.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

That’s a Wrap: The Veale and Brown Motorsports A/Fuel Dragster Weekend Wrap Up


That’s a Wrap: The Veale and Brown Motorsports A/Fuel Dragster Weekend Wrap Up

This is a weekend wrap up from the A/Fuel dragster team of Veale and Brown Motorsports. These are the dudes who are running large by huge BS.com logos on their five second dragster this season and spilling the beans on the power secrets behind these nitro snorting monsters. The wrap up below contains a lot of technical info that you simply aren’t going to get anywhere else. Make sure you are keeping up with our A/Fuel tech series to follow exactly what is being said here. We’re profiling the different parts of the car on a week to week basis to educate you, the BS.com reader on what makes these cars tick and allowing you to talk like a true nitro insider. — Brian  

 

With some new lettering on the car, and a few new decals, the Veale & Brown Motorsports team, and driver Jeff Veale returned to competition at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event in Joliet to compete in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.  On the teams first Friday qualifier, they left the same tune up in the car that they had in the final test lap at the Morocco test session, but increased the ramp rate from 0 to 1.0 on the bdk, to a softer 25 lbs ramping increase in the curve to 50 lbs. Ethan left the ignition curve alone, leaving on 57 degrees at the step, going to 60 degrees at .6-seconds, and to 63 degrees at 1.2-seconds. They also dropped the tire pressure 1 pound to 5.0 lbs. That pass yielded a 5.83/254. Not bad for an opener, a very clean, but soft pass.

For the second session pass on Friday, Ethan stepped up the bdk map to start at 75 lbs, go up to 105 lbs, and hold it there until 2.85-seconds.  It was then dropped to 50 lbs at 2.90-seconds, down to 20 lbs at 3.0-seconds, and down once more to 10 lbs at 3.02-seconds until the end of the run, making a total of 27.6 gallons per minute (gpm).  The ignition timing was chipped to 58 degrees at the hit, 60 at .6-seconds and to 63 degrees at 1.2-seconds.  39 grams of weight was removed from the clutch fingers for a total of 459 grams.  The car didn’t drop any holes but it didn’t respond well to the change as it slowed everywhere, netting a 6.04/240.

On the third and final pass to make the tough Joliet field on Saturday morning, the team removed more weight from the clutch for a total of 430 grams.  This was done in an attempt to get the engine rpm to wind up harder, and bring in a lot of plate load very aggressively at a higher rpm.  This would still keep the engines head up, but would also sacrifice some wheel speed.  The ignition was chipped the same as it was on the second pass.

For the fuel system, Ethan ran with the same main pill, but took a different approach on the bdk control, starting at 25 lbs and ramping up to 75 lbs at 1.35- seconds, as he knew the engine rpm was going to rev up, have a lot more fuel pump, and more fuel early in the first half second of the run.  With keeping the fuel bdk circuit light, it would also insure the engine would not drop a hole at the hit.

Taking the information that Ethan learned from the first qualifying pass, the engine liked 25 lbs at the hit, but didn’t like more than 75 lbs early, so that was his theory behind letting the car tell him what it likes and making the changes accordingly.  The third pass netted a 5.93/244, while recording the weekend’s best 60 foot time, the best engine hit rpm, and the best fuel curve on the data graph. The downfall was the car dropped the first hole in six passes, but is very fixable.

While servicing the car, Jeff found a pushrod with the cup broken off, and that was the only damage we endured for the entire weekend.  The team plan on sticking with the same tune-up for the third Division 3 event at Joliet this coming weekend.  Ethan will pinch down the number five cylinder that we dropped, down to a 49/48 from 48/51.  That’s the first hole they have pinched, and the plan is to slowly start adding more fuel, run after run, until they can get it down the track, with less timing, and keep it firing on all eight cylinders. 

Following next weekend’s Division 3 event, the car will be displayed at one of the team sponsor’s events.  Schepel Motor Group of Merrillville, Indiana will hold their annual custom car show on June 20th.  They will display the car, and fire it up a few times on fuel for the usually large crowd attending the show.  The following weekend, Veale & Brown Motorsports will head to Norwalk for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.

 

Ethan adjusting the motor

 

friday qualifying burnout

 

saturday qualifyinf


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0