my latest project

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: my latest project

Looking at the blue (return line) why was there a little blip corresponding to the first clutch spike, but not one when the clutch went to "full lock up" later in the run.

This was a A/Fueler or a TF run?

Brian

[A/Fuel]

Re: my latest project

this is a A/fuel car...
those blips...i really wish i knew, steve boggs told me once that they are computer glitches. sometimes they are there sometimes the're not.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: my latest project

I saw Martin qualifying 1 in one of the data fields on the screen and knowing Martin is an IHRA track (and IHRA doesn't run A/fuelers...well they did a couple years ago but that's a whole 'nother deal) got confused. Must have been a test day or something.

Is the clutch line always an arc shape like that? Or should it be? I guess the real question is, would the amount of weight (like we talked about "hitting" the tire) cause that thing to go more vertical at the start of a run as opposed to this screen which looks like a pretty even engagement.

So let's say you have a bump in the track (that NEVER happens right?!), what's the first place you go to on the screen to start trying to "tune around it". Pull fuel out, clutch out, delay engagement? It's a fixed object, so you know just about exactly when you are going to hit it, so the question is, how do you deal with it?

Thank god this isn't a radio interview, the show would be about a week long!

Brian

[A/Fuel]

Re: my latest project

i forget, i think it was a torco race or something.
yes, the arc should go a little more (a lot) vertical. if you plotted a graph, and it joined the the engine around three seconds you could probably make out where it would go. a softer disk would allow some more wear and the fingers to come out sooner, locking up the clutch sooner.
a bump in the track, uhm....
if it's before the 330ft i'd try and take some timing out for a tick. or run as hard as i can and get lane choise (haha)
330 to 1/2 track, 10-20 harder on the first disk (rockwell) might get you through too. or, i'd watch a blown car or two and see how they handle it. thats really a gray area, and it would be really easy to out guess yourself there.
you could even add a flatt of wing. or do nothing. i would be more concerned about dropping a hole there than smoking the tires. so depending where its at you might even want to hit it harder to get throught it faster.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: my latest project

So are you making decisions on what hardness of clutch discs to use round to round or once you find something that works, leave it. In the event of a day that you make a morning qualifying hit on a cool-ish track and then are forced to wait until late afternoon to run on a broiling hot track would you consider the harndness of the discs ir make your adjustments with weight and clutch timing?

I like the fact that the proper answer may actually be to ram rod the thing over the bump..he he.

Oh the wing, we hadn't even broached that topic yet. Is that a set it and forget it deal on a typical weekend or is everything subject to change on some level with the conditions?

Do you wish that you had never started this topic? HA!

Brian

[A/Fuel]

Re: my latest project

i might have 20 clutch packs sitting in the trailer and my mind would be racing all day witch one to use next. i definitly tune with a clutch disk. we don't have managment of the clutch like the top fuel guys do, so i try and do it with hard/soft disks.
on the wing.....i'd say 80% of the time i leave it alone. i was tweaking one one time, standing on a stool at the back of a car, when the driver came up to me and asked what i thought i was doing. i told him that i was taking a flatt or two out. he said, won't that make the car a little loose on the top end? i said, probably, but i don't know, i don't drive.
he thought for a minute, then came back. well i don't know if you should do that, he said. thats when i told him it sounded like a driver issue to me.....he ran a '35......i still laugh to myself about that.
drivers usually don't like it when you mess with their wings, so i try not to if i can help it. but sometimes you just gotta.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: my latest project

Or the trick is to do it when they are in the lounge of the hauler!

In line with the wing question, how much ballast do you normally run and where can/do you put in on the car? Also, you guys don't run into the tire chunking issues that blown cars do right?

Brian

[A/Fuel]

Re: my latest project

oh yeah, i chunk tires all the time, usually blister the centers right out of them. on a good run. on a bad run, the sides start to feather.

ballast, try to put it in the rear, right over the axle if you can. if you need it in the front, just add a gallon or two extra on nitro (about 10lbs a gallon)

about the lounge thing, 100% correct.
we call it the millioniare boys club, and i have been referd to being a caddy more than once.
it's really just a mental game, with ego's the size of the grand canyon.

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: my latest project

So I was covering an NHRA event a couple years ago and was looking for quotes to end up my night. I went looking for a #1 qualifier. His crew guys said he was in the lounge. I went for the door and one of the guys yelled out, "Unless you like adult movies acted out in front of you, you may want to wait a second." I shot the bull with the crew guys and sho 'nuf, a cute girl came bopping out of the lounge and mr driver was a few steps behind, lots of good quotes and lots of stuff I could do nothing with when I asked what the best part of his day had been to that point. HA!

Working the top end mic at the IHRA events I'd see and chat with the Goodyear engineers that were sent to the races occasionally. They would poke and prod the tires, take their heat measurements and anything that was chunked got marked (and I assume shipped back to Akron for review).

What's your theory on why they can't get a handle on this problem?

Brian

[A/Fuel]

Re: my latest project

i'd say it comes down to track prep. thats the real varible thats hard to control.

[A/Fuel]

Re: my latest project

i'd like to add something too.
if there is a lot of VHT on the track, the sides of the tread will pick it up and when the car gets on the tire it won't touch the ground again until after the finishline. thats where a hot tire picks it up again and it sticks, pulling the blisters off.

[A/Fuel]

Re: my latest project

hey guys, i plan on working on my camaro this winter and i'm going to need plenty of tips.
i just can't make up my mind what i want to do with it yet.

[A/Fuel]

Re: my latest project

Brian,
we probably will take the car down to Flordia the first of December for the Snowbirds....why don't you come along?
i'm terrible at writting and typing...
i'd give you an all exclusive inside on how to run a A/Fuel dragster.
i've got a travel agent now, so, we could coordinate flights, rental cars ect....
i think it's about time this class gets some press.
just think about it. come and spend a weekend with me. take some pictures, i'll let you go where you want.
we have talked about this before. i'd tell you so much more if it wer'nt for the internet.
i'll introduce you to anyone there, feed you the best ribs i've ever had, more beer than you can drink, more storys than you can remember.
i think the more people understand the way these things work, the more they are intrested in them.
it's not rocket science, i'm a regular car guy, just like everyone else.
come and spend a weekend with me, and put it in your own words.
make it a carjunkietv exculsive report.
you've got my number right???

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: my latest project

Scott,

Check your messages here. Also, in typical fashion I lost your #.

Brian