Laid Back Headers (1 Viewer)

[Leebone]

Please forgive me if this has been discussed before. The laid back headers are an obvious performance advantage to FC. Meanwhile Top Fuel stays the same. Is this because of the close proximity of the headers to the slicks on a TF car? You lay back the headers on a dragster and the flame will be shooting directly to the rear tires. I know nothing and am just a fan. I'm curious though.

 

[DG]

I believe that the big slicks sticking out in the wind is one of the biggest "aero" problems for TF design. Likely, the current configuration pushes the oncoming air up and away from them. Pseudo streamlining?

So far, most of the aero "streamliner" bodies have failed by being too heavy or not engineered well enough. NHRA's current rules have likely stopped any real creativity in that area.

I'm sure that if there was any advantage, the tuners would be right on top of it!

 

[Butch]

I can tell you from first hand knowledge during the aero days that we ran funny car headers on a top fuel car and there were advantages. There were two draw backs however to doing so. First is the weight, every crew chief wants his car as lite as possible and the funny car headers are heavy even without the secondary over tube compared to zoomies. Second issue is the longer tube changes the tune-up and in todays competitive mode no one wants to experiment with their combination as much as what's required just for a slight advantage.

 

[Just Paul]

Dexter Tuttle built some mid length laid back headers and ran them on his car at the end of last year. I thought it looked great. Didn't get enough clean runs to see how much difference they made.

 

[Treeshaker]

Triple T made laid back headers for the top fuel cars in the early 2000s. Been in use every since as they did help.

 

[Butch]

We tried a set of Fuel Boat headers on Tim Arnold's TF car. Back in 1975 didn't do anything.

 

[Nemo]

Awesome picture Seyler, seems like a few cars (non-aero) ran a long funny car-ish header in the 90's....Lori Johns car comes to mind.

 

[scottv11]

I think TF does not want to loose the downforce the more vertical headers produce. There might be a more complicated Aero reason but nobody is talking.
With the ET's FC are producing you would think someone would try it.

 

[Nunz]

And here ya' go:

http://competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/nhra-limits-angle-on-funny-car-headers

 

[Qicvickfrances]

Trust NHRA to stop any development, like we want to see IROC fuel classes...

 

[TSK]

Trust NHRA to stop any development, like we want to see IROC fuel classes...

We've been there for years.

 

[scottv11]

I think it is partially for safety. The drivers have said that with the really laid back headers the car is very squirrely at the top end of the track because the downforce has been converted to forward thrust.

 

[JP1Special]

Like Tony said this weekend, if you want to put the driver back in control of the car then take out some of the rear spoiler. Of course, that will not happen either.

 

[ironpony]

or just go to,
The bodies have to be recognizable as the car they represent.
Heck most people did not even realize Force was still driving his Ford with Chevy decals.

 

[Sandman]

I've thought the same thing that Tony P. said about increasing driver participation for years in all types of racing. For funny cars, how about bringing the nose of the body closer to the spindle centerline about 3 feet? Then take the tailgate off the decklid or at least cut it in half in either width or height and make the green house equal to the sides of the car. I've heard all kinds of theories about how the cars would be undriveable, etc. That's where the driver actually has to earn their money. Simply flooring it won't work anymore, having the driver use the throttle, steering and maybe the brake would be mandatory on every run. I've seen a video of a top fuel car run in the rain, so I suspect running with less downforce may not be the end of the world. Putting so much downforce on the car that the chassis bends and breaks in the middle (like we've all seen) is definitely not working, so lets at least give it a try.

 

[Rajunz]

http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/...ers-heres-why-you-look-dumb-if-you-freak-out/

 

[Nunz]

At least the new rule didn't require going back to the old style, so we still have the laid back option.

http://competitionplus.com/drag-rac...n-ron-capps-discusses-funny-car-header-ruling

 

[Jeff]

http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/...ers-heres-why-you-look-dumb-if-you-freak-out/

Great article!