Not shopping, just wondering, are all A-Mod cars essentially home-built cars? If I hit the lottery, is there a builder I could pay to make me one? How does one go about ordering a custom, tube-frame race car?
Not shopping, just wondering, are all A-Mod cars essentially home-built cars? If I hit the lottery, is there a builder I could pay to make me one? How does one go about ordering a custom, tube-frame race car?
As owner of the #notslowest AMod car in the nation I am what you would call a bit of an expert on these now. Most I saw where heavily DIY modified old open wheel or Bmod type sports racers chassis.
Some were ground up builds. I'm sure if you wanted a custom one sending much money to Dennis Palatov at DP cars would get you what you want.
Alternatively if you win the lottery I will build you one.
I want to build one but I can really justify it. I just don't Autox enough right now.
The pic looks like a modified FSAE car.
Competitive AM is pretty much a home brew affair. You could reach out to some people running in the class who might want to get rid of the 1.0 version of their car to make room for 2.0 clean slate.
Now, there are some things existant or that you could have made that could run there and not be terrible, but competitive? very specialized.
Very few are actually modified FSAE cars, they're either homebuilds or heavily modified purpose-built race cars (for some other purpose of course). That one in the pic looks like a homebuilt.
I think they tend to be loosely based on sports racer chassis but largely home built. They're required to be a foot longer and several hundred pounds heavier than most FSAE cars with much more open drivetrain allowances, so that's probably not a very good starting point. There's a few long time competitors that could probably build you one or at least point you in the right direction. Considering there's been at best one competitive car running for each of the last few years there's probably a few sitting around that could be bought.
The most fun I've ever had in a car was an FSAE car with an R6 motor and sequential shifting. If something like that had a more practical reason to exist I would try very hard to have one.
The Solo Nats AMod field breaks fairly evenly among ground-up builds and modified existing chassis with more aero, or adjusted dimensions. the pointy end is pretty much all scratch built stuff. The car pictured was originally built by George Bowland with a lot of floor area for ground-effect/sucker use, but the rules changed before he could really take advantage of that aspect of it. I believe it's currently owned by KJ Christopher.
Snowmobile CVTs are also the hot setup in AMod these days, hooked to either two-stroke triples or liter+ four stroke bike motors.
spandak said:The most fun I've ever had in a car was an FSAE car with an R6 motor and sequential shifting. If something like that had a more practical reason to exist I would try very hard to have one.
Try F600, they autocross in Fmod and have a national roadrace class. 600cc bike motor and about 875lbs with driver. It's a very affordable class, with solid rear axles and elastomeric suspension as cost savings measures. They work well and are generally faster than formula fords.
The winning A-mod the last 2 years was built by my FSAE team in college. Basically an FSAE car, plus 150 Horsepower, a foot of wheelbase, and 250 lb. All fabricated by a bunch of college kids, from the frame TIG welding to the prepreg Carbon Fiber.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OiD0GEkblQ8
nalyd8991 said:The winning A-mod the last 2 years was built by my FSAE team in college. Basically an FSAE car, plus 150 Horsepower, a foot of wheelbase, and 250 lb. All fabricated by a bunch of college kids, from the frame TIG welding to the prepreg Carbon Fiber.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OiD0GEkblQ8
The fact that FSAE cars are now winning AMod outright makes me very happy.
Honestly the only thing that could make me happier is if you guys started using big 'ol single or twin thumpers hooked to CVTs.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
Probably want to go with big bang twin to balance traction and acceleration out of corners.
No Time said:In reply to JG Pasterjak :
Probably want to go with big bang twin to balance traction and acceleration out of corners.
Get out of my head!
The minimum weight rule in A-Mod means that if someone wanted to take A&M's -17 or -18 car to Nationals it'll have to run as a legal FSAE car with a restrictor.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
It's not an fsae car, it's an a mod car built by an fsae team.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
While the I like them thumpers cannot make enough power; the best of the open class motocross bikes are about 70hp and at that point they are maintenance intensive.
It's hard to argue with a light and compact snowmobile engine. Especially given there at 200hp stock engines.
With all that said my son wants to know why we aren't turning our F500 into an A-mod.
We went with a 2021 Suzuki GSXR-1000 on 100 octane. Making about 225 crank hp
And as dps214 said, the car was designed from the start as an A-mod, by an FSAE team
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