Back to the 1/4 Mile??? (2 Viewers)

[twostep]

To say it another way, someone find a track, a non-nat. event date, and enough $$ to attract some teams to
run hard to a 1/4 on a very well prepped surface.

I hope that never happens. Some of those teams have cars capable of a 350mph pass and that's just asking for trouble with current tire technology plus even at tracks with long runoffs, 350 takes a looooooong way to come down from. 338 isn't 350.

Tradition is the ONLY reason to return fuel cars to 1320 feet. Some teams might consider it but most say hell no. The fans are fine with 1000 feet and they pay the bills. Myself, I'd rather see the intense acceleration to 1000 feet, courtesy of 11,000hp, than a slower-accelerating 1320' pass from a car that's been neutered about 4000 horsepower just to keep the speed down. If you're attending the race live, unless you sit in the finish-line stands you really can't see what's going on from 1000 feet on in the first place.

Only 1 reason to return - probably 50 to leave things as they are. Leave it alone. For those who say "I'll never return until...." blah, blah. There's always NASCAR or some stick-and-ball sport. Go watch one of those.

 

[Dragracer]

Mike, if it were a NHRA sanctioned track it would never be allowed unless the track owner wanted to lose his NHRA sanction. You play by NHRA rules at NHRA tracks or you aren't allowed in their playground.

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

I say leave as is, they need larger pay outs and more car/dragsters will come.

That's a great idea, except there's no money. Viewership is already lower than necessary for sponsors to give the sport and it's competitors any real interest, not to mention sportsman participation is way down which is another source of revenue. So where's all this money going to come from??

Sean D

 

[PJ]

I know tires are a concern and this is too simplistic of a question but there are cars on the salt flats going faster. What do they use?

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

Probably has more to do with the rate of acceleration requirements rather than the overall speed, but that's just my guess.

Sean D

 

[TooTall999]

I know tires are a concern and this is too simplistic of a question but there are cars on the salt flats going faster. What do they use?

Salt flat cars use a whole different type of tire. They don't need the same type of tire growth that Top Fuel and Fuel funny cars need. They accelerate over a much longer distance to achieve their speed in a measured mile.

 

[Cliff]

IF nitro goes back to 1/4 mile, then the goal would be 350. What kind of a tire (both front & rear) would need to be developed to handle that speed? I know the tires get really hot after a run, so would they make the tires with a stiffer sidewall? If that happened & the tires couldn't wrinkle as they do now, wouldn't that slow them down some? I'm out of my element with tire knowledge, so just throwing this out.
BTW I read that some of the really fast Bonniville cars, like the rockets, don't use a rubber tire at all, just a steel wheel. The rubber tire can only go so fast before it would destroy itself.

 

[twostep]

I know tires are a concern and this is too simplistic of a question but there are cars on the salt flats going faster. What do they use?

Completely different tire construction and configuration. Like Cliff said, the really fast LSR cars (SSC, etc.) don't use tires at all. And there's a lot of science to a Goodyear fuel-car slick than just a 17 inch width and a wrinkle wall for better traction. Start messing with that to achieve safety at higher speeds, and the launch ability of the nitro cars suffers.

 

[Mike]

Cliff, rule changes for 1/4 mile wouldnt allow 350.

 

[Von Halen]

I used to call on the Goodyear Innovation Center in Akron. I do not believe tire technology is an issue.

 

[Dragracer]

Goodyear said some time ago that they will not make a tire any faster than the one in use today. They have a maximum speed rating for the tire and require a certain amount of safety below the max speed the tire is built for. I have heard from some people that Goodyear has told NHRA what the maximum speed they will allow and if it is exceeded they will not provide tire support. Don't know how true this is but it seems reasonable.

 

[Cliff]

Drag racing started racing on tracks 68 years ago. It now seems that the sport has finally reached the maximum speed the cars can run. Not from lack of technology, but from tire limitations & the length of the shut off area. I think a lot of folks have wondered over the years what would be the maximum speed and now we know. I kinda never thought I'd see that. Ya know, even if we switched to alky, there would still be a time in the future when performance would be the same as it is now on nitro, with the same tire limitations & stopping area distance.

 

[Rudos1]

There could still be gains in performance and speed but they likely will be in very small numbers. How long til 340MPH at the 1000 foot?? It's a smaller barrier but it will be very exciting when we get there..

 

[TD5023]

There could still be gains in performance and speed but they likely will be in very small numbers. How long til 340MPH at the 1000 foot?? It's a smaller barrier but it will be very exciting when we get there..

It would have happened already if the FCs were still allowed the steeper header angle. They were knocking on the door two years ago, but then the less extreme angle was mandated right as they were about to hit it. Hight only missed it by .13 MPH.

 

[Pete]

Again, not arguing, just talking, do you think Jeff Diehl, Audrey Worm, Terry Haddock, even Jim Head, Pat Dakin and Bob Vandergriff's cars want to start from scratch trying to find a tune up? You have to be careful not to put these guys out of business.

Alan

My thought behind it is you're not changing the hardware on the car, per say. Just limiting the amount of go fast ingredients. If anything, I'd say it would help the lower funded teams

 

[Pete]

When they cut it to 80 or 85% before there was a definite difference in the sound and fury. Also quite a few broken cranks and other parts.I say leave well enough alone. The independent teams are steadily gaining ground on the mega teams thanks to the reduced track prep.

I my memory serves me correct, they only dropped the percentage. So to compensate, more volume & blower speed was used and thus a bigger bomb was created. By also limiting the blower and fuel volume, you take away those risks.

 

[Pete]

IMO there is no way to go back to 1/4 racing without costing a lot. Some of you have said reduce the rear wing. Compared to just 5 years ago they are using no rear wing, and they are going way faster. Others have mentioned Dom Lagana running a 1/4 mile (i was with Del in Qatar where he ran a 1/4 mile in his FC earlier this year). You can do it, but realize a 3.70 run is about the same as a 4.28 1/4 mle run! While Dom's 4.48 338 sounds impressive (and it was) it's still a 1-2/10th's slower than what some of the top qualifiers would be on an average to good track. Some have mentioned limiting blower over drive. When you do that, then you will get like Pro Mod where a trick blower is 35k plus. They are already around 25k and you will be stripping that thing between rounds. You can limit nitro % but then you just run more fuel volume. You can limit fuel volume and then you just run max %. You can limit both and then just run more compression, it just goes on and on. Then if you want to run let's say 335mph max in the 1/4, then depending on what you do, there will be no "top end" charge cause they will be maxxed out on rev limiter by 1/2 track. If you want to see 1/4 mile racing, over 90% nitro, cool bodies, long burnouts etc, just go to a NHRA Heritage Series Nostalgia TF and FC race! (problem solved lol) BTW, I think the racing currently is as close as I have ever seen. Drivers make a bigger difference in the outcome and you have more independents coming out and actually winning a round here and there. Now if we could just get the TV show to give the independents more time, they might be able to get more sponsors!

NHRA spec engine? then timers & clutch would be the biggest difference?

 

[winr]

my .02$ is why does this keep surfacing. Many reasons to stay at 1000' not many to return to 1320'. By todays standards people can barley pay attention to 1000' much less 1320'...just don't see the point other than "Nostalgia"

 

[NITROJUNKIE18]

i think it probably wont happen, but if it does it might end up being a class of its own with different rules like, 80 percent nitro instead of 90 (or even less) and maybe a minimum pulley size for the blower, and max on compression ratio. so i dont know if it would still be considered tf/fc, it definitely would be cool, but there would be many more restrictions in place, because trust me they need it (rip scott kalitta)

 

[Greggo]

I will go out on a limb here an say that we will never see a 340+ speed on a scoreboard at an NHRA national event. Yes, we got close 2 years ago. And yes, rules changes were made to slow them down.
I know there is one major factor behind this and I will bet money that it is isn't tires.

If you guys want to see really fast cars, go out to the salt flats while there is still some left.