A Donovan in T/D ?
- Thread starter Butch
- Start date
glofria
Nitro Member
Yes, Donovan Engineering makes two versions if the BBC; the D500 and a RC 600 (raised cam). They also make several types of SBC that are commonly used in the sprint car world. We at VHS is one of their distributors.
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Donovan Engineering's Big Blocks come in four configurations. Tall or short deck configurations are among the several options available to engine builders. Beautiful images of the blocks are available for download.
donovanengines.com
Definitely a very cool class, mostly dragsters plus the occasional altered. Not sure on rules regarding powerplants, I've seen roots blowers, Prochargers, Nitrous, and turbos. They readjusted the index to 6.10 a few years ago, I believe to keep cars away from the 5's.
No nitro, but other than that, the 6.10 index is the equalizer. I have seen many T/D run 6.10 to qualify, and MPH is around 208 - 209. I do believe that if the index was changed to, say, 5.90, there would be quite a few cars that could run that number with no problem. Altho, I do remember Alan saying that the chassis specs are different for a 5 second car.
TD5023
Nitro Member
If you see 208-209 mph for a 6.10 run, then that person was off the throttle through the traps. A car that maxes out at 6.10 will be closer to 225. Then there are those who pull a fair amount of timing down low to get above the index. Some of them can run 6.10 and push 240 mph. These days, it's pretty safe to assume that a car capable of running 6.10 could comfortably get into the fives if they wanted.
A lot of stuff changes once you start going into the fives. My chassis cert is good to 6.00 and won't go lower. My license is only good to 6.00. I don't know how much of my safety equipment would be good, but I'd guess not all of it. In the earlier days of the class when you could count on one hand how many cars were actually capable of going that quick, it was easy to turn a blind eye to the spec violations. Once we got to the point where over half of each race's field could, it became harder to ignore, so the one-tenth buffer was added with much stricter penalties for being too quick.
TD5023
Nitro Member
I should be out a few times. Definitely not a full NHRA schedule due to my dad's surgery, but I'll get more local stuff and hopefully hit the NHRAs when they're close to home. I haven't bothered putting together a schedule for this year because everything is contingent on his recovery at this point.Brad, are U racing this year? Hope so!
Litefoot
Nitro Member
Same here, prayers for a full recovery
