Late model stock car conversion to road race

BARNCA wrote: always thought bout this, or a legends car.

Legends cars can be converted easlily. Over at NHMS, they run the same cars on the road course as they do on the 1/4 'legends oval' in turn one.

hotrodlarry wrote:

BARNCA wrote: always thought bout this, or a legends car.

Legends cars can be converted easlily. Over at NHMS, they run the same cars on the road course as they do on the 1/4 'legends oval' in turn one.

I've got a couple of buddies that decided to run a Baby Grand.

http://nutdriver.org/BG.shtml

found this cheap....wonder how the metric chassis would work as a starting platform.

http://nh.craigslist.org/cto/2747948687.html

Couple more pics of the Camaro, it was a Monte Carlo until this summer.

Got the body back from the paint shop, hope to install next week.

painted like the 1966 Nascar Chevelle of Smokey Yunick

It would be sacrilege to paint anything but 13 on the door.

It will get # 13

I am afraid I'm gonna like this car a lot and not want to sell it, but I also want to build another 'Vette. The new Vette would be for SCCA GT-1 but utilizing the 6.0 Chevy LQ iron block and LS3 heads with carburetor per the rules. This would of course be against the conventional wisdom of using a Nascar SB2, but I like to do things differently. The LQ motor won't make near the peak HP of the SB2 but will make similar or more torque at a much lower RPM. Most importantly, the LQ type will require much less maintenance.

So why is it when I have the temerity to suggest converting a Sprint car to right/left applications it's a lousy idea but converting a Stock Car gets everybody's willies stiff?

stroker wrote: So why is it when I have the temerity to suggest converting a Sprint car to right/left applications it's a lousy idea but converting a Stock Car gets everybody's willies stiff?

The sprint car would have one awesome power to weight ratio, but the short wheelbase might make for a wild ride on a road course. Hell, they're a wild ride on any race course. You have to be a little crazy to race one anyway.

The Nascar modifieds ran similar lap times to Grand Am Daytona Prototypes a couple years ago at Lime Rock.

friedgreencorrado wrote:

hotrodlarry wrote:

BARNCA wrote: always thought bout this, or a legends car.

Legends cars can be converted easlily. Over at NHMS, they run the same cars on the road course as they do on the 1/4 'legends oval' in turn one.

I've got a couple of buddies that decided to run a Baby Grand. http://nutdriver.org/BG.shtml

I think Righty was the one I met at the Wolf Ridge hillclimb a few years ago.

In reply to stroker :

Short wheelbase, high horsepower, high traction, high center of gravity?  Could be valid reasons not to. 

While a 4 bar Sprint car might be able to made to corner both left and right a cross sprung Sprint car cannot.  Look at where the weight jacks are.  

frenchyd said:

In reply to stroker :

Short wheelbase, high horsepower, high traction, high center of gravity?  Could be valid reasons not to. 

While a 4 bar Sprint car might be able to made to corner both left and right a cross sprung Sprint car cannot.  Look at where the weight jacks are.  

 

Oh, I'm not quite stupid enough to suggest using dirt track suspension on a Sprint Car frame--I'd definitely look at something like Corvette or possibly Miata suspension instead.   I'm still thinking about this idea on the back burner...   I wonder what changes the Sprint Car guys make to the suspension when they run pavement instead of dirt?

In reply to stroker :

Mainly tires, much lower profile with higher tire pressure. Dirt tires really are saggy balloons compared to asphalt tires. 

Remember though Sprint car guys run many many different tracks. From flat tight oval to high banked asphalt so making a suspension work is meat and potatoes to them. 

They also eliminate brakes as part of getting a car to handle. My owner just grabbed a small pair of visegrips and squeezed off the rubber hose going to the right front caliper. Then with electrical tape attached the vise grips to the front axle. Sounds crazy but I set the track record with that set up.  

frenchyd said:

In reply to stroker :

Short wheelbase, high horsepower, high traction, high center of gravity?  Could be valid reasons not to. 

While a 4 bar Sprint car might be able to made to corner both left and right a cross sprung Sprint car cannot.  Look at where the weight jacks are.  

Sprints cars use torsion bars for suspension. Now dirt late models and modified etc do have 4 link or bar suspensions. Some use a swing arm suspension which is a development of a watts link. Older chassis may have also have leafs spring.

pavement late model cars typically have either a 3 link or truck arms for suspension. Truck arms are what NASCAR uses. They come in 2 different chassis types perimeter or offset. The perimeter type is what you want for road racing.

Now back in the day Roger ward did win a formula libre race at lime rock in a midget and also raced it in the inaugural us Grand Prix at Sebring that same year.

In reply to MotorsportsGordon :

4 bar means 4 torsion bars.  Earlier  sprint cars used cross springs with the later development of a weight jacker to load the inside tire. Briefly a connection into the cockpit was allowed by USAC  to deal with the weight loss of up to 55 gallons of methanol during the race. 

frenchyd said:

In reply to MotorsportsGordon :

4 bar means 4 torsion bars 

Ahh I see never heard that term for sprint cars and I’ve been around them for years. In oval racing the term 4 bar is used for the late model etc dirt 4 link suspensions.

In reply to MotorsportsGordon : you have to go back to the 1950’s  to see cross springs.  I guess I’m dating myself.