Firstly, Here are some reference photos to what we believe this cl*** is about and the moment in time for Hot Rodding it represents A time of fearlessness, when the rulebook was to be challenged, and the pursuit of speed was king Drag racing was starting to establish its footings And youthful enthusiasm through caution to the wind.. But Speed was always paramount Always Ok .to my point. This cl*** is aimed to be not so much restricting, but rather, fun, affordable, and still in tune with where it all began. Sure, I know here in Oz weve had to make a few safety oriented concessions to be able to race, and to a certain degree, this has, from the sideline observer changed the look of our cars, but in the interest of all concerned, for the better I believe (generally speaking). Quite often people will ask about the cl***, and then discuss their proposed build, and then talk about adapting bodies to their rolling ch***is .. Now, having been involved with a number of our cars down here, the discussion about bodies has come and been a number of times, which, whilst conceptually being easy, becomes both messy, time consuming, frustrating,potentially complicated, and ultimately adds more weight, which is the biggest thorn in ones side for these cars being fast. Here are a few very basic photos of 2 (of the 3) cars down here (remember, theres now 15 cars here) that run in this cl***. One is a butchered gl*** body, the other being a very rough, steel body covered in a lot of body filler with shiny paint on top. Both cars look great considering, and a credit to their builders ..but would they do it again, especially after seeing whats involved with making a few simple alloy body panels bolted onto a cage? No, not one. My long winded point, is that sure, there is no rule saying one way or the other, nor should there, each to their own, and build it as you please, but, in the interest of simplicity, speed, and having fun, I dont think people should get worked up over trying to adapt heavy steel body to their cars (especially at the beginning of a build) ..our forefathers didnt, and whist we need to be smarter when it comes to safety, throwing more weight and complication at a car really isnt the answer. Basic Keep It Simple Stupid And have fun Cheers, Drewfus P.S. having said that some days my mind wanders, I look in our early Aussie mags and look at the crazy, crazy bits-ers, you could really throw a cat a****st the pigeons and drop a real body on there .mmm if only I could find a gl*** Fiat body Confused yet? build it, race it, then worry about getting fancy with complicated bodies....lifes to short.
AMEN! My main concern was getting it done, sure I thought about chrome, a formed windscreen on the cowl, wire wheels on the front but all that would have delayed the cars build and we would of not made our deadline. People really dug Old6' and my car @ dragfest and I think the only shiney part we had was the carb scoop and front center caps. My point is use what ya got and go racin'
Well put Drewfus, the bottom line is to get it built and pretty ain't as good as functional. I would dearly love to put a cut down Bantam coupe body on our car just for the look, but the name of the game is pounds per horsepower and every bit left in the pits will get us to the other end quicker and faster. Our little flathead 6 Dodge is going to need all the help it can get and our goal is to build as light as possible. The car will be functional and have it's own special personality, like they were built in the beginning.
Weight is everything, If you want to go fast in one of these cars you need to go on a diet, yourself and the car. I will slowly peel off pounds off the car, myself will be harder. I weigh 220 and if I'm racing against another car that weighs the same as mine but the driver weighs 160 I'll get beat. Depressing, I think I'll go have another doughnut with my coffee.Roy
In our team, we take turns on driving duty, every other time. Brad had almost a hundred pounds advantage on me and was always faster. I think he's catchin up with me though. Must be spending more time behind a desk for a living. I think it would be cool to have an optional body. If everybody had one, we could hold special events. "OK, next weekend we're all running as "Compe***ion coupes".
Cheap & simple was our goal from the start and we feel we've managed that. Hell we haven't even gotten around to headers yet, we're still squeezing it out through a manifold. But I'd be dishonest if I claimed we haven't kicked around the idea of a "drop-on" body from time to time. In our case sort of a Speed Sport concept but with a tub style body. Gentlemen, we even have two more (wilder) designs for bodied HA/GRs we've dreamed up and would like to build one day. I think eventually that'd be a great thing to do. HA/GRcc & HA/GRcr, sounds good to me. However I fully agree with Drewfus, at least 'til this thing is going well enough to stand on its own. It certainly doesn't need to be diluted further for now. Our first fight is still on us; getting the concept itself to the points of recognition and acceptance.
Question: Does anyone know how fast the original "Bug" was? I don't think I've ever seen an ET or MPH on it. Back then I don't remember getting ET's, just MPH. I do remember the strip here in Kansas City had 2 guys at the finish line with red flags and they signaled which lane won. Ron
I believe I read in a magazine some where that the Bug set top time at Santa Ana of 109 mph. Which would be about what we're doing today. I'm sure the E.T. is much better today than then. This was about 1950 or 51. By 1955 the speed was near 150. I remember seeing Jazzy Nelson in his Fiat coupe powered by a nitro burning flathead go 132 at Pamona. He was in the high tens and took top eliminator for that day. That was in 1955 I believe. There were lots of modified coupes and sedans running in those days. There were lots of full bodied dragsters also. I think that the streamlining was thought about more than weight in those days. Pete Robinson was the real pioneer of weight. A super light weight dragster got out much faster than a high horsepower heavyweight. Art Arfons proved that horsepower was not everything. His aircraft engined dragsters mile per houred but had terrible E.T.s. Sorry for the history lesson just can't stop the mind once I get going. Roy
Well , I was going to build one with a body ! After weighing the truck cab by itself , (wow) I have decided to keep it simple also !!!! Got alot of parts rounded up ,now I just have to get busy !!! "Weight is great for anchors ,but hard on race cars "
do it...... you know you want to..... screw common sense and come and have some fun.... Cheers, Drewfus
No. Get a copy of the of the ANRA (or CNDRA) rule book as it illustrates the cage well. Cheers, Drewfus
The Jalopy Journal
