ends.   It is obvious, with the tragedies we have seen, that today, the excessive amount of G-force transmitted to the driver’s bodies make crashes more possible to cause injuries.

The Modern Era Of Safety – In the time since 2001, we might have suffered more deaths in stockcar racing as well as other forms of automobile racing had events not unfolded like they did.   Everyone inside and outside the sport of auto racing had come to realize that something needed to be done to make this sport safer for the drivers. And they did.

Before 2001, talk centered on soft walls.  Most of the talk about making stock car racing safer had been centered on designing a soft wall technology and virtually no one was mentioning the construction of the cars as a possible cause until it was pointed out that the cars had become very stiff. There was no longer a crush zone to reduce the G-forces.

The driver’s physical weak point is the neck, and particularly the base of the skull. That is the only part of the body that holds the head from moving forward. In sudden deceleration, the tendons and muscles are not strong enough to counter those huge forces and they break. When they do, massive damage is done to the spine and base of the brain causing death.

Starting in the late 1980’s and continuing today, Head and Neck restraints are being developed by several companies to assist in controlling the violent forward motion of the head in a crash. The use of head and neck restraints has become almost the norm among drivers. Because of that, we have almost eliminated basilar skull injuries among those drivers who wear the devises.

And so, we have tended to get away from any study or concern with the construction of the race cars themselves. Since we no longer are seeing deaths in racing from frontal impacts alone, the talk about stiff cars has died down. But we are still seeing concussions happening, the most talked about being Dale, Jr.’s struggle with that condition.

It is now believed that a stiff chassis could contribute to more than the Basilar Skull injuries. Drivers having concussions while using the head and neck restraints tells us that we are not done with research and re-design of the cars. Let’s look a little farther.

Racing Seats Evolve – The seat the driver sits in has undergone many changes over the years. Containment has become the key word and focus among major seat makers in the racing marketplace. It has been proven that if we can contain the body and head from moving around and hitting things inside, and outside, of the car, we can help the driver survive major crashes.

So, the surround type of seat has evolved and now we have hip, rib, shoulder, leg and head side restraints. We had already solved the frontal impact problems and now we can concentrate on the side impacts. Just to note here, rear impact injuries have never been a real problem and were basically eliminated once high back seats were utilized many years ago.

The side head restraints did solve the problem of the head moving too far in a side impact. With sprint car type of roll over crashes where the side of the car impacts the ground repeatedly and violently, it became necessary to keep the head centrally located.

Now we have reports of racers having problems with concussions that might be associated with these side head supports. One racer has claimed that he had symptoms of concussion from racing on a rough dirt track and not hitting anything. The only thing possible as a cause is the head striking the side restraints.

A New Kind Of Concussion – It is believed by some in the industry that the head hitting the side restraints is in and of itself causing concussions. If that were true, then maybe we need to re-evaluate how these restraints are being constructed.

In the early days of race seats when the early designs of side head restraints were introduced, there was a single layer of aluminum covered by a thin, soft foam piece. When a racer impacted in a side movement, the head and helmet hit the restraint and usually bent it out away from the seat in the direction of the impact. This is commonly called dissipation of energy.

Afterwards, the racer could either send the seat back for repair, or as was usually the case, did the repair himself by bending the aluminum back into place. I’m sure that part of the seat could take only so many repairs until it broke off. But in any event, it slowed the side motion of the head in a side impact and helped prevent neck injury.

It was also not strong enough to cause a concussion, not like we are seeing today. The top seat makers today are making these side head restraints very stiff so that they will not bend. In doing so, they are definitely transmitting more of the side impact forces to the brain. It is a direct result of limiting the motion.

The top builders of racing seats are also using layered  and progressive stiffness foam in the side-head restraints. This cushions the movement and keeps the head from slamming into the stiff restraint. This has helped reduce the incidence of concussions. And they have recommendations for mounting them.

I was told by several top seat makers representatives that the drivers helmet should not be more than ¾ inch from the head restraint on both sides. This keeps the head from moving too far and “bouncing” around inside the two restraints on either side of the helmet. The farther the head moves until it contacts the restraint, the more damage that can be done.

I was also told that in the Nascar rules for the Cup cars, the seats are mandated to use stiff foam only. With the higher speeds these cars go and the possibility for high G-force side impacts, they need the stiff foam. That being said, could that be a factor in reports from Cup drivers about getting concussions? I don’t really know where else to look.

Looking At The Whole Picture – Many factors need to be addressed when considering the design of the cars as they relate to injuries. As we add structure and components to the cars in order to assist in dissipation of energy on impact, we need to also consider the effects each change has on the way the way the cars are setup and how those changes will affect the performance of the cars.   For example, when building crush factors into the front of the car, adding weight to the front of the car affects the weight distribution, which directly affects the handling and the way we setup the cars.

If we decide to raise the frame rail on the front of the cars to increase the angles formed by the tubing, we might alter the geometric layout that is so critical for camber control and roll center location. These two effects play a significant role in allowing the front tires to work the way they should. Correct designs for front geometry have evolved over many years and we don’t need to destroy all of that work by overreacting.

If we cannot change the structure of the car, we can at least look at the area around the driver to see if anything can be done here to help with what we are seeing in today’s racing. It seems that the seat and restraints are really the only area left to focus on logically.

Crush Zones are Needed – Stockcars, as well as drivers, need crush zones.  Stockcars have traditionally not been designed with distinct crush zones. The crush zones should be built into areas of the car that have a good chance of coming in high-speed contact with the wall or other obstructions.   The crush zones should collapse in a controlled way in order to slow the car and extend the time it takes to stop the car.

In the same way, restraints for the driver should maybe crush too. Helmets are constructed of crushable material that gives way when the head hits something hard. This material is “used up” so to speak because that material does not return to its former shape to help with future impacts. The helmet then needs to be re-built with new material after each crash.

If we re-designed the side head restraint to use the same material that is used in the helmet, we would be no worse than the actual helmet in protecting the head. But that is not practical for routine bumping of the head. It is the repeated lower impacts from rough tracks and lower level crashes that seems to take a toll.

Is it possible to do away with the side head restraints? Could a new design of head and neck restraint be produced that would not only protect against frontal impacts, but side impacts too? They could be made to allow movement of the head a certain distance before coming into play, just like the current design of H&N restraints. Then we would eliminate the bumping of the head on the fairly stiff side restraints.

It is evident that this situation with the current forms of concussion needs to be studied and solutions derived to eliminate this injury. After taking care of the big problems, it seems like we are zeroing in on the smaller, but nonetheless important details.

Conclusion – The sanctioning bodies and track officials for all of stockcar racing need to be continually aware of safety issues that come up in our sport. They need to fully understand how we have come to certain points, how important it is to quickly evaluate their own particular safety rules and then put together a list of changes that will be responsible and effective. If they can do that, then once all is said and done, the types of injuries  we have seen and are still seeing will be reduced and/or eliminated.

Do your individual part by buying and using a quality head and neck restraint, a modern, well designed seat, a highly rated fire suit and racing approved helmet. Above all, race with a car where all of the parts are built to dissipate energy in a hard crash. Let your car builder know that you are concerned about your safety. Create your safe-er environment today.

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The post How To Build A Safer Car appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

The sport of racing has made huge gains in providing a safer environment for drivers. In this day and age, your chances of injury or death is much less than even ten or fifteen years ago. There are a lot of individuals and companies who have contributed to this growth in safety. But are we at a point where there is not much else to do? Not if you listen to and try to understand what some in the industry are now saying.

This story is all about cockpit safety with a focus on racing seats. Drivers have been provided with a safer space to conduct their business, but we might need to do a little  more thinking in certain areas.

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In the 1960’s and ‘70’s, there were no racing seat per se. A driver had to modify a current model seat that came in a production car, truck or van. I think I remember that many Cup drivers preferred a van seat because it was somewhat sturdier and easer to mount to the roll cage bars.

They could build a frame around the seat structure and build in a rib support and hip supports. These were very crude in comparison to what is available today, granted, but the seeds were being sowed and soon dedicated racing seat manufacturers would be coming on the scene.

Early seats for race car drivers consisted of fiberglass because it was easy to form and produce. These continued to be sold into the late 1980’s, but the early designs of aluminum seats were being produced and sold from the late 1970’s. These seats were buckets of sorts and did not have rear head supports or any real upper back support.

In the later 1980’s we started to see better aluminum seats with high backs to support the helmet from the rear, as well as side, rib and head supports. In addition, we were starting to see helmet nets that in reality restricted movement of the arms more than anything.

We weren’t yet seeing any work done to restrict the forward movement of the head in a frontal crash, and too many drivers were injured during frontal crashes. These were called head injuries, when they were described at all. It took a long time for anyone to really determine the cause of death in a physiological way.

When that did happen, and after some high-profile deaths, the sanctions started to require head and neck restraints to prevent sudden and extended movement of the head forward in a frontal crash. The head and neck restraints did, and still does, save many lives.

Just when we thought we had addressed every situation where a driver could be injured or killed, we started to see concussions being experienced and talked about. It’s not that they just started happening, they had been around for a long time, we just didn’t talk about them. As the NFL players started complaining about their problems with concussion, so did race car drivers. We ran a story back in the October 2012 issue about Jeff Vochaska and where we spoke of his problems with repeated and extensive concussions over the period of some thirty years.

Concussions are not necessarily caused by frontal crashes, and those that are have been basically eliminated by the head and neck restraints. These devises slow the forward motion of the head and reduce the G-forces experienced by the neck and brain. Most concussions are caused by the sudden stopping of the head, or sudden movement, both of which happen in a very short distance. Quick movement or quick stopping of high speed movement causes a spike in G-forces and that spike causes concussions.

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In football, it is the collision of helmets, or helmet to ground, and in a race car it is the helmet colliding with a roll bar or other stationary object. In today’s race car with the current design of seat, that stationary object could well be the side head restraint.

This brings us to the main object of this discussion, the possibility of concussion from seat restraints. We have heard reports of drivers experiencing symptoms of concussion after racing on a rough dirt track without hitting anything or crashing the car. It was probably the repeated bouncing of the head against the head restraints that resulted in the symptoms.

Most modern racing seats that incorporate ridged side supports line the support with layers of foam of varying density. The outer layer is a softer foam and the stiffness progresses as the layers get closer to the aluminum shell. This design is supposed to slow the motion of the head in a high-speed side or angular impact, and it does.

But what if the side motion is slower but still quick enough and in enough quantity to cause sufficient G-forces to rattle the brain? Then with repeated hits, the brain complains and we end up with the symptoms of concussion.

In the days when the seats had no side head supports, or thin, aluminum ones that bent on angular impact, we didn’t hear of anyone having concussions. Could the stiffer supports be too stiff? Some are thinking they are. If these side head supports are too stiff, then what is the alternative?

All of that being said, there are other areas of safety surrounding the seat that you need to be aware of and take measures to make safe for your driver. The following list of pertinent factors in cockpit safety was provided by a safety expert, Mark Whitney, in his presentation a few years ago.

Seat Type – As I go through the pits at the race tracks I have visited, I see a variety of seat construction. The high-end seats are not the problem, the compact and street stock classes is where racers try to cut corners on things like seats and the other components of safety we will outline. And I’ve seen some doozies.

Even the cheaper seats are better than trying to customize a stock seat for racing. Just make sure the seat is strong enough, and has rib, hip and behind the head support. If it does not have side head support, then you can improvise in this area and create a bolt-on piece using scrap aluminum and foam.

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In the high-end seat category, your side head restraints should be close to the helmet and according to the experts I talked to, no more than ¾” spacing on each side. If your spacing is more than that, talk to your seat manufacturer and see what you can do to close that gap. They might be able to send you thicker side material to help lessen the helmet gap.

For all seats, the width of the seat must be correct for the driver. Snug is always preferable to being loose. Do not use soft foam to take up the space when putting a smaller driver into a larger seat. In a side impact, the driver will move that distance quickly and relatively unimpeded and hit the side of the seat with a lot of force.

And finally, look at your seat and make sure that the cutouts where the seat belts and shoulder harness come across the seat are smooth and not a sharp edge that might cut the belt. Most of the better seats will have round tubing welded around any openings in the seat to prevent chafing.

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Mounting The Seat – The seat should be always be mounted to the roll cage or structural member of the frame and not the floor.  The seat should be bolted to the frame work with Grade-8 bolts no less than 3/8″ diameter. Always use large diameter heavy duty flat washers and lock nuts. Try to space the bolts as far apart as possible to properly distribute the load.

When securing the back of the seat, tie it into the horizontal tubing that runs behind the seat and instead of bolting through the tubing, it is better for strength purposes to weld-on a bracket and then bolt through that. The bolts should be positioned at right angles to the seat belt to put the bolts in shear.

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Mounting The Belts – One key to a driver’s safety in the cockpit has a lot to do with the quality, mounting and care of the seatbelts. Here are a few concepts to think about when buying, installing and using seat belts.

Early seat belts were made from cotton webbing.  As technology advanced it was found that nylon was a better choice for longer life and higher strength.  In the last 5-10 years polyester and combinations of materials have made their way into the market of competition seat belts.

These newer materials have been preferred because of the smaller amount of stretching compared to the average nylon stretch numbers. There are quality nylon belts on the market and the price difference between nylon and polyester is not enough to prevent you from getting the best product that will stretch less.

Always keep the belts as short as possible. Shorter belts will lessen the amount of stretch. As mentioned, all belt webbing will stretch. The amount the belt stretches is a function of the overall load placed on it and the length of the belt this load is applied to. The more the belt stretches the further the driver will move in the seat and the more likely they are to be injured.

Sternum straps can be useful if they are positioned correctly. We have had feedback from racers who swear by the use of these straps, but they cannot be placed too close to the driver’s neck. Sternum straps were developed to keep the shoulder belts closer to the middle of the chest and keep them from sliding off the shoulders, and in the present day, the head and neck restraints.

Remember, as the driver’s torso moves forward in a frontal impact, the shoulders slide on the belts and the sternum strap will move towards the neck. Proper mounting and the use of short belt lengths will help keep the belts properly on the driver’s chest if you don’t have a sternum strap.

In reference to the safe mounting of the seat belts, the SFI Foundation has an article on their web site (www.sfifoundation.com) detailing with proper belt mounting methods, angles and procedures. There are many other articles about this subject online, but be sure to visit the SFI site.

All quality belt systems will have a certification tag, usually a SFI tag. This is the manufacturer stating that the belt meets the minimum standards set forth by a certifying foundation under a certain specification.  It also has the date of manufacture and most rules signify a certain age maximum. It is commonly held that a set of belts should not be used more than two years after their date of manufacture.

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Types Of Harnesses – The most basic racing seat belt system is 5-point system with two shoulder belts, two lap belts and a submarine belt.  To gain addition body control, the 5-point system can be changed by replacing the single sub belt with two belts to control the motions of each leg. This system is called the 6-point harness.

The 6-point harness system is a vast improvement in body control compared to the 5-point, but there is still another way to increase a driver’s body control.  In the typical 6-point system, the leg belts snake through a loop in the lap belt and hook into the shoulder belts.  This belt arrangement puts an odd angle on the direction of force for the tightening of the shoulder belts.

One way to keep the benefits of the leg control of the 6-points and keep the belts in an optimum alignment is to add back the single sub belt so that the shoulder belts pull against that single sub belt.  This then becomes the 7-point belt system and is offered by many manufacturers.

Head and Arm Nets – Head Nets have become a visual staple in many series of motorsports. They first appeared as an additional way to control the motion of the head and arms inside sprint cars. They were then utilized in the stock car realm for protection of the driver’s head before the advent of side support as a part of the seat.

The window net that is so common provides little protection for the head contacting the track wall in a left side impact, so the addition of a left side head net provided an extra barrier. With the advent of seat-mounted head surrounds, the need for the head net is reduced.

Even so, the head nets can reduce the injuries we see from arms flying around in a typical roll-over crash. While sprint car drivers have tethered arm restraints, stock car drivers don’t. These “head” nets have now become arm nets as such.

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Conclusion – Now is the time to look over your cockpit construction for safety issues. It is never too late to make changes that will help insure the driver’s safety in the event of a crash. As we have seen and heard from other racers, even the best of parts can be problematic if not installed correctly.

Take the time and do it right. Check the age of the belts, fire extinguisher, helmet and fire suit. Check to make sure your belts are not rubbing and worn. Imagine you are being tossed around in a violent roll over and think where your arms and legs will be impacting. Trust us, they will impact something, better it be softer than hard.

Sources:

Allstar Performance
www.allstarperformance.com
269-463-8000

ButlerBuilt
www.butlerbuilt.net
800-621-7328

G-Force Racing Gear
www.gforce.com

Longacre Racing Products
www.longacreracing.com
800-423-3110

NecksGen
www.necksgen.com
619-328-0410

RaceQuip
www.racequip.com
813-642-6644

Race Day Safety
www.racedaysafety.com
770-505-0193

The Joie of Seating
www.lajoieracing.com
704-795-7474

SAE World Headquarters
www.sae.org
724-776-4841

SFI Foundation, Inc.
www.sfifoundation.com
858-451-8868

Simpson Racing
www.simpsonraceproducts.com
800-654-7223

The post Constructing a Safe Driver Environment appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

A well-equipped safety crew will have what is needed to fight fires, extract drivers and maintain the track when oil or water is spilled. This crew is suited in fire-resistant clothing and ready to come to the aid of drivers.

It is time once again to talk about track safety. None of this will make you faster or help you win races. What it will do is provide you the opportunity to survive your race and be healthy enough to come back next week and have fun. These are ideas provided by a professional safety crew out of Michigan: Kalamazoo Track Services and Jake Steele.

I was privileged to observe many track-safety crews while on the four-year Amsoil-promoted CT Great American Tour of the United States. I can say I saw many wonderful safety programs and some not so wonderful. All we are trying to do with these presentations is wake up the tracks that are not up to par with those who are doing the right thing.

In recent situations this year, we saw in some places that all is not well, even with major series sanctioning bodies, as far as the response to on-track incidences. If you think your track needs to improve its safety program, then refer them to this article or have them call Jake for guidance. He would be pleased to help out in developing the overall safety plan for your track. His team has its own website, just search for it for his contact information.

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Be Geared Up
Always be geared up and ready when cars move onto the track. It doesn’t matter if it’s practice, qualifying, or the feature. Put on your helmet, radio, gloves, fire suit, Nomex hood, boots, and eyewear.
During the heat of the summer, many crews are reluctant to wear those heavy suits, but how much time does it take to get all of that on? In a fire in which the fuel tank has ruptured, there is very little time to act.

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Race Control and Flagman
Whoever is in control of the cars on-track should always get the safety crew’s approval before turning the cars loose. In reference to the last item, the fire crew might need to remove those heavy coats and pants to cool off between on-track activities and might need a few minutes to get them back on. Good communication would allow that.

If the control center thinks ahead, they can alert the safety crew that cars will be on the track in X minutes and to let them know when you are ready. This keeps everyone on the same page and assures that everyone will be ready to go.

Who Does What
Your crew should all know their roles for each situation that might come along. That includes who goes to driver’s aid, who watches out for fire, who takes care of the track, who watches for and controls traffic, and who calls for EMT backup.

A very serious accident can be extremely confusing. Everyone wants to help out with the victim, but that is the wrong approach. The safety crew must have assigned duties and follow your plan. That way, everyone will first off be safe, and so that the rescue plan goes smoothly.

Know Your Tools
Your crew should know how every tool on the truck works, and everything should be checked at the beginning of each race day. The training has already been done for experienced fire-fighting personnel, but most crews have more inexperienced helpers who will be assisting with extraction, fire suppression, traffic control, and other tasks.

Take the time to go over each and every piece of equipment with those members of your crew who may not be as familiar with the equipment as you are. I have seen volunteer fire fighters forget how to turn on the water supply to the fire hose and waste precious minutes doing so.

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Driver Education
Every driver who races at your track should know what you want from them. For instance, “We come out of turn 2 on the outside, and we want the drivers to leave the top groove for us until the wreck is cleared.” Or “Go slow and low when passing emergency vehicles.”

Anything you can think of that the drivers need to know can and should be discussed at the drivers meeting, or preferably at a separate meeting held for each class that runs. That way, the numbers are smaller and you can concentrate on each driver in the group. You probably know certain drivers who need more education than others anyway.

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Hand Signals
Sprint Cars Each safety crew probably has several hand signs that can tell the drivers where to go, how to avoid oil or other hazards, when to scuff the ready-dry, when to get high or go low on the track, and other duties.

If a hand’s down motion means stop immediately, and the driver does not know that, someone could get hurt just from the driver not being able to see a hazard. You can refine those signals with the drivers, and they may have opinions as to what is better for different situations.

A race car windshield that has been sprayed with oil during a race is hard to see out of, and if the lights are just right, the glare could further impede their vision. The track crew has to be aware that the driver just might not be able to see in all directions, and they need to be careful and act accordingly.

Never Get Out of Your Car
Well, almost never. Drivers should never get out of their cars after it has been disabled on the track, unless it’s on fire or the track personnel are there and tell them to get out. And don’t unbuckle your belts or take off your helmet until you are absolutely sure the other cars have slowed down for a couple of laps.

The racetracks need to incorporate this item in their rules. And there must be serious penalties with zero tolerance, for breaking that rule. Getting out of the car and confronting another driver on the track is very dangerous and unnecessary. There’s always time back in the pits to talk things over.

Roll Over Procedures
In the event of a rollover, the driver must stay buckled in until the safety crew arrives to assist, if there is no fire. If no one is injured, the standard procedure is to roll them over while they are in car and buckled up using proven techniques that use the wrecker.

This involves rolling the car up on its side, preferably with the driver side towards the ground, attaching a wrecker cable to the underside, and then lowering it slowly to the ground onto the wheels. That way, the driver does not get whiplash, the suspension suffers less damage, and no one gets hurt from the sudden fall.

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Carry the Proper Equipment
The KTS crew has two trucks, and they carry a foam-suppression system, the Jaws of Life to cut out drivers who are trapped, four brooms, an oil-dry spreader, three different kinds of fire extinguishers, a Sawz-all, drills, and a complete first-aid medical kit.

What you will need for your crew is your choice. Different tracks might require different equipment, so examine your needs and plan out which tools they might need for any occurrence. Remember that you are the only safety crew on the property, and you might be called on to assist a crewmember or spectator, as well as the drivers.

Local EMS Assistance
Plan ahead with your local EMS (emergency medical services) to have them on standby. They should know when and how you want them to work with you if the need arises. It would be great if the radio communications were coordinated, too. If they are aware you might be needing their services, they might position themselves closer to the track in-between service calls.

When a driver or anyone else at the track is seriously injured, you are required to seek professional medical assistance and transportation for the patient. This could include calling for a life-flight helicopter. If you don’t know how to do that, get with your local emergency provider, and get familiar with the procedure. It’s too late when someone needs to be transported stat from the track.

Another point to make is that many tracks are very far from the nearest hospital. When we attended Atomic Motor Raceway, we were about an hour and a half away from any medical facility. So, in the event of a serious injury, a helicopter transport would have been a must. Your track may be in a similar situation.

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Race Car Safety
Every car should have a fuel check valve in the event of rollover. The car should also be equipped with a main power-supply cutoff switch, which should be mounted in all cars in the same general area of the car. That way, the crew can easily find it.

Most rules state that the cutoff switch be located within easy reach of the driver and outside personnel from either side of the car. If the car is lying up against the wall with the driver’s side blocked, the safety crew can still reach in and cut off the power supply, if the driver is unable to do that.

The drivers should all wear neck restraints and other gear that isn’t worn out. Seatbelts, driving suits, gloves, and shoes should all be in good shape and function as intended. These items are not for show. Your track’s safety crew should mingle with the crews before the cars are scheduled to go onto the track to talk about safety and inquire about how each car is equipped.

This also gives the crew a chance to get to know the drivers and talk about any concerns they might have. Some drivers might have special needs or disabilities that the safety crew would need to know about.

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How the Track Is Constructed
This item deals with how a racetrack is built and what that layout might do to endanger race drivers. Openings in the track might present a danger to cars by providing the opportunity for a flat wall frontal impact.

If your track has openings located at the entry or exit of the turns, imagine a car blowing a tire or getting bumped at speed, and going into the corner of the opening such that the car would stop immediately. It has happened in the past, and at least once where the driver was wearing a head-and-neck restraint but still died.

These openings need to be cushioned with large tires, barrels of water, or other softening material to mitigate a head-on collision. If the track is laid out this way, and there is no other way to get cars on and off the track, then the layout might have to remain, but there are ways to improve the chance for survival. Talk with your track management about looking into those situations.

Throwing the Red Flag
The flagman should know when you want a red flag thrown without asking. Any hard hit, rollover, or fire would require an automatic red flag without the safety crew having to ask. If the trucks are rolling to a serious event, they are concerned with avoiding other personnel, avoiding the race cars still on the track, and positioning themselves where they can do the most good.

Have a plan beforehand for the flagman to wave the red flag if it appears that immediate and quick response is needed by the safety crew. It never hurts to stop the race cars on the track. And the drivers need to know to stop as quickly as possible where they are and pull to the inside of the track.

The red flag situation also applies if there is a need for medical attention to persons in the pits or the grandstands during a race. The flagman should first wave a yellow, followed by a red flag, so the safety crew can turn their attention to the other situation and away from the race.

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Safety Crew Suggestions
When working with Sprint Cars, the most important thing safety crews have learned is, if you are on the track, and the cars are still coming around, stand perfectly still, and they will miss you. The second you move, you stand a higher chance of getting hit.

Always know what fuels the cars are running, so you can take the proper precautions. It is different for a car running alcohol, than for a car running regular gas. Depending on the fuel, you might not be able to see an alcohol fire. So, there are telltale signs you can learn about to identify those kinds of fires.

Make sure there are plenty of lights on your safety trucks, mounted at different angles so the drivers can see no matter which way you park your truck. It is a good idea to carry yellow flags so your helpers can stand up-traffic, alert cars to your position, and make sure they slow down.

Checklists Make for Good Procedures
Jake told me that the last major upgrade they made was to standardize all of their roles on the crew. At the beginning of each day, there are checklists for the main truck and secondary truck, as well as wreckers. The crew is responsible for checking every single piece of equipment on the trucks. Once racing starts, each person follows an “SOG” (Standard Operating Guideline), which is written with different priorities on each spot, allowing for the fastest, most efficient safety that can be provided.

Everyone on the crew is expected to be firefighters with EMS backgrounds and able to fill every single role on any given night. At the end of each shift, there is also a checklist to ensure everything is stored in the proper manner in order to prevent failures in the equipment. Now, that is one fine safety crew.

The post What Every Safety Crew Should Know appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

In the recent past, we have talked about when is a good time to pass and how to do it. We have given some insight on why certain drivers win and how they do it. With the end of the season coming fast, now might be a good time to brush up on driving skills so that you can finish the year strong.

There is a way to drive and a way not to. Veteran drivers know what I am talking about, but it seems like that wisdom has not been passed on to some of our younger drivers. And some of those younger folks have dads who knew how to properly drive. You’d think this knowledge would get passed down, but in some cases it is not.

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The original thoughts for this piece came from discussions with legendary drivers about basic driving tips. It soon became apparent that this needed to be about much more than that. It needed to tell the story once and for all about how the good driving of yesteryear evolved over the years into, in some cases, the mess we now have.

More than that, there is a way veteran drivers learned to drive that made them faster. These skills are as valid today as they were back in the day. We just don’t hear much about them now. Well, listen up, we’re going to give away secrets here and now.

Acceptable Way To Drive – Back in the day, and I’m talking about from the 1960’s up to the mid to late ‘90’s, the drivers policed themselves. It was widely known that if you knocked someone out of the way on the track to get around, you could usually expect to be confronted and fight about it in the pits after the race.

This is just how it was done “back in the day” and drivers evolved into careful and skilled pilots necessarily to avoid trouble. No matter how tough you are, fights take a toll and everyone ends up with some amount of pain.

What drivers had to learn back when our society was not so friendly to one another was how to carefully nudge someone out of the way in order to move up to the front. Anything more than that and boy there was going to be trouble.

I spoke with a very successful driver some years ago and we were discussing the art of moving slower cars out of the way. He said, “if you do it right, they never know it happened.”

In our current kinder and gentler society, fighting is a big no-no, so what has evolved is a rougher style of driving because there are no consequences to stop it. The officials should be the ones to throw the black flag, everyone knows when it’s deserved, but we are all concerned with car count and such, so some of those just turn a blind eye to the rough driving we all see.

Back in the day, drivers learned how to lean on slower cars to move them up and out of the way so that they could get on with their race. To the observer, if you saw that and the passing car motored away from the car that got moved, then it was legal and just.

Sure, the driver that got moved was mad, but the anger should be directed at his own car, or his driving, etc., not the faster car. Go back to the shop and work on your car so that next week you’ll be faster and maybe not get passed.

I spoke with a very successful driver some years ago and we were discussing the art of moving slower cars out of the way. He said, “if you do it right, they never knew it happened.”  That is a classic line I’ll always remember.

The slower car’s driver most of the time thinks the car got loose, it’s that subtle a move. The very definition of subtle is, “so delicate or precise as to be difficult to analyze or describe.” I see far too many drivers who are not very subtle in their driving style. OK, so I made my point, now on to driver tips.

New Drivers – Many newer drivers will overdrive the car. The use of brakes is necessary to set the car going into the corner so that it will be prepared to accelerate off the corner. The more you learn about your car and the track, the less brakes you’ll need, but you’ll always need to use some braking, even at high banked and fast race tracks where it seems the cars never brake.

Driving past the proper lift point feels fast, but it is not. The right way, meaning the faster way, is to lift earlier, delay braking a tiny bit, then slow the car just enough to make the turn in, and then when the car is ready, accelerate through the middle and off the corner.

You’ll find that as you execute this maneuver properly, the earlier you let off the throttle, the earlier you will be able to accelerate, and that makes for a faster lap time.

Throttle Control –New drivers should learn throttle control. You will never become truly successful until you learn how to modulate the throttle. Many new drivers think they need to be either on or off the throttle. Not true. There are a whole lot of options in between those two.

How you lift the throttle and how you go back to applying throttle is an art that some can learn quickly, and some need more time to master. The legends of the sport that have attained much success will tell you that this is the one thing more than any other, that will make you faster as a driver.

In the first section of this piece we talked about moving slower cars out of the way. Using throttle modulation is the way this is done. You must work the throttle to put your car in a position to pass. Coming completely off the throttle and going full throttle quickly puts way too much pressure on the setup and will upset the car.

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Qualifying – Where this technique of not over driving the car really helps is in qualifying. Many new and some older drivers think they need to drive the car harder in qualifying than they did in practice. That is just not true.

The new tires you use (if your rules allow new tires) will provide the added speed to qualify well. You just need to take advantage of the added grip to allow the car to roll through the corners faster and that in and of itself will provide a good qualifying speed.

Many new drivers think they need to be either full on or full off the throttle. Not true. There are a whole lot of options in between those two.

Running off into the corner two or three car lengths deeper than you did in practice will slow you down. If you drive as hard in qualifying as you did in practice, and no more, you will do well.

Corner Entry – Drivers need to get one fact in mind and remember this. Running deep into the corner, or dive bombing the corner as Dick Anderson once said, will ruin your lap times. It feels fast and it exciting, but it is proven to be slower than not going in so deep.

The method that has been taught by many skilled instructors is this. Lift before you think you need to, use less braking, and let the car slow as needed related to the arc you are following. The following explanation is very important, so read this as many times as you need in order to get the point.

When we enter a corner, we are turning the steering wheel more and more as we approach mid-turn. This means that the initial radius is larger and the closer we get to mid-turn, the smaller the radius becomes. And, we know we can go faster through a larger radius than a smaller one, right. Got it? This radius thing is the key to speed on entry.

So, we can all agree that the line we drive entering a corner is not a constant radius. In almost every case, the line tightens up the farther we go towards mid-turn. So, we need to keep the car going faster where the radius is larger.

If we slow the car too quickly to the speed we need to get through the shortest radius, then we give up the speed we could have gone where the radius was larger and the car could have gone faster. This simple concept is worth two to three tenths at a lot of race tracks.

Corner Exit – If you comprehended the above concept, then you will be ready to execute corner exit. When we enter the corner correctly and do not overdrive, or dive bomb the corner, we are all set to exit the corner.

When the car is settled into mid-turn, we are now ready to begin accelerating. “Settled in” means that the car is under control, is not slowing down any more, and it is ready for application of power.

When the entry is executed correctly as we described, the car will be ready much earlier to accept the throttle. When we dive bomb the corner, the car will not be ready as quickly for acceleration and the driver has to wait until it is ready. This adds unnecessary tenths to our lap times.

So, the correct corner entry allows better control through the mid-turn, and subsequently earlier application of power off the corner. This all adds up to a quicker lap. And this method is used in every type of circle track racing from Street Stocks to Super Late Models.

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During The Race – Once the race has started, or re-started, a driver needs to settle down and be cautious. This doesn’t mean giving anything up, it means to watch out for squirrels. The drivers who are driving over their heads will make mistakes early in the race and you should be ready to avoid the damage.

In some recent videos I have watched, the advancing driver just waited for the driver ahead to overdrive the corner, slip up the track, and then drive underneath to take away the position. The only contact that was made was the driver being passed to try to squeeze down on the passing driver when it was too late to do anything about it.

It is important to take your time. There is usually plenty of time to get the job done, even in a 30 or 50 lap race. You have time to move to the front and pass slower cars that are not driving the right way like you are.

Races are won by drivers who make it to the end of the race unscathed. Making it to the end should be your primary goal when starting out. As you become more experienced and successful that goal will never go away, you’ll just get better at recognizing trouble and better at avoiding it. And, you’ll get faster and better at passing those slower cars in front of you. When there are no more slower cars ahead, you are probably the leader.

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Working Traffic – The main thing for new drivers to learn when working traffic is to be aware of their surroundings. It’s easy to get tunnel vision when you’re racing. We’ve all been there. But as you become more comfortable with the car and where your marks are, you can then bring your concentration out of the tunnel and think about the cars around you.

If a car is under you or outside, your line needs to change from when you were driving alone. The line will be where the other car is not. Two cars cannot drive the same line, but they often try, right?

If you decide to run a different line because another car has taken your normal line away, make the most of it and execute that new line as accurately and fast as possible. Often times, your new line will be quicker through the middle if you’re on the inside, or off the corner if you are on the outside, because the other car will be crowded.

If you are on the inside on entry to the corner, don’t move down towards the apex too quickly. By staying up longer before you turn in, the outside car will be at a distinct disadvantage and have to lift and begin slowing much earlier.

If you are being pressured from behind, try to concentrate on your race and make that car work for it. Losing concentration by giving too much attention to the car behind will slow you down and cost you a position in the end.

In most cases, protecting the bottom by entering on a lower line than you usually run will slow you down and you are then at risk of being passed on the outside. Or, the passing car will take advantage of your high exit, a result of going in too low, and do a cross-over maneuver to pass you on exit off the corner.

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Race Re-starts – In your racing you will always have cautions where you’ll need to re-start the race. The tip from the legends is to be ready and go as soon as you get the green flag. Anticipate the flagman and jump on one of the only opportunities you might have to pass cars.

A quick reaction time here can make a huge difference in where you end up at the end of the race. Most experienced and successful drivers understand the importance of this part of the race as far as the opportunity it presents.

Dick Anderson watched one of his drivers get jumped on a restart a few years ago and he turned to a bystander and said, “if had I let someone beat me like that on the restart, I’d go home and beat myself”, and he meant it. You don’t let that opportunity pass by.

Conclusion – We’ve given you plenty to think about. Our thanks go out to Dick and the other legendary drivers who have contributed to this discussion and who have passed their knowledge on to writers like me.

It would do a new driver good to have discussions with some of the older and more successful drivers at their track. These guys would be happy to help you become better drivers because when you improve your skills, there will be less trouble overall and then everyone wins.

Sources:

Brake-O-Meter
www.brakeometer.com

Coleman Racing
www.colemanracng.com
800-221-1851

Performance Friction Brakes
www.performancefriction.com
800-521-8874

The post Second-half of Race Season Driving Tips appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

The Development of the Setup is a Form of Art

The whole process of setting up a race car involves seeing a picture of what you want to develop and then assembling all of the parts and pieces that will cause that to happen. Some racers see the picture more easily than others. If we see race car setup as an art, we can also see where there are many different approaches and ways to look at the art form.

I truly believe that artists are mostly born and improve with age. That idea sometimes conflicts with my other belief that setting up a race car is a form of art too. The whole process of setup comes easy for some and more difficult for most. Can this art form be learned? I have often wondered if it can. My daughter Christa is an artist. I knew it from the time she was only five. She would sketch scenes with depth and imagination at that early age. It came easy for her.

The truly gifted race car setup artists also seems to have a natural knack for putting all of the pieces together in the proper order and where all of the parts fit. When that happens, the car has a look to it, while negotiating the turns, that to me resembles art. A well setup race car is a thing of beauty. You know exactly what I mean. You’ve seen it countless times be it your car or someone else’s.

The driver can tell from inside the cockpit. The car just feels like it wants and needs to go through those turns. The effortless way it settles in on entry, the neutral feel in the steering wheel and as it rockets off the corners all tell us something that just feels right. The driver exits the car after 100 hard fought laps with a lot less sweat and energy loss than with other cars they have had to drive.

I have seen it done by some who are masters. They can take a completely different car than what they are used to and transform it into a piece of art. Others struggle to apply the first stroke and waiver through the process, not really being able to see the picture in their minds like the artist do when painting the landscape.

Can these types learn the art or are they doomed to struggle year after year? There is a truth to be learned here and it falls somewhere between and includes the artist and the engineer. And I’m not talking about formal education being the determining factor in labeling a person either. We are what we are by deed.

Most artists never had any instruction, Christa didn’t. They can learn something from the masters though. And, most race car engineers never took engineering courses in school, but they can acquire the skills they need through association with other more experienced racing engineers. They just do the art and are the artist.

There is hope for the aspiring setup artist. It comes with developing, or being born with, the desire to “paint” and the willingness to work hard at it. Associate yourself with other “artists”, watch what the masters do and listen when they talk. Ask questions without fear.

No one ever learned anything by being quiet. And seek only to please yourself. The true masters care not what others think of how they do their art, if it is appealing to your eyes, then it will most likely appeal to others.

And when you are finished with your “painting”, it will be on display for everyone to see. When your car does well, it will show. And that, I think, is the draw for every artist, to show off your talents to others. Are you ready to paint the perfect picture and display it in victory lane?

If you have comments or questions about this or anything racing related, send them to my email address: chassisrd@aol.com or mail can be sent to Circle Track, Senior Tech Editor, 1733 Alton Parkway, Suite 100, Irvine, CA.

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Concussions Without Crashes Comments

Hi Bob, 

I am an open wheel racer in Australia, I have seen several topics lately concerning full containment seats and the damage they are doing as far as the heads striking the seat and it having no “give” so to speak, I have recently gone to a full containment seat and I have to agree, they are pretty harsh on the head when your bouncing around on a rutted track. 

I had an idea, and forgive me if you have already thought of this, or if the seat manufacturers are already on it. Is it possible to design a headrest that has a floating cushion/pad and that is connected to the seat via several hydraulic tappet-like barrels? The pad wouldn’t need to move much, just enough so that it absorbs the shock and progressively transfers the pressure through the halo?

Sean Henderson

That is a good idea. The head could be contained inside a halo device that was restrained by a mechanism that works much like a shock where with lower speed movements, it gave way fairly easily. Then with higher speed movements, like when the car hits the wall, etc. it would restrict the movement more aggressively like it needed to.

In an unrestricted scenario like back in the day when there were no head side restraints, the neck naturally allowed the head to stay fairly centered while the car rocked back and forth with the movement over the rough track surface. There was no transfer of force to the brain back then.

But we do need to protect the head and neck from violent movement to the side, just like we discovered we needed to do for sudden forward movement. With the talk about this problem getting louder, I would think that the industry would begin to address the problem and offer up some solutions. Only time will tell.

Push Rod For Three Link

Hello,

I’ve just purchased a new car and I’m starting to go through and look at the suspension. I just wanted to ask a question on rear steer. The car is on a three-link rear axle but the link bars have a rubber bushing on one end and a rose joint the other. The rubbers are really soft so under power I think they will stretch or shorten and make the rear axle point in all directions.

My question is, under load the wheels rotate and try to push towards the front of the car, but does the link bars try to get longer or shorter? I was thinking of running a harder poly bushing or something harder than the current rubber on just one side of the car to help give me rear steer but the correct way. But which side should I run the harder bush.

Cheers, Carl

Yes, as the car accelerates off the corner, the tires push the suspension links and the link with the rubber will compress and shorten causing rear steer in some direction. I’ve never heard of running those on the left side in a left turning car. Most of these do not extend although they can be designed to do that.

We usually run the rubber biscuit on the right side only. Most types of these “push rods” can be adjusted and tightened so that the movement is reduced. Many times these will move too far and cause too much rear steer.

It is not a given that you need this device. I would put in a solid link in the left side all of the time (I assume you are turning left) and try running a solid link in the right side to see if you really need the push-rod for traction off the corners. Then if you think you need help, just install the compressible link in the right side and adjust the preload, or put in the stiffer poly biscuit and see how that works.

Spring Rate vs. Panhard Bar Height

Good morning Mr. Bolles,

Concerning spring rates on the rear in relation to panhard bar heights, can I get a little more explanation on how I go about choosing my height in relation to my rear springs? When lowering spring rate on the rear do I lower the panhard bar or raise it?

Is it normal to run the panhard bar inverted with the left side higher than the right side? I look forward to hearing from you. I am a long time reader of Circle Track, and I think it is an awesome magazine.

Thanks, Brian Owens 

When you soften the rear spring rates, you soften the rear dynamics to cause the rear to want to roll more. If that is your goal, fine. But if you just want to soften the springs and not change the dynamic balance, you would need to change the rear roll center height, or panhard bar height.

To compensate in this case, you have to raise the rear roll center, or panhard bar height if you want the same rear roll stiffness. If you are just trying to tighten the car, soften the springs and/or lower the panhard bar to do that.

There is no formula that will tell us how much to raise or lower the panhard bar for a given change in spring rate. That’s because there are so many different designs of rear suspension involving spring base width, spring angles, and spring split (which greatly affects the suspension stiffness).

As for panhard bar angle, it is becoming normal to run the left side of the panhard bar higher on asphalt cars. This has been done for some time with dirt late models for other reasons than why we do it on asphalt.

When we run the bar at an angle with the right side down, it is more in-line with the lateral forces that cause the car to dive and roll. With this angle, there is less jacking of weight when the force and panhard bar are more in line.

Pull Bar/Lift Arm Spring Rate

Hello Bob,

I am 66 years old and have been in racing for 50 plus years as car owner and crew chief. I am currently working with a dirt modified driver with 27 years of perfect attendance at Merritt Speedway in Michigan. He is a multi-time track champ with over 100 feature wins.

My question is, in a recent article about more forward bite, you mentioned pull bars, lift bars, etc. as ways to reduce shock on the rear end. Do you do that with a stiffer or softer spring? Also, which way would you move it forward or back to help? I say use a stiffer spring, a lot of people are not sure. Thanks for your help. You should come to Merritt sometime. Oh, and I forgot to mention, we are trying to get off the corners better.

Thanks again, Bob Dack

The pull bars and lift arms do two things. The first is, they help reduce the “shock” to the rear tires when we initially apply throttle when coming off the corners. This help is short lived and only works during the initial application of power. Secondly, these parts also transfer some of the load off the springs and onto the rear end at the point where the link is attached to the rear end.

The second event is the most lasting because this transfer of load stays on the rear end the whole time we are accelerating. We can use that transfer of load to cause more equal loading on the rear tires, which is a primary goal to help gain bite for acceleration for asphalt race cars. It’s a little different for dirt cars.

As for spring rate, the stiffer the rate, the less help you will get from the first event, reducing the shocking factor. As to the second event, you’ll need to run a stiff enough spring in the third link pull bar so that it won’t coil bind. We need for this spring to work all of the way down the straight while we are accelerating.

As to the lift arm, the stiffness will dictate how well it absorbs the initial application of throttle. Softer is better if you need it. And, the length of the arm determines how much load is transferred off the springs by how much force the arm produces. The shorter the arm, the more force produced and therefore the more load taken off the springs and put on the rear end.

The running of a shorter lift arm can actually lift the rear of the car and not all teams think that is an advantage. If you find a length that will eliminate rear squat on acceleration, but not raise the rear of the car, you are probably close to the right length.

The post Race Car Setup is an Art Form appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Throughout the season, things can go wrong unexpectedly. These problems cause loss of points and loss of money, both from fixing the problem and from loss of prize money. So, it is in our best interest to try and find potential problems before they become major headaches.

When we break a part, many times we break other non-related parts too. If the right front ball joint breaks, we could impact the wall and break a RF shock, control arms, etc. The damage goes well beyond the initial part failure. So, we need to find those “about to break” little problems before they become major problems.

Here is a list of some of the areas where things can go wrong that could cost you a good run or even a race win. We will provide some hints on how you might avoid some of these problems. The top racing jinxes, in our opinion, are:

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Tire Preparation

Stagger changes that happen during a race can be a problem. Get to know the particular tire you race with. Each brand and product number of tire has its own characteristics for growth related to your car and the track you are running on. The choice in new tire sizes must be made by knowing how much the tires on each side of the car will grow.

Practice is the time to evaluate the tire growth situation.  The tires on both sides will grow due to elevated temperatures and the increased pressures that go along with a hotter tire.

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The right sides will gain more temperature and pressure than the left sides and therefore the sizes on the right side should grow more.

How much they grow is dependent on many factors, some of which are: a) having the correct stagger to begin with, b) having a balanced setup, or not, c) using dry air or nitrogen, d) the structure of the tire as well as the particular production batch, e) and believe it or not, how hard you run the car.

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A Hung Suspension Spring

This is very simple and straight forward.  When you jack up the car, the spring has an opportunity to hang in the lower control arm, in the case of a big spring car, or hang in the shock with a coil over car.  This can happen in any type of race car from a stock class bomber to a sophisticated formula car and even in the Cup series.

If this happens, it will change your weight distribution dramatically. There are several ways to help prevent this from happening.  First and foremost is to limit the suspension travel in droop from where the wheel is at ride height.

With a big spring design, the spring can rotate to where the open end of the coil spring will not be at the proper place within the lower control arm spring pocket. This will affect ride height and the weight distribution causing the handling to go south on you.

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Bad Differential

I have seen many teams chase their setups all season long when the real problem had more to do with maintenance. With a Detroit locker type of differential, the springs that do the job of locking both axles up upon acceleration can and do get weak as time goes on.

Excess heat in the rear end will accelerate the process. When they do lose their tension, the axle that the bad spring is supposed to lock up will not. This leaves you with a car that drives off one rear tire and exit performance will definitely suffer.

Specialty rear differentials sometimes use aluminum gear sets to help distribute the forces between the rear wheels. These need to be inspected and possibly replaced as often as necessary to ensure that there will not be a failure. Consult the manufacturer to obtain a proper maintenance schedule for your product.

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Ignition Wire Problems

Worn ignition wires can end your night in a hurry. It has happened to the best of teams. Inspect all of your wires after each race. Trace where they go and if they are routed through sheet metal, be careful that they are not rubbing to where they will short out. Look for loose connections and loose nuts.

If you crimp your wire ends, you will eventually have problems with the wire falling out or breaking off. The best way to connect a wire is to solder the wire to the connector and cover that with an inch or so of shrink wrap.

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Belt Alignment Problems  

How many times have you seen or heard of a team experiencing loss of oil pressure or cooling due to a broken or thrown engine belt.  Most of these occurrences can be traced right back to a miss-alignment in the pulley system.

It doesn’t take much of a bend in a belt to cause it to de-pulley and come off.  The solution is to inspect the alignment of the belts on all pulleys on the engine. Use a straight edge and lay it against one pulley to see how that one lines up to other pulleys. Don’t necessarily trust your eyes because often the problem lies out of your eye site.

Sources:

AFCO Racing
www.afcoracing.com
800-632-2320

Allstar Performance
www.allstarperformance.com
269-463-8000

Coleman Racing
www.colemanracng.com
800-221-1851

Day Motorsports
www.daymotorsports.com
800-543-6238

Design Engineering Inc DEI
www.designengineering.com
800-264-9472

DMI / Bulldog Rear Ends
www.diversifiedracing.com
717-397-5347

Frankland Racing
www.franklandracing.com
888-873-2736

Intercomp Racing
www.intercompracing.com
800-328-3336

Harbor Freight
www.harborfreight.com
800-423-2567

Integra Shocks and Springs
www.integrashocksandsprings.com
800-472-3464

Jones Racing Products
www.jonesracingproducts.com
610-847-2028

Landrum Performance Springs
www.landrumspring.com
(574) 353-1674

Optima Batteries
www.optimabatteries.com

QA1
www.qa1.net
800-721-7761

Quick Performance
www.quickperformance.com
515-232-0126

PitStopUSA
www.pitstopusa.com
866-722-3432

RE Suspension
704-664-2277
www.resuspension.com

Rod End Supply
www.rodendsupply.com
800-284-2902

Smileys Racing Products
www.smileysracing.com
866-959-7223

Speedway Motors
www.speedwaymotors.com/CT715
855-313-9175

VDL Carburetors
www.vdlfuelsystems.com
251-443-5990

Wilwood Motorsports
www.wilwood.com
805-388-1188

The post Preventing Late Season Failures (Part One) appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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Check Out Part One Here

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Broken Throttle Parts – Loss of throttle is a common cause of a race car losing power abruptly.  The throttle shaft can shear off, the connecting bolt can break or loosen or the linkage can just fatigue and break somewhere between the gas pedal and the carburetor.  This is another area where we seldom do proper inspection and don’t discover there is a problem until we have a failure.

Properly attached and adjusted pedal stops can help prevent stress on the throttle linkage and carburetor shaft. It is not a good idea to use the carb. throttle stop as a pedal stop. Take time to adjust the linkage so that you will be applying full throttle (butterflies wide open with maximum pedal throw), but not stretching and stressing the linkage.

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Shocks Bottoming Out or Over Extended – A radically errant setup can often be traced to a mechanical binding problem.  Often, we find that a shock is either bottoming out from excess travel or hanging in rebound from too short a useable travel due to improper mounting.

Once you have finished building your car and have established the ride heights, measure how far each shocks shaft extends into the shock body.  If you know the range of travel of the shock, you can subtract and know how much rebound, or compression, travel you will have available.

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Suspension Binding – Another source of mechanical binding lies in the use of sliders in some cars.  The various designs of coil-over eliminators and big spring sliders need constant maintenance. Follow the manufactures recommendations and inspect these units often. They will bind up and stick if not properly maintained, especially on dirt cars.

Most race teams that ignore this important task will experience a car that slowly fails to respond to chassis setup changes.  This is a clue that maybe you need to look at beginning a maintenance schedule.

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Broken Shock Mounts – The mounts that hold your shocks on the car take a lot of abuse in all forms of circle track racing, especially with the coil over types of suspension designs.  One of the worst failures you will encounter is a broken shock mount.  This cannot be fixed during a race.

Regular inspection of the metal around the mounts can often show the start of a crack or stressed area so that we can re-weld or replace the mount.  This exercise can greatly reduce the chance that you will loose a shock mount during a race.

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Loose Bolts – The suspension parts endure a lot of force from braking to acceleration. The control arms at the front and the ends of the rear links can become loose as the bolts are pushed and stretched lap after lap. If these loosen during a race, the car will become un-drivable.

If your car is doing strange things, one of the first and easiest things to check is for a loose bolt in the suspension system.  Even if the joint is fairly tight, but not real tight, it can slip and result in a rear end that is out of alignment, a serious problem none-the-less.

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Bent Axle Tubes – A bent rear axle tube can cause toe and camber problems. The bend could be in any direction to affect toe, camber or both.  A set of rear wheels that are toed either in or out excessively can cause the rear end to lose grip all of the way around the track. Sometimes the cause can go un-noticed.

Common causes are a brush with the wall or contract with another car.  When either of these happens, make sure to check the toe and camber at the rear wheels. We often concentrate on front wheel toe and camber settings and forget that rear wheel geometry is just as important.

Plumbing Problems –  How you plumb your car for cooling the water or oil can be a problem.  There are some common misconceptions about these two that can cause overheating and/or engine failure. Here are a couple of common mistakes teams make.

When plumbing your water lines, remember to install a proper sized pulley on the water pump so that the speed will not be too slow or fast. It is a general rule of thumb to match the pump pulley size to the crank pulley size.

In plumbing a dry sump system, always place the filter where it will be the last thing the oil passes through before entering the motor. If not, lots of unpleasant things can happen. New radiators with internal oil coolers often have slag and other pieces left inside that come loose and flow into the motor if not filtered out. Placing the filter before the radiator could be a problem.

Flow the oil through the radiator oil cooler into the bottom and out the top. This pushes any air that may be trapped in the unit out to prevent cavitation. Use hose ends that are the free flow design where the bend is made with tubing and not an abrupt ninety degree turn drilled into a solid aluminum block.

Conclusion – If any of these examples spur you and your team to action and helps you to avoid a costly jinx, then we have done our job. We can always learn from the experiences of others and that is exactly where these stories and examples come from. All of these mistakes have happened in the past and will happen again. Jinxes don’t come out of thin air, but rather from our lack of knowledge and attention to detail.  That makes them avoidable.

Sources:

AFCO Racing
www.afcoracing.com
800-632-2320

Allstar Performance
www.allstarperformance.com
269-463-8000

Coleman Racing
www.colemanracng.com
800-221-1851

Day Motorsports
www.daymotorsports.com
800-543-6238

Design Engineering Inc DEI
www.designengineering.com
800-264-9472

DMI / Bulldog Rear Ends
www.diversifiedracing.com
717-397-5347

Frankland Racing
www.franklandracing.com
888-873-2736

Intercomp Racing
www.intercompracing.com
800-328-3336

Harbor Freight
www.harborfreight.com
800-423-2567

Integra Shocks and Springs
www.integrashocksandsprings.com
800-472-3464

Jones Racing Products
www.jonesracingproducts.com
610-847-2028

Landrum Performance Springs
www.landrumspring.com
(574) 353-1674

Optima Batteries
www.optimabatteries.com

QA1
www.qa1.net
800-721-7761

Quick Performance
www.quickperformance.com
515-232-0126

PitStopUSA
www.pitstopusa.com
866-722-3432

RE Suspension
704-664-2277
www.resuspension.com

Rod End Supply
www.rodendsupply.com
800-284-2902

Smileys Racing Products
www.smileysracing.com
866-959-7223

Speedway Motors
www.speedwaymotors.com/CT715
855-313-9175

VDL Carburetors
www.vdlfuelsystems.com
251-443-5990

Wilwood Motorsports
www.wilwood.com
805-388-1188

The post Preventing Late Season Failures (Part Two) appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

There are many teams still today who struggle throughout the season with their cars handling. Many times, the problem lies somewhere simple where a slight adjustment or a small tuning procedure could make the car much better.

If your team took a day or two in the shop and looked in the right areas, you might be able to finish the season on a high note and finally get some success. We’re here to help you do that. We’ve seen and heard about a lot of race car problems, after the fact. Let’s get ahead of the curve.

We are going to try to help you find your problem by focusing on the symptoms. We’ll go through the entry, middle turn, and exit segments and name some common problems and offer some possible solutions. We need to keep in mind that some handling problems have multiple sources.

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Before you undertake this analysis, please make sure your team has already completed the tasks of proper alignment of the rear end, checked and set the correct toe in the front wheels, checked and eliminated bump steer and checked and reduced the Ackermann to a minimum.

We should also assume that team has evaluated their front geometry and re-designed it as necessary for a more efficient front end dynamic. If not, please go back and read our numerous articles on those subjects. If so, and any one of these were out of whack, then maybe those were some of the problem. If everything checked out, then let’s continue.

Corner Entry

Entry problems involve a car that is loose or tight and this may differ from what the car does in the middle. A loose-in car can change to a car that is tight in the middle.

If the problem was the same on entry as it was in the middle and maybe off the corner too, then we just have a loose or tight setup in the car. When they are different or the middle is fine, but the entry is off, we need to look at what affects the entry handling. What we don’t want to do is make changes that will ruin our middle segment performance.

There are three major causes of loose in. One is brake bias. Too much rear brake percent can cause a loose car only when braking and to the extent you are braking. A track that requires heavy braking on entry is one where brake bias becomes more critical.

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If you brake lightly or more briefly, then your problem might be somewhere else. That’s not to say brakes couldn’t be part of the problem, but those kinds of tracks usually see more straight ahead braking lasting a shorter amount of time than at a track with tight turns and heavy braking lasting well into the turn-in phase.

The second primary reason for loose-in is a left rear shock that has too much rebound resistance. For most stock cars, we never need more rebound in the left rear shock than is needed to control that spring rate. For a 175 lb/in to 225 lb/in spring rate, a shock rate equivalent to a 3 shock, or 75 to 100 lb of force at 10.0 inches per second is sufficient. It is never a good idea to free up a car that is tight-in by increasing the rebound in the LR shock.

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Next on the list for loose-in is rear alignment which includes both static alignment and rear steer. Your rear suspension system could be steering both to the right and left through the motion of the right rear during entry. Let’s look at how that happens.

As the car enters the corner and begins to turn in, the RR will compress moving towards where it will end up at mid-turn. For most three, and even some four, link suspensions, the initial movement will push the RR wheel back causing rear steer to the right.

Once the motion has progressed, the chassis mount for the link should move the link through level and then start to pull the RR forward as it moves downward to end up either with zero net rear steer, or a slight rear steer to the left. This of course all depends on the angle of the link at ride height and the amount of travel.

This motion is usually quick enough so that the car never really goes loose from the momentary rear steer to the right. But, if the RR shock has a lot of compression and/or the RR spring is stiff and slows or restricts that movement, then the time where the car is steered right is prolonged and the car could start to go loose.

The only rear shock that should have a higher than normal compression is the LR and that is to provide better bite off the corner, but more on that later. So, think about these three conditions and sort out why you are loose-in by focusing on those areas.

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The post Solving Your Handling Problems: Corner Entry appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

We’re going to continue where we left off in our analysis of your handling woes.  If you missed it, we’ve already addressed the problem of an ill-handling machine entering the turn.  Now we’ll try to help you find your problem by focusing on the symptoms through the middle of the turn, keeping in mind that some handling problems have multiple sources.

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It’s important to remind you that before you undertake this analysis, you need to make sure your team has already completed the tasks of proper alignment of the rear end, checked and set the correct toe in the front wheels, checked and eliminated bump steer and checked and reduced the Ackermann to a minimum.

We’ll also assume that your team has evaluated their front geometry and re-designed it as necessary for a more efficient front end dynamic. If not, please go back and read our numerous articles on those subjects. If so, and any one of these were out of whack, then maybe those were some of the problem. If everything checked out, then let’s continue.

Tight or Loose Middle

If your problem is tight or loose through the entry and middle, then the fixes listed here could solve both entry and mid-turn handling. Chances are the problems we focused on for entry problems would not necessarily cause mid-turn handling problems. Here is what does and does not.

Some shock experts would like to think that they can correct any handling problem with changes to shock rates and that is just not true. The middle segment is what we call steady state where the car has settled in to the turn radius and there is very little, if any, movement of the shocks or springs.

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If there is no movement of the shocks, then there can be no influence by the shocks on the chassis dynamics that influence the load distribution. Of course, it is possible that extreme entry problems caused by shocks can linger and affect the mid-turn. Regardless, any residual influence that might be caused by turn entry problems should have been corrected by now because we solved the entry problem first.

The most obvious reasons for being tight or loose through the middle segment of the turn involves the basics of tight or loose, or so most crew chiefs think. In some cases, this is not all there is to it. There are two things at play, handling balance and dynamic, or chassis balance.

Handling balance is when the driver says I am pushing (tight) or free (loose). The team could conceivably make a simple adjustment to the cross weight percent to make the car temporarily neutral in handling. But that might not solve the underlying problem.

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If our setup is loose, meaning the front has more grip than the rear, it is true that we can make the car neutral by adding cross weight. But the loose problem might be that the front has more grip because it is more efficient due to the setup in the car, not as a result of weight distribution.

The tell-tale sign that the car is dynamically balanced and has the correct setup is when the tire temperatures are very close to even front to rear on each side. A dynamically balanced chassis shows near equal tire temperatures for the left side tires, and for the right side tires, front to rear, not side to side. This means that the loads on the tires are ideal.

If your tire temps are good and the car is still not neutral in handling, then you can go ahead and make changes to the weight distribution (cross weight or bite) to make the car neutral for handling balance.

There is a fixed cross weight that works for each car that is determined by a combination of the front to rear percent and the un-sprung weight values. Each car has a load transfer at the front and rear and a predetermined amount of load needs to be on each tire at static ride height in order for the tires to be correctly loaded at mid-turn.

The secret to proper setup is to balance the setup so that each end is in sync with the other end of the car and this makes the load transfer predictable. After all, it is the distribution of loads on the four tires through the turns that will determine how good the setup is and how well your car will perform.

So, how do we balance the setup? If the front is more efficient (has more grip), we need to help the rear suspension to gain grip. We can do that by lowering the rear moment center by lowering the panhard bar if so equipped. We can also reduce the RR spring rate, or stiffen the LR spring rate.

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If the rear has more grip than the front and the tire temperatures show a cooler LF tire than the LR tire, then we need to raise the rear moment center by raising the panhard bar. Or, we can soften the LR spring and/or stiffen the RR spring. Both of these changes will reduce the rear roll to more equally match the front roll.

In addition to those changes, we can also increase the rear spring base to reduce the rear roll by moving the springs out. This works for dirt cars where the top of the coil-overs, usually the RR, can be adjusted for width. On a dry slick track, the top mount would be moved in towards centerline for more roll and on tacky tracks it should be moved out to produce less roll.

After you find the balance, the car might not be neutral in handling at that point. This is when you can make changes to the weight distribution, cross weight or bite, to make the car neutral in handling.

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Sources:

AFCO Racing
www.afcoracing.com
800-632-2320

Allstar Performance
www.allstarperformance.com
269-463-8000

Coleman Racing
www.colemanracng.com
800-221-1851

Day Motorsports
www.daymotorsports.com
800-543-6238

Design Engineering Inc DEI
www.designengineering.com
800-264-9472

DMI / Bulldog Rear Ends
www.diversifiedracing.com
717-397-5347

DRP Performance Products
www.drpperformance.com
888-399-6074

Frankland Racing
www.franklandracing.com
888-873-2736

Hawk Brakes
www.hawkperformance.com
330-722-4295

Intercomp Racing
www.intercompracing.com
800-328-3336

Integra Shocks and Springs
www.integrashocksandsprings.com
800-472-3464

Longacre Racing Products
www.longacreracing.com
800-423-3110

Landrum Performance Springs
www.landrumspring.com
(574) 353-1674

Performance Friction Brakes
www.performancefriction.com
800-521-8874

QA1
www.qa1.net
800-721-7761

Quick Performance
www.quickperformance.com
515-232-0126

RE Suspension
704-664-2277
www.resuspension.com

Wilwood Motorsports
www.wilwood.com
805-388-1188

The post Solving Your Handling Problems: Mid Turn appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

We’ve covered the entry and mid-turn, now it’s time to see where problems can arise at the exit of the corner.  Keep in mind that some handling problems have multiple sources.

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Once again we’ll remind you that before you undertake this analysis, you need to make sure your team has already completed the tasks of proper alignment of the rear end, checked and set the correct toe in the front wheels, checked and eliminated bump steer and checked and reduced the Ackermann to a minimum.

We’ll also assume that your team has evaluated their front geometry and re-designed it as necessary for a more efficient front end dynamic. If not, please go back and read our numerous articles on those subjects. If so, and any one of these were out of whack, then maybe those were some of the problem. If everything checked out, then let’s continue.

Corner Exit Performance

If your car is good on entry, good through the middle, but loose or tight off the corner, then there are a few things that could be the problem. Let’s see what could be happening to hurt the car on exit.

Past mid-turn, we are beginning to accelerate. With that we have weight transfer from the front to the rear and naturally the front tires will lose grip while the rear tires will gain grip.

At the same time, as the car accelerates, the rear tires must provide sufficient grip to keep them from spinning from the torque of the engine pushing the car forward. So, some of the added grip we got from the load transfer is used up by the acceleration forces trying to spin the tires. This trade-off is not always net zero.

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Much of the grip loss from acceleration happens on the initial application of power. There are a few tricks we can utilize where we can gain rear grip on initial acceleration. One way is to add compression rate to the LR shock. That way, when the car squats on initial acceleration, the load will increase on the LR as well as the RF tires and add to the cross weight percent. The increase in cross weight will momentarily tighten the car while the shock is in motion, but goes away quickly when the rear of the car settles in.

A more prolonged approach would be to initiate rear steer to the left. We do that by adding a pull bar third link, for those systems that are setup for that, and stagger the height of the trailing arms so that the left arm is lower than the right arm. When the rear end rotates as the third link is pulled out, the left wheel goes back farther than the right wheel causing rear steer to the left to tighten the car up off the corner.

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If you have done all you can to provide extra rear grip on acceleration and you are still loose off, then the driver must modulate the throttle until he can go full throttle. It is easy to just stomp the throttle, but as the driver gains experience, they will learn how to modulate to keep from losing momentum off the corners.

For cars that are tight off the corners, there are several common causes. One is that the LF shock might have too much rebound setting for the spring, and/or bump you are using. In bump setups, the stiffer RR spring will resist the motion that would affect loading on the LF tire, but for more conventional setups, a stiff LF shock in rebound can seriously affect loading.

Many teams will try to run similar shocks, or stiff sway bars, to mimic the bump setups. Doing this causes the problems we have with being tight off the corner. Both the stiff rebound LF shock and a large sway bar will take load off the LF tire when we accelerate with the conventional setups. Remember, there is nothing wrong with chassis roll. Trying to eliminate it will ruin your setup.

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Conclusion

Setups have been changing over the past five years for both dirt and asphalt race cars. With those changes come new problems, mostly created when we changed things around.

A big part of the attraction to racing is the development of the art of setup. And believe me it is an art. Some catch on easily and for some it takes more time. The better we understand what is happening to our car through the three turn segments, the quicker we can find a solution to any problems we might have.

Remember to solve all of your alignment and geometry problems first before you get into working with the setup. Problems with any of those items could be most of your problem and if left unsolved will always haunt you.

Sources:

AFCO Racing
www.afcoracing.com
800-632-2320

Allstar Performance
www.allstarperformance.com
269-463-8000

Coleman Racing
www.colemanracng.com
800-221-1851

Day Motorsports
www.daymotorsports.com
800-543-6238

Design Engineering Inc DEI
www.designengineering.com
800-264-9472

DMI / Bulldog Rear Ends
www.diversifiedracing.com
717-397-5347

DRP Performance Products
www.drpperformance.com
888-399-6074

Frankland Racing
www.franklandracing.com
888-873-2736

Hawk Brakes
www.hawkperformance.com
330-722-4295

Intercomp Racing
www.intercompracing.com
800-328-3336

Integra Shocks and Springs
www.integrashocksandsprings.com
800-472-3464

Longacre Racing Products
www.longacreracing.com
800-423-3110

Landrum Performance Springs
www.landrumspring.com
(574) 353-1674

Performance Friction Brakes
www.performancefriction.com
800-521-8874

QA1
www.qa1.net
800-721-7761

Quick Performance
www.quickperformance.com
515-232-0126

RE Suspension
704-664-2277
www.resuspension.com

Wilwood Motorsports
www.wilwood.com
805-388-1188

The post Solving Your Handling Problems: Corner Exit appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Racing Like Golf?

In golf, especially professional golf, players are expected, and most of the time do, call their own penalties. I’m sure in amateur golf that doesn’t happen nearly as often. We’ve all seen Caddy Shack the movie, right. “That doesn’t count, I was interfered with…”, said Ted Knight. Anyway, it’s called the honor system.

What if in racing, drivers called their own penalties for an incident? Ty Majeski is one of the most recent examples when he “tapped out” for an incident where he made contact with his competitor and rather than having both drivers sent to the rear, he opted to take the blame. That was the honorable thing to do.

One could say this is not to be unduly praised as it is the right thing to do, but it might be considered rare in the sport of racing. It seems that everyone sees what happened as someone else’s fault, most of the time.

I think deep down, everyone knows who played a larger part in most incidences. And sometimes it’s just a racing thing where someone gets in too deep thinking the other driver’s spotter will surely tell them, “inside, inside…”. But maybe not.

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It would be nice if there were more of the golf mentality in racing. I know personally I get annoyed when I see over-aggressive drivers take out other drivers and then try to pass off the blame. And the boos from the grand stands tells how the fans feel.

What if they did take the blame? I honestly believe that not only would their fellow racers respect them more and give more room on the track in certain situations, the fans would appreciate the gesture and root them on more aggressively. Hey, we could all use a little racing love, right?

The more mature drivers could set an example for the younger, up and coming, drivers. Then the sport would grow to be more racer and fan friendly. I really think both the racers and the fans come to the race track to see good hard racing and not overly aggressive tactics and fighting. You can tune in to MMA or go watch a hockey fight that turns into a game at some point if that is what you are into.

I wished more racers would take the high road like Ty and just tap out when they need to. He gained a lot of respect when he did that and you would too. And here is another thought.

What if the driver really doesn’t have a good idea about what happened? Many times they need to look at replays on Youtube to really understand the situation. So, if the spotter, or other team member, or even the officials, were to talk to the offending driver and tell them hey, you were the guy, it would help them make the decision to tap out.

Nobody wants to be “the guy”, but sometimes in life we just are. Suck it up and admit when you are wrong and get on with life. Resistance to admitting doing someone wrong hangs in the air much longer than admitting that we have made a mistake, trust me on that.

It takes guts and maturity to “man” up and do what is right. Do you think of yourself as tough? Then show it. It takes a very mature person to admit being wrong, so how mature and tough are you, really? Think about it.

If you have comments or questions about this or anything racing related, send them to my email address: chassisrd@aol.com or mail can be sent to Circle Track, Senior Tech Editor, 1733 Alton Parkway, Suite 100, Irvine, CA.

Becoming A Setup Guy

Hello,

I’ve been helping a team with their racecar for a couple seasons now and I have reached the point where I want to become more involved with the actual setup of the car and become more help to the team. I love reading the chassis tech articles, but want to study and learn more.

Do you have any helpful resources or ideas that I can pick up and speed the learning process up. And I know that there isn’t magical formulas out there and I know every car, track, and driver is different.

Eric Wise

What I did when I first started wanting to be the setup guy was study all of the books and magazine articles I could find. When I finally thought I knew enough, I asked to do the setup for the next race.

It was impossible to talk the crew into doing that, we were leading the tight points race at the time and it was late season. I talked the owner into convincing the team I could do it. Then when I changed the setup, it was horrible. What I thought I knew was all wrong.

Then we didn’t have the resources we have now. There is much better information out there from not only Circle Track, but the companies that specialize in offering the equipment teams use to setup the cars as well as the actual car builders.

Back in the day some twenty years ago, the builders often learned new technology from the teams who raced their cars and then that technology eventually found its way into the new designs of race cars. It is still that way today, but the builders are much more eager to learn than they were back then.

For you in your situation, show the team you have studied the current trends and try to learn how they are developing their setups. Make small inroads into helping with your team’s setup. Little gains and victories can add up to them having much more confidence in your abilities.

When you have learned enough and shown you have knowledge, the day will come when you will be trusted to make the setup decisions. For most teams, those decisions are usually made by a group of two or three, but being in with that group and being able to make a difference is its own reward.

Track Safety Comments

Dear Mr. Bolles,

I have read with interest your story and the follow up comments with regards to Track Safety, or lack there of. The incident at Toledo Speedway was not only disappointing for someone who is involved with a safety team but embarrassing as well.

I am a key member of a Safety Team here in Canada called the Canadian Motorsports Response Team. We are a volunteer team comprised of Doctors, Nurses, Certified Paramedics and Fire Fighters. We currently provide fire, rescue and medical services for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Canada, the Grand Prix of Trois Rivieres, the World Rally Cross Championship in Trois Rivieres as well as coverage for Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta and, this year we became the travelling Safety Team for the APC United Late Model Series here in Ontario.

Our training is done all year round with our dedicated group with the aid of our Formula 1 tub, our various racing seats and our three stock cars. One has been converted to a “cut” chassis, one is a live fire trainer and the third is a rolling chassis for practicing driver removal without cutting as well familiarization. We are also Holmatro Motorsports Instructors and Certified ANSUL Motorsports Distributors and Instructors.

When we arrive at any given track for an event our staff wears all the appropriate PPE, our trucks are equipped with a full array of fire suppression equipment (portable fire extinguishers, 65 gallon foam unit), extrication equipment including hydraulic tools, air tools and cordless tools and, advanced life support medical equipment.

Some may see this as overkill, however 99.9% of tracks here in Canada have NO properly equipped or trained Safety Teams! A pick up with a couple of fire extinguishers and a first aid service for medical is about you get here. If drivers express concerns the response is “well, you don’t have to race here”!

Recently, a driver lost his life at a dirt track in Quebec. His car was hit in the roof area by another car and it was a 20 minute wait for the local Fire Department to arrive to cut the driver out. The lack of even basic training is upsetting!

In 2015, key members of our organization who are members of the International Council of Motorsport Sciences (theICMS.org) began hosting a Race Track Safety Program (RaceTrackSafety.net) at the PRI Show in December. We host didactic sessions with topics ranging from proper PPE to responding onto a track safely and choosing the proper fire suppression equipment.

Following these sessions we then do hands-on presentations of helmet and frontal head restraint (HANS etc.) removal, immobilization techniques, extraction and extrication techniques, use of hydraulic tools with presentations by Holmatro and AMKUS, the use of cordless tools and fire fighting techniques with the aid of digital fire trainers .

These hands-on sessions are aided by open wheel props, a stock car chassis, a sprint car chassis and a funny car. When everyone has gone through these stations we end the program with live demonstrations by the Holmatro Safety Team who have been great supporters of getting training to the “grass roots” tracks and our own Canadian Motorsports Response Team. The program has been a great success with Doctors and Nurses as well as Safety Team members attending with very positive feedback and we continue to improve and add to both the didactic and hands-on portions.

I just want to get the word out that there are teams out there that care and that training for those who are interested is available. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely, Blaine Bates, Canadian Motorsports Response Team

This wonderful information and I urge any track safety crew members who are planning on going to PRI to try to attend the sessions given by Blaine and his group. This may be the only chance you get to become better informed about what you do. If you’re were not planning on going to PRI, then maybe you should.

Setup Art Comments

Hello Bob,

I just enjoyed your article on “Painting suspension set ups”.  This was quite interesting to me, being a life-long painter and car enthusiast.  I do like original and exotic suspension systems. My current project isn’t original, but it thrills me.  After restoring all the muscle cars over all the years, this is my first resto-rod/street rod.

You seem to be quite a talent. Try to find how deep it runs in you. Like you said, some are lucky and the well never runs dry. We will improve until we die at the easel.

Bill Ewing

I really think the artist in racing will never truly feel that they are complete in their knowledge. That is what drives us, and like you said, thrills us. It is the constant challenge and no matter how good you get at your art, there is always another challenge just around the corner.

Fuel Burn Off Thoughts

Bob,

I just finished reading your article on Fuel Burn Off Trade-Off in the March 2017 issue. Interesting. All things being equal, I thought the car would get tight due to having too much cross weight for the reduction in rear weight as the fuel burns off. I reviewed your prior articles about cross weight and how cross weight needs to increase as the rear weight % goes up.

If I was scaling a car with half a fuel load vs. a full load using the Chassis R&D software I would reduce the cross weight. Can you tell me why during a race, the car should stay balanced?

Art Salve, Tolland CT

I think that is what I was trying to demonstrate in the article. That has been the question, why does the handling not change with fuel burn off? Let me give you some food for thought. One thing that might answer your question is this, remember that the front tires have a variable grip generator, and that is steering.

When we steer the car more, we gain grip in the front from the greater angle of attack the added steering gave us. When the car is neutral in handling and neutral in balance, the steering is reduced compared to if the car were tight in handling or balance. So, we have room to gain grip by steering a little more.

If the cross weight does not change, but the front to rear percent changes, then what the car needs for cross weight does change on a sample car by 1.8 percent of cross. We go from 52.3 to 49.9 percent of cross the car needs, except that the installed cross weight does not change seemingly making the car tight. But that’s not all.

If we can steer against that almost two percent of cross plus from what we need, then we can still be neutral in handling with just a bit of a tight car. But, as we all know, there are a lot of things going on in the car besides just fuel burn off. Here is something else to think about.

What is also happening as the race progresses is the rear tires are getting hammered and many cars want to go loose in the later laps of a long race. If during fuel burn off the installed cross weight begins to be higher than what the car wants, then there might be a compensating factor here that tightens the car. The combination of, and offsetting factor of, the two keeps the car more neutral and neutralizes the loss of grip in the rear tires. It’s complicated.

The post What If Drivers Called Their Own Penalties? appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Tips on Race-Car Brake Maintenance

One of the hardest working group of parts on our race car are the brakes. At season’s end, as part of our teardown, we need to schedule a time for concentrating totally on the brake system. Here are a few hints and suggestions for overhauling the brakes on your race car.

Ideally, we would want to address the brake system while the engine is out for re-build, the body is off the car, and the seat is out as well. We need room to properly access and address any problems with the brake system as a whole.

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Here is a list of things you need to do to overhaul your brakes. Obviously, if you have rebuilt your calipers or master cylinders just a month ago, then leave that part out of this. But we will assume that nothing has been done since the start of the season, some 20 or more races ago.

Calipers

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We will start at the wheel and work our way in to the brake pedal. The first item on the list is the calipers. We will remove them from the spindles and rear end, and disassemble them completely.

We would then clean them in a solvent, not worrying about the seals, as we will be replacing them. Once they are scrubbed clean, we blow them out and dry them. This includes cleaning the pistons and piston grooves.

The bores as well as the piston sides should be smooth without any grooves or scratches. Check for any signs of cracking in the caliper body, too. Now, we can install new O-ring seals.

Rotors

Remove the rotors and clean and inspect the face of the rotor. A used rotor should show small heat cracks that don’t go very deep into the material. This is normal according to the experts.

If you see cracks that appear longer and deeper, then you need to replace that rotor. A better way is to replace both rotors on the same axle, or end of the car. That way, whatever grip properties the rotors have will be equal. One used mated with one new might not provide equal gripping and cause problems.

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Rotor wear must be examined, too. If the calipers are flexing, you will see more wear towards the outer edge of the rotor than say and inch in from the edge. We have seen this on some of our project cars.

If you have uneven wear, a stronger caliper might be a good investment. The flexing will reduce the braking force until the rotor has worn sufficiently to cause full contact of the pads, which might take a long time indeed.

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Brake Lines

Once we have addressed the calipers and rotors, we need to inspect the brake lines, starting with the flexible line going to the front calipers. These usually consist of a braided-steel outer layer with a flexible rubber, or other material, inner core. It is the inner core that can fatigue and leak. It is best to always replace the flexible lines when you are doing a brake maintenance.

Now, you can inspect all of the hard brake lines all of the way from the front and back brake calipers to the master cylinders. Look for any sharp bends or flattened parts along the way that might have been caused by something coming in contact with the lines.

If the lines have been in the car for several years, now might be a good time to completely replace those lines. These are usually made of steel and will rust inside if moisture has contaminated the brake fluid.

When installing the brake lines, use insulated clamps to attach them to the frame and make your bends a couple of inches in radius if possible. And run the lines along the frame and in places where the possibility of contact with anything is less. You might have to re-plan your brake line routing from where it was originally. And that’s OK, just have it make sense for endurance purposes.

Master Cylinders

Now that we have made our way to the master cylinders, we need to remove those along with the brake pedal assembly. With them out of the car, we can clean, inspect, and possibly repaint the foot box—inside and out.

Dirt and water collect inside the foot box, and I have seen a mess in there once the light of day shines on it after the seats and steering has been removed. It is a place we seldom inspect during the season.

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As with the calipers, we need to fully disassemble the master cylinders and clean them. You can purchase re-build kits for the masters, and then you’ll know they will be reliable for some time to come.

Before you reinstall the master cylinders, inspect and clean the pedal assembly. Look for worn bearings, broken flanges, and similar signs. If anything looks off, see if it can be fixed or if it needs to be replaced. Hard hits into the wall while hard on the brakes puts a lot of force on the brake pedals and can lead to breakage.

Brake System Reevaluation

We’ve got everything ready to reinstall, but wait. Think over the past season, and try to determine if you need to make any changes to the system that would make it better.

Simple things like brake bias can now be addressed more easily. Look at the bias balance bar that is a part of the pedal assembly, if you have one. It should be nearly centered. If not, you have work to do.

If the bias is towards the front, then the front brakes need to work harder. You can install a set of pads that have more grip than what you were using. If you think your pads are correct for your application, then other changes are in order.

To increase the braking force at the front, you can reduce the size of the front master cylinder. If you have been running a 1-inch bore cylinder, then you might go to a 7/8-inch bore. The smaller the bore, the more force you can generate from the same pedal pressure.

You can also reduce the braking force at the rear to achieve a more balanced brake system. We would then need to increase the rear master cylinder bore size. If you were running a 1.0-inch bore, you might go to a 1 1/8-inch bore.

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The current range for most brake master cylinder companies is: 5/8-, 3/4-, 13/16-, 7/8-, 15/16-, 1-, and 1 1/8-inch bore sizes. Generally speaking, the smaller the bore size, the more force you can generate with less foot pedal pressure. But, there is a tradeoff. The smaller bore master cylinder will move farther to push the same volume of fluid through the lines.

So, if it takes 40cc of fluid to compress the calipers enough to stop the car, then we need to take into account how far is too far for the pedal movement. A smaller bore takes less foot pressure, but moves farther to do the same work.

As to the rotors, if your used rotors are cracked and heat damaged, you need to think about installing wider and more robust rotors. Or, the problem could be improper cooling. Evaluate how you cool your brakes. Do you route the air to the center of the rotor like you should? Are you using brake fans that mount inside the wheel?

Again, now is the time to do a complete evaluation of the entire system and make changes where needed. The last step in this process, once everything has been re-installed, is to fill the system with high-quality racing brake fluid.

Minimize the exposure of the fluid to the air. It will soak up moisture from the ambient air, and this contaminates the fluid. Moisture will turn to steam in a heated caliper and cause braking problems.

Follow acceptable brake-bleeding procedures and use the bleed bottles sold everywhere. They make bleeding the brakes easier with less spillage and waste. When you finally get to the track for the new season, be sure to bed your brake pads again in accordance with the brake manufacturer’s suggestions.

Sources:

Coleman Racing
(800) 221-1851
www.colemanracing.com

Hawk Brakes
(330) 722-4295
www.hawkperformance.com

Performance Friction Brakes (PFC Brakes)
(800) 521-8874
www.performancefriction.com

Wilwood Motorsports
(805) 388-1188
www.wilwood.com

The post Tuning up Your Brakes appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Shock maintenance is about problem prevention as much as it is about servicing. Yes, we need to service our shocks on a regular basis, but if the shock is asked to do more than it is capable of, or used in a way that is not consistent with its design, then the problems will come sooner.

So, we will give you suggestions for the prevention of shock problems and tips on maintaining and re-building your shocks. Unlike other components on your race car, shocks can perform multiple functions. Once we understand those functions and how we can help the shock do its job in a more efficient way, we will have less failures.

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Differences in Shocks – The two main types of shocks in use today are the twin tube and gas pressure, or mono-tube, shocks. For both of these designs, the main things to worry about are the wear and failure of the seals, and the breakdown of the oil.

The maintenance for both types of shocks are very similar. If possible, gas shocks should be checked for pressure on a regular basis whereas the twin tube shock cannot be checked internally as easily.

Since a majority of racers in all divisions use mono-tube shocks, we will continue our discussion using those types in all of our examples. One of the primary reasons we do this other than the numbers of users is because twin tube shocks are not easily serviceable by the end user.

Maintenance Schedule – Shocks should be inspected visually on an event basis for obvious problems such as leaks, dents, binds, etc.  Gas shocks should be monitored for pressure prior to race day.  All shocks should be thoroughly checked after crashes, after running on extremely rough racetracks, or if the race car went airborne at any wheel.

After every race, the shock bearings should be cleaned, checked for binds, and then sprayed with penetrating fluid to keep them free from binding. Shock shafts should be spun to check for bends, and visually inspected for imperfections or “pits” that may cause seal damage or oil leaks.

Change the oil and freshening the shocks every 20 to 25 races in a normal season depending on the conditions and environment the shocks are exposed to. If you run on tracks where higher shaft speeds and temperatures are generated, you should probably change the oil and check the shock more frequently.

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How To Check Your Shocks – The best way to check how your shocks are working is to have the shocks checked on a quality dyno by a competent technician. Users can make basic checks for bent shafts by completely extending a shock then compressing it while twisting the shaft back and forth all the time checking for tight spots.

If you don’t have access to a dyno, the best way to check your shocks is to stroke them by fully extending the shaft, put it on the floor, and give it a good push down. With the shock fully extended, there shouldn’t be any side play in the shaft. If there is, you probably have seal or bearing failure.

While you are stroking the shock, turn the shaft to check for bends. For shocks with high rebound settings, you’ll need to open up the bleed all the way to allow movement of the shock shaft.

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The Causes Of Shock Failure – Anytime a shock is bottomed or topped out it can cause premature shock failure. One of the biggest issues with today’s dirt Modifieds or dirt Late Models is the extreme indexing of the birdcages.

If your shock is attached to this birdcage it could travel the end bearings past their full rotational range and bind the shock. The bind will cause a side load to the piston rod and will prematurely wear the O-ring and bushing in the closure nut and ultimately cause the shock to leak.

Even with shocks mounted to a clamp on the rear end, or front shocks mounted to the front hoop, there is a chance the housing will bind against the mount. This not only damages the shock, it can cause serious handling problems that are very hard to find.

The use of shock travel indicators helps us know how far the shock is moving and we can cycle the suspension through that range of motion at both the front and rear of the car. Then we can observe the shock mounts to see if there is any binding taking place.

Mounting The Shock – For each type of racing, there is a preferred mounting height for the shocks which dictates the piston position within the shock tube. This position is decided in relation to the amount and direction of travel each shock will experience.

For most applications, the rule of thumb used to be that 60% of the travel was allowed for the compression stroke. Ideally the piston should operate as deeply in the shock body as possible. This arrangement provides the most stability for the shaft and piston assembly and enhances seal, bushing and shaft life.

In any event, the shock cannot be allowed to bottom out or top out. This damages the parts inside the shock and can lead to shock failure. In today’s racing, there are many different setups that cause the shocks to move very differently than what we used to see ten years ago.

Dirt Late Models and Modifieds can extend the shocks fully at the left rear and pavement late models can compress the front shocks a considerable amount. The position of the shock at ride height should be set with full consideration of the way the shock will travel on the race track.

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Clik here to view.The shock mounts must be observed not only at ride height, but at full suspension travel to make sure there is no binding. The shock body can come in contact with the mount, or the mono-ball rod end could run out of rotational travel. Either way, the suspension will bind up and cause handling problems in addition to damaging the shock.

Re-Building The Shock – The actual re-build of the shock is a fairly simple and straightforward process. Again, we are talking about a mono-tube, gas pressure shock. If you are doing this yourself, first you need to obtain the parts that will be needing replacement. Those are the shaft seals, the piston seals, and new Schrader valves.

Bleed all of the pressure off of the shock body by removing the core from the schrader valve. This will be replaced anyway. Then with the shock in a shock vise with the shaft pointed up (you do have a shock vise, don’t you?), place the overflow ring on the shock body (you do have an overflow ring, right?) and remove the end cap.

Now you can remove the shock shaft and piston. Pour the oil in a container to be discarded appropriately. We will use new oil. Now we must remove the divider piston. Disassemble the pistons and the shock body and replace all of the O-rings, seals and piston bands. Again, check the rod guide for wear and replace if necessary. You’ll need a tool to get this out and we will replace the seal.

Before we reassemble the shock, think out how the shock performed last season. You have everything disassembled and out on the table so to speak. A valving change is a simple thing to do at this point. Hopefully you have a shock graph generated  by a shock dyno so you can see the resistance at different shock shaft speeds.

If, during the season, you changed your setup to using new spring rates either softer (front springs) or stiffer (right rear spring or when using bumps) to better balance your setup, then you might need to make changes to your shocks so they can work better with the new spring rate.

The smartest thing most racers can do is send the shocks back to the manufacturer or a designated maintenance facility to do the re-build. Then they can run the shock on a dyno and send you a report that will show the exact rates.  Then you can decide on any changes that might be necessary with the advice of the professional.

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The post Maintaining Your Shocks appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

To Do List For End Of Season Maintenance

At the end of a hard year of racing, our race cars are ready for a good looking over. It needs a hard cleaning and some much needed repair work that we might not have even been aware of. This is the time, now that we actually have the time, to tear the car down, remove all of the mechanical systems and do a thorough cleaning and inspection.

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Our subject car used for photos is the 119 Coleman car which Dalton Zehr drove while still living in Florida. This was well before his move to the UP, or Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The “working on the car” part of racing is as much fun for many teams as the actual racing. It represents most of the time spent in your racing effort for sure. So, once the season has ended, it can be a lot of fun to go over the car and make sure it is put in perfect condition to start the new season. If done right, you can end up with an As-new car.

It is best to go through the car in a systematic way, overlooking nothing mechanical that might need attention from the replacement of worn parts to the repair of damage from hard racing. We’ll start with the front and work our way to the rear.

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Preparing the Car For Inspection – The very first step in this process is to remove the engine and transmission, radiator, exhaust system, fuel tank, and any body parts that will be scrapped. Once all of those are out of the way, we can proceed to clean the car.

I suggest using a portable power washer to remove all of the dirt and oils on the frame and body parts. You can choose a site outside the garage where you won’t make too much of a mess. Spray around all of the tubing on the chassis, up under the car where we have run over someone else’s oil, and try to get to all of the tire rubber pieces that have accumulated during the season.

One of the primary reasons we do this thorough cleaning is not only for appearance purposes, but so we can inspect the welds and other joints on the frame and roll cage for any fatigue or cracks. Broken welds, cracked frame members and broken shock mounts account for many on-track failures and this is a great opportunity to find those flaws.

Front Suspension – We need to remove all of the control arms, steering assembly, spindles, etc. if we haven’t done that before the cleaning. Lay the parts out on the garage floor and carefully inspect each one for any signs of cracking, bending or breaks at the welded seams.

Remove all of the heim joints, ball joints, steering box or rack, and idler arm assemblies (on a drag link system), and test for excess play and wear. Replace all of the joints that are worn.  Check the steering box or rack for excess play and worn seals. It might be a good time to overhaul the steering or send it back to the manufacturer for a re-build.

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Inspect the engine mounts, front hoop tubing, upper control arm mounts, and any areas where fatigue might have caused cracking or breaking of the metal.  Once all of the inspection has been done and all repairs have been made, it might be a good idea to paint the front clip. If you plan on doing a complete repaint of the cars frame, do the rest of the inspection first.

Shock Mounts – While the front of the car is apart, do a close inspection of the shock mounts both on the upper mounts as well as the lower control arm. This is one area of high stress that needs to be looked after. If you see signs of cracking or breaking, rethink how the shock is mounted and do some re-engineering to better support the shock to reduce fatigue.

Some typical problems stem from the upper mount flexing on the tubing that it is attached to. Every stock car that uses coil-over shocks should have a cross brace that attaches to the upper shock mount, or as close as possible to it.  This brace reduces the flexing and rotational twisting of the tubing that the shock is mounted to.

Even with stock spring designs, the shock is still working hard, especially with bump setups, and it is attached to the upper hoop bars. Use the same procedure as coil over shocks when mounting them on stock clip cars.

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Lower Control Arms – The ball joint sockets and the inner mount portions of the lower control arms (or struts) are the most stressed areas of this part, aside from the shock mount. We need to pay attention to the overall condition of the arm and look for fatigue and cracking around the mounting areas.

Check the arm for straightness as well as fatigue areas. If the car has been in contact with other cars or the wall and the arms have not been replaced, then there might be hidden damage and now would be a great time to order a new one.

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Engine Mounts – This is another area where there might be hidden damage.  Any sudden stops that might not have otherwise cause obvious damage might have bent or cracked the engine mounts.  The motor is the heaviest piece that is bolted onto the car and the mounts are mostly engineered to reduce rotational movement, not fore and aft movement.

Front and rear end hits can cause damage to the motor mounts.  We cannot do a good inspection of these mounts with the motor in the car, so now is the time to carefully inspect them.

If you have had to space the motor up a significant distance to avoid having the oil pan scrape or to meet the rules, now might be a good time to raise the actual mounts so there is less spacing needed. The engine will be much more secure and resist fore and aft movement by using less spacers.

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Sources:

Allstar Performance
www.allstarperformance.com
269-463-8000

AR Bodies
www.arbodies.com
615-643-8827

Capital Motorsports Warehouse
www.cmwraceparts.com
800-278-2692

Coleman Racing
www.colemanracng.com
800-221-1851

DMI / Bulldog Rear Ends
www.diversifiedracing.com
717-397-5347

Five Star Bodies
www.fivestarbodies.com
262-877-2171

Frankland Racing
www.franklandracing.com
888-873-2736

G-Force Racing Gear
www.gforce.com

Hans Performance Products
www.hansdevice.com
888-654-7223

Hawk Brakes
www.hawkperformance.com
330-722-4295

Moser Engineering
www.moserengineering.com
260-726-6689

Performance Friction Brakes – PFC Brakes
www.performancefriction.com
800-521-8874

Port City Race Cars
231-767-8586
www.portcityracecars.com

QA1
www.qa1.net
800-721-7761

Quick Performance
www.quickperformance.com
515-232-0126

RaceQuip
www.racequip.com
813-642-6644

Race Day Safety
www.racedaysafety.com
770-505-0193

Rod End Supply
www.rodendsupply.com
800-284-2902

Simpson Racing
www.simpsonraceproducts.com
800-654-7223

Superior Fuel Cells
www.superiorfuelcells.com
541-895-4224

The Joie of Seating
www.lajoieracing.com
704-795-7474

Turn One Steering
www.turnone-steering.com
989-759-4206

Wilwood Motorsports
www.wilwood.com
805-388-1188

Winters Performance
www.wintersperformance.com
717-764-9844

The post End of Season Maintenance Tips for your Race Car (Part One) appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

In Part One of this maintenance to-do list, we went through which chassis components you should check and what you should keep in mind when inspecting them.  This installment of our End of Season Maintenance guide goes through some other very key components including safety.

Drive Shaft – If the drive shaft is not damaged, then just remove and replace the U-joints at this time. These parts are subject to high stress and are way too cheap to take a chance on failure.

Inspect the yokes and transmission tail shaft to make sure everything it all right. And check and replace the seal at the rear of the transmission while you’re at it.

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Seats, Belts, Window Net – For safety purposes, we need to look over the seat belts and seats. For all of the reasons previously given, stress from hard racing might have done damage to your seat belt system.

Inspect your head and neck restraint system and your helmet.  Helmets are designed to sustain damaged at the front from the head moving forward in a hard impact. When this happens, you must send the helmet back to the manufacturer for replacement of the liner.

Don’t forget to recheck that fire suppression system to see if it will work properly when needed.  The fire bottle is rarely needed, but when it is, things get real urgent in a hurry.

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Wiring and Switches – To insure your car doesn’t stop running at the wrong moment, all wiring and switches must be fresh and free of corrosion.  The vibrations that go on during a race can cause the wire connections to break or come loose.  Wiring is fairly simple stuff and it would make good sense to have someone rewire the entire car during the off season.

Recheck the grommets where the wires pass through the firewall or other panels. Cycle the switches and note if they feel tight or corroded.  Replace the ones that are suspect. Many races have been lost due to the failure of a cheap switch or connector.

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Crush Panels and Overall Cockpit Sealing – The driver’s compartment should be isolated from the engine heat, the exhaust fumes and from fire should the engine or fuel cell catch fire.  The panels that mate to the fenders, floor and rear deck are supposed to be sealed so that the driver is isolated.

Recheck these seams and reseal if necessary. Replace bent or otherwise damages panels.  Now would be the time to add heat barrier material to the panels to reduce heat transfer from the exhaust passing through to the driver.

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Rear End – The rear end should be removed, and all mounts cleaned and inspected.  Replace all grease seals, axle bearings, and pinion bearings where necessary. Check the axle tubes for damage and to see if they are straight.

Shock brackets and trailing arm brackets need to be inspected for damage or wear. All heims should be looked at and replaced if worn excessively. Don’t forget to look at the third link, or lift arm too.

Look over the panhard bar mounting brackets to see if they are bent or cracked. These mounts take a beating, especially when small hits are experienced during a race. Not much attention is paid to these after the race, but we can all remember incidental contact that was made that might have caused some damage.

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Fuel Cell – After removing the fuel cell, inspect the container for rust or damage that might compromise the cell itself.  The fill tube assembly should be removed from the cell and the foam removed. Clean the inside of the cell and get all of the dirt or other foreign material out.

The foam should be replaced. The fuel pickup should be inspected and cleaned.  If you have a fuel pump that pushes fuel to the engine, as some cars do, inspect the wiring and general condition of the pump.

Fuel cells have a defined life span. Some newer fuels have been known to eat at the seams under certain conditions. Inspect your cell to make sure this is not a problem.

Roll Cage – If the body has been removed, the roll cage can be easily inspected. Look closely at all of the welds. If the car is older, you might try to inspect the inside of the tubing to look for corrosion that would weaken them.

If the car is unfamiliar to you, checking the wall thickness of the tubing would be a wise idea.  Some racers get carried away with weight issues and might circumvent rules that require a minimum wall thickness for roll bar material. If you find weak or thin tubing for whatever reason, replace it.

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Body Mounts and “Glass” – The overall condition of the cars body can be evaluated during this process. Any panels, fenders, rivets, or body mounts that might have been damaged throughout the year can now be replaced.

Most racers who race hard will have some damage to the body parts.  If the parts are fiberglass, they will be weaker as a result. New parts offer more resistance to being “leaned on” in the coming season.  Also, loose body parts can ruin your aerodynamic advantage.

If you decide to replace your whole body or parts thereof, take advantage of newer designs of nose pieces, fenders or hoods. When replacing any of these parts, check to see if a more aerodynamic piece has been developed. Don’t settle for last year’s design.

Conclusion – The key points to remember are that we need to find any structural or mechanical problems with the chassis or components that are bolted onto the chassis. We need to correct any driver safety related problems that involve wear or age of the seat belts, restraints, fire suppression system, helmet or seat. And we need to make sure the drivers compartment is sealed properly against heat, carbon dioxide or fire intrusion.

After each season, we need to thoroughly go over our race car during the winter months so that when we hit the track again in the spring, it will be just like a new car.  You can avoid failures that might have dire consequences if you do this job the right way. And anyway, getting there is more than half the fun.

Sources:

Allstar Performance
www.allstarperformance.com
269-463-8000

AR Bodies
www.arbodies.com
615-643-8827

Capital Motorsports Warehouse
www.cmwraceparts.com
800-278-2692

Coleman Racing
www.colemanracng.com
800-221-1851

DMI / Bulldog Rear Ends
www.diversifiedracing.com
717-397-5347

Five Star Bodies
www.fivestarbodies.com
262-877-2171

Frankland Racing
www.franklandracing.com
888-873-2736

G-Force Racing Gear
www.gforce.com

Hans Performance Products
www.hansdevice.com
888-654-7223

Hawk Brakes
www.hawkperformance.com
330-722-4295

Moser Engineering
www.moserengineering.com
260-726-6689

Performance Friction Brakes – PFC Brakes
www.performancefriction.com
800-521-8874

Port City Race Cars
231-767-8586
www.portcityracecars.com

QA1
www.qa1.net
800-721-7761

Quick Performance
www.quickperformance.com
515-232-0126

RaceQuip
www.racequip.com
813-642-6644

Race Day Safety
www.racedaysafety.com
770-505-0193

Rod End Supply
www.rodendsupply.com
800-284-2902

Simpson Racing
www.simpsonraceproducts.com
800-654-7223

Superior Fuel Cells
www.superiorfuelcells.com
541-895-4224

The Joie of Seating
www.lajoieracing.com
704-795-7474

Turn One Steering
www.turnone-steering.com
989-759-4206

Wilwood Motorsports
www.wilwood.com
805-388-1188

Winters Performance
www.wintersperformance.com
717-764-9844

The post End of Season Maintenance Tips for your Race Car (Part Two) appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Here is a thought. What if you did your own teardown of your motor prior to sending it off to your favorite engine builder to freshen up for next season? A part of the fee most engine builders charge is the teardown. That takes time and we all know time is money. So, you get to know your engine better while saving money, a plus, plus situation.

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In this installment, we will present a list of tips on how to analyze parts and pieces of your engine when you do your post season teardown. This information is for any race team who either builds/re-builds their own motors, or any team who wants to know more about their engine and how it is performing, but will have a professional engine builder freshen the motor.

The intent is not to present a “how to” tear down a motor, but rather to show you things to look for that could be cause for alarm. Then you can evaluate the parts you use in the motor and see how well they work along with the other parts.

The more educated you are about your race motor, the better you can communicate with your supplier should you go it alone on the re-build, or with your professional if you will have them re-build it.

He will appreciate that you went inside the motor and were able to provide information on the conditions you found in your teardown. Then you can both better plan out how the engine will be built and which parts will best serve your purpose. So, let’s get started.

Before You Disassemble – After you have removed the motor from the car, look it over to see if there are any obvious leaks. These may be from a gasket that has aged and has hardened, or a freeze plug that leaks.

What would raise a flag would be leaks occurring where there are no gaskets or joints. Cracks in the block may signal that you need to purchase a new block for your re-build. If the leaks are around seals such as the intake surface where it joins the block, re-think how you seal those surfaces.

Remove and Cut Oil Filter – One of the most important things to do early, and something all good engine builders do instinctively is remove and cut open the oil filter. Look inside for signs of trouble in the motor. If you are running an aluminum block, you will see tiny bits of aluminum and this is no cause for alarm.

But, if you see bits of copper or magnetic metals, there is a problem that you will need to find and correct for your next build. This is so important that we don’t want you to forget this process in your haste to disassemble the motor. Go ahead and drain the motor oil if you have a wet sump motor.

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Distributor – Next, we remove the distributor and note its condition. The main focus is on the gear that interfaces with the cam. This gear must not be worn and the wear pattern should be centered on the gear. If the pattern is high or low, you need to adjust the distributor stop height to compensate so that the gear works with the cam at the middle of the gear face.

Look over your plug wires and test them. You could have one or more wires that are restricting the flow of energy to your plugs. Look at your plugs at this point in time and observe the heat penetration and color.

Check the cap too to note any arcing or cracks. Look at the ignition wires and note their condition. A worn or frayed wire, or loose end caps can cause a DNF next season.

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Remove Intake Manifold – Once the carburetor is removed, remove the intake manifold and look at the puddles of oil laying in the lifter tray. Here is another place where we might find signs of problems in the form of metal bits, just like we described for the oil filter.

Note how well the intake gaskets lined up with the intake ports on the heads. Now is a good time to evaluate that alignment because these will be obvious. Your gasket might have slipped the last time the intake was installed, or you might have the wrong gasket for your heads.

Remove Oil Pan – When you remove the oil pan, take a quick look inside at the rods and pistons. We’ll take a closer look later on, but for now, just note the general condition and the color and smell of the oil that is still laying on the parts. If the motor has overheated at some point in time, the smell will give it away.

Remove Heads – When taking the heads off, note how tight the bolts are, especially the lower eight bolts. If the motor has overheated, chances are the bolts will be loose. With the other bolts, overheating will cause the trapped oil to smell and this is very obvious to an experienced engine builder.

Now is a good time to check for valve sealing. You can lay the head chamber down and pour mineral spirits or other thin oil into the exhaust and intake ports to see if any of the liquid leaks out around the valves. Poor valve seal is a problem that can grow into the combustion flame cutting off the valve. A valve job might be in your future.

Harmonic Balancer – The process of removing the rods, pistons and crank begins with the removal of the water pump and harmonic balancer. Check your water pump for freedom of rotation and play in the bearing. It might be time for a new pump.

Run the number one cylinder up to Top Dead Center and see if the pointer still rests on the zero-timing mark. If not, your balancer might have spun, if it is dampened and you’ll need to install a new one with the re-build.

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Cam and Timing Chain – Before removing the timing chain, note the amount of play in the chain. Up to a ¼ inch of play is acceptable, but any more and you will need to replace that chain. Plan on installing a timing chain kit with the gears included.

Remove the lifters before removing the cam. Look over the cam lobe surfaces and the bottom of the lifter surfaces. These should be free of marks or excessive wear. Abnormal wear signals a problem with oiling. Note which cam lobes are a problem and have the engine builder look for blocked oil passages in the area of the problem.

The post Save Money by Inspecting Your Motor Parts (Part One) appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Save Money By Inspecting Your Motors Parts

In our previous installment of this engine teardown checklist we took care of most of the top-end of the engine and then took out the cam and examined the heads. If you missed that part you can find it here.

Now it’s time to dig into the rest of the engine.

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Crank and Rod Removal – Now we can work on the bottom end of the motor. Remove the rod end caps and note the condition of the bearings. Shiny bearing surfaces mean the oil clearances were too tight on this motor.

Scratches or gouges mean that foreign material has gotten into the oil and you need to further investigate the source of the abnormal wear. Discoloration is another sign of overheating, either locally or the entire motor.

When you remove the crank journal bearing caps, again look for similar problems that were described being associated with the rod bearings. The crank bolts are the source of overheating odor. And again, note the force needed to break these bolts loose.

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Pistons – We can remove the pistons and rods now. Note the color on the inside of the piston. It should be a brown color, but not too dark. A motor that ran hot shows up as burnt oil on the inside of the piston.

Also, if one or more of the pistons are very clean with no carbon buildup on the top, you might have a leaking head gasket and some water is finding its way into the combustion chamber and this steam cleans the piston. It is not normal.

Look at the skirts of the piston. Scratches or imbedded metal could show up. If re-using the pistons, you will need to bead blast the skirts to remove these tiny metal parts. Soda blasting is good for general cleaning of the carbon deposits on the piston, but won’t do a good job of removing the metal pieces imbedded in the piston skirt.

Observe the piston rings. The bottom compression ring should have a darker tone to it. A smooth and shiny ring is not a good sign and means it has lost lubrication. Wear on the piston ninety degrees around from the skirt means your crank is not aligned with the bore or you might have a bent rod.

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Heads and Valve Train – Next comes the heads and valve parts. There is a lot to look at because much of the work a motor does occurs with these parts. Remove the valve springs and measure the free height as well as the installed pressure and open pressure.

If the spring has lost height, it must be replaced. The seat pressure must be within 10 to 15 pounds of new. If they are less than that, they must be replaced. Never install stiffer springs than you need.

Note any wear in the spring caps or valve guides. A wet oily spot near where the valve enters the intake or exhaust runners means the valve guides are worn. Check your rocker arms for excess play and note where the rocker is contacting the valve stem. You might need to rethink your valve train geometry in the future.

Check the push rod tips for wear or lack of lubrication. Sometimes the packing grease that comes with new rods can enter the rod and harden blocking the flow of lubricant causing damage. Completely clean and inspect your rods before installation.

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Fuel Pump – To complete the disassembly of the block, we now remove the mechanical fuel pump. Check the pump shaft for play and condition. Any other accessories mounted to the motor should be checked and re-built if necessary. Check your headers for leaks and sand blast and repaint. Carbon buildup in the headers can cause a loss of exhaust gas flow and performance.

Engine Block – Now that we have a bare block, we can look at the cylinders and overall condition of the entire block. We need to check the bore size all of the way up and down the stroke area where the piston rides along the bore. What we are looking for, but don’t want to see, is taper, or difference in the diameter of the bore, usually with the larger dimension being lower in the bore.

Also check for concentricity of the bore. As you measure, move 120 degrees around the bore for three measurements so that you can see if the bore is truly round. The bore might be smooth, but should not have any vertical lines cut into it.

Now is a good time to remove those freeze plugs. Your engine builder, or you, will install new ones as a part of the re-build.

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Conclusion – So now we have disassembled and inspected the entire motor. We can feel comfortable that either the motor was properly assembled the last time and maintained throughout the season, reducing the re-build costs, or it wasn’t. Either way, we know what we need to do to put it back together and freshen it for the following season.

Take this opportunity to plan out your engine maintenance schedule for the coming season. If your valve springs all came up short, make sure to replace the springs at mid-season so that your power level will be maintained through that late season push for points.

If the motor shows signs of overheating, re-evaluate your cooling system so that this problem does not repeat itself. Having a reliable and powerful engine makes any racing effort easier and provides more time to work on your setup.

The post Save Money by Inspecting Your Motor Parts (Bottom End) appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

The End of The Dynamics Controversy

I’ve presented information on race car dynamics and geometry many times in the past. This piece is unlike any other I’ve written or that you have ever seen anywhere. It is very different because this one puts it all together and explains the truth and reality of race car dynamics and what influences chassis dynamics. It’s not what you think.

The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) has what is known as papers that engineers present for publication on various subjects where the author wants to make a point or explain a concept. This is my paper, or thesis, or maybe a much better word, treatise.

A treatise is as defined by Merriam-Wester, “a systematic exposition or argument in writing including a methodical discussion of the facts and principles involved and conclusions reached”. That is exactly what this is.

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The Scientific Method

Before we get fully into this discussion, we need to talk about the scientific method. This is a recognized way to approach the initial thought, development, and testing of a theory to gain knowledge of its validity. It involves: 1) first ask a question, 2) develop a hypothesis, 3) experiment and test the hypothesis, 4) observe and record the results of the testing, 5) analyze the results to draw conclusions, 6) share the results with the world.

In the racing world, we have a lot of theories about the many components on the race car. What we also have in abundance is a way to experiment, observe and record, and to analyze those results. We have race tracks.

A team gets an idea, builds or sets up the car a certain way, goes to the race track and then observes the performance in lap times to see if what they thought would make them faster worked or not. It is the scientific method at work.

Development of Knowledge

We have been developing knowledge about vehicle dynamics for some seventy years. The earliest attempt was made by automotive manufacturers, with a heavy influence by the General Motors group.

The primary thread of the analysis of vehicle dynamics back in the 1960’s involved a model of a vehicle that treated the body and frame as a single unit with a single center of gravity for the sprung mass. There were two roll centers, front and rear where a line was drawn connecting the two forming an roll axis. This was called the Roll Axis thread of technology. Each end of the car was calculated to have a given “roll resistance” percentage based on the spring rates and spring base among other factors.

This theory of vehicle dynamics never really panned out as useful for a number of reasons, the primary one being this. The model is only really valid for a production automobile with identical opposing suspension components and spring rates on each side. When circle track racers started putting different spring rates on each side of their cars, the roll axis approach did not deal with the resulting differences in dynamics that the spring split caused.

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The Modern Era of Race Cars

As we moved into the modern era of race car design that started around 1990, we found that we had to conduct our development by trial and error, even in the upper echelons of racing circles. I know this because it was at this precise time that I became involved in racing as an engineer.

Wanting to better define vehicle dynamics and to be able to better predict what a race car wanted and to prepare the car for performance without trial and error, I developed the theory of roll angle analysis. I even got a patent for it, which didn’t really impress anyone, it just looked good on my resume’.

When I applied this roll angle theory to the car using a crude computer program I put together, it worked pretty well. I was onto something here I thought then. Little did I know, it would take another twenty years to fully understand what was going on and to come to some conclusions on how this vehicle dynamics thing really worked.

The overall roll angle theory was valid and is still valid today. The way I thought it works is different in some critical aspects than what I thought and preached for years. This is not unlike other theories where the authors come to believe theirs is the holy grail so to speak. I hope you recognize here that I am being totally honest with you about all of this.

What did happen was that I had tested this theory countless times on many different and varied race car designs and it always worked to improve the performance of those cars. You could say that I was following the scientific method with the development and testing of the theory. This is not unlike what happened with the next popular theory to come along.

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The Current Theory of Race Car Dynamics

A third theory came along about ten years ago and is called the jacking force theory. I believe the primary early proponent of this theory was Mark Ortiz, a very talented engineer who understands a great deal about vehicle suspensions and applications.

In this theory, the primary influence on the dynamics of a race car using a double A-arm suspension comes from the jacking forces produced by the interaction of the instant centers with the tire contract patch when a lateral force is applied to the chassis. In the jacking force theory, the roll center is discounted entirely.

This, like the roll angle analysis theory was tested on the race track by countless teams and when applied, seemed to improve the performance of the car. That suspension system had more traction and the circle track cars with front double A-arm suspensions turned better.

Different Approaches

So now, today, we have two very different theories that are based on utilizing very different components, but each proving to have increased the performance of the double A-arm system. This is a conflict that must be resolved. They can’t both be right, or could they?

For the answer, we have to look at the parts and pieces that make up the two theories. In the roll angle theory, we have control arm angles that create a roll center. This roll center has influence on the dynamics of the suspension due to its height and lateral location as the theory has been explained. A roll center that is designed to be to the inside of the turn creates better performance.

With the jacking force theory, the control arm angles produce a instant centers that are used to create jacking forces that dictates the dynamics of the suspension from its interaction with the lateral force generated at the tires contact patch. Each side of the suspension generates its own jacking force as the theory has been explained.

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Very Similar Geometry

Here is where it gets good. When the two theories, roll angle and jacking force, are applied and the optimum control arm angles are arrived at to produce the best performance, the angles of the upper and lower control arms for each theory are very similar. So close in fact, we could say there is no significant difference.

We then have two very different approaches to explain the dynamics of the double A-arm suspension that arrive at the same control arm angles. Could there be something at play here that both theories have in common, but is not taken into account.

Time To Experiment

What started me going down this road that I would have never otherwise have traveled, was being challenged as to the validity of my theory. The challenger was none other than Mark Ortiz himself. I set out to experiment and define exactly what influenced the dynamics of the double A-arm suspension to either prove or disprove the two theories.

So, I called Mark and proposed that I build a model to test our theories. He asked that I send him a copy of the plans for the test model and so I did. He agreed that the model design was valid and would indeed prove, or disprove the two theories.

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When I finished the model, I began testing immediately. I had designed this model so that I could change the upper and lower control arm angles in order to create different roll center locations and different jacking force magnitudes as per the theory objectives.

I started with the jacking force first. I had designed this model so that the forces were applied to the contact patch of each tire individually. For a left turning car, a greater force was applied to the outside tire. I believe I had 65% of the lateral force applied to the right front and 35% to the left front. I recorded the roll angle of the sprung and weighted chassis and it was 6.0 degrees.

I then applied 100% of the lateral force to the right front tire and no force to the left front tire and recorded the same roll angle of 6.0 degrees. Nothing had changed from a major change in force on the tires.

I then applied 100% of the lateral force on the left front tire and no force to the right front tire and recorded a roll angle of 5.9, about the same as the other two conditions. Nothing was changing when the jacking force theory dictated there would have been a significant change in the dynamics and ultimately the roll angles between the three scenarios.

For all intents and purposes, I had disproved the jacking force theory. But we are still left with the results of on track testing that proved an increase in performance due to the “optimum” control arm angles created under the jacking force theory.

It was time to test the roll angle theory. I went through a series of tests whereby I created different control arm angles to produce different locations for the roll center. This would in theory change the moment arm and alter the dynamics of the double A-arm suspension and result in different roll angles based on where the roll center was located laterally. It did not.

In my testing, the lateral location of the roll center did not significantly affect the measured roll angle. The only thing that did affect the roll angle, and in a very predictable way, was the roll center height. As the roll center moved up, the roll angles became less (a shorter moment arm). As the roll center moved down, the roll angle increased (a longer moment arm), regardless of the lateral location. Surprise!

What Now?

As I studied the results of these tests it occurred to me that something else must be at play in the double A-arm suspension that created the increased performance that each group of theorists saw with on track testing.

To find the answer, I had to rely on all of my past experience and knowledge related to race car dynamics and geometry. When I finally saw the light, it all made perfect sense. The answer had been there all along, we just hadn’t recognized it.

And without the development of the roll angle and jacking force theories and the testing I had done, we might never have discovered it. The answer lies in the most basic of understandings of race car performance, the development of traction.

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The Truth Comes Out

Through all of this, the positive is that we have learned something by disproving the two most common “truths”. The roll angle theory is valid as a concept of balancing the two suspension systems front and rear, but how it dealt with the double A-arm suspension was not correct.

The common denominator between the roll angle theory and the jacking force theory is the control arm angles. They ended up being nearly the same. Could that have something to do with the increase in performance? It does, and that is the answer.

In early race car engineering circles, it has been stated time and time again that all of the engineering we do on a race car involves working to increase the traction at the four contact patches. Now we have to define what creates better traction.

We know that the more load we put on a tire, the more grip it will have. The other component that has been mostly ignored over time is the contact patch. The size of the contact patch is important to gaining the most grip from the loading on the tire.

A tire with a fixed load of X will generate more grip with a greater contact patch area. So, if a tire had a contact patch area of say 20 square inches it would produce Y amount of grip. If we could increase the contact patch area to say 30 square inches, the amount of grip that tire would provide would increase to something more than Y with the very same loading. The creation of optimum control arm angles allows this to happen.

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It’s All in the Angles

What both the roll angle and jacking force theories did was produce control arm angles that served to create the greatest contact patch area. That in and of itself created more traction for that suspension system and the cars worked better. If we change the control arm angles to produce less jacking force as the theory goes, or a less efficient moment arm in the roll angle theory, the contact patch becomes less as a result and the system is less efficient and has less overall grip.

Applying the scientific method approach while thinking about earlier testing I have done with a number of different race car designs, it becomes very apparent that much of the gains in performance from double A-arm suspensions comes from controlling camber change to create a larger contact patch.

Conclusion

The pot of gold at the end of this rainbow is the fact that we don’t have to do anything any differently than we have been doing. The jacking force crowd can still believe in their theory and the roll angle crowd can still put the roll center to the inside on a circle track car, and as long as the camber change is ideal and the resulting contact patch is as large as can be developed, we will have the best performance.

For those of you who don’t subscribe to either theory, you now have enough information to setup and design your race car to have the best performance by optimizing the camber change of the tires in the double A-arm suspension. That will in turn provide the largest contact patch. And don’t forget the balance so that the loading on the tires will be ideal.

Tire loading and contact patch optimization are the keys to performance for any car be it a Formula One car or a Street Stock. End of story.

Sources:

DRP Performance Products
www.drpperformance.com
888-399-6074

Gale Force Suspension
www.galeforcesuspension.com
251-583-9748

Intercomp Racing
www.intercompracing.com
800-328-3336

Longacre Racing Products
www.longacreracing.com
800-423-3110

RE Suspension
704-664-2277
www.resuspension.com

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