Dave,
Despite two spins, the T'Bird & Grib did quite well for the first time on
the salt. 1st spin was due to a tire test, (I'll discuss later) the second
was due to an eager driver with an itchy NOS button under his finger. The
Bird weighed in at 3560 lbs without me in it, and boasted 665 HP at the rear
wheels. My top run was 226+ MPH and I got off it at the 3 mile, David
Freiburger did an outstanding job with a 223+ on his first and only pass.(
he was nice to me and didn't go over my speed). Generally, the car handled
fabulous.
All Winston Cup and Busch (NASCAR) vehicles utilize "truck" or trailing arms
mounted to a Ford 9" rear and sprung with coil springs. Even the Goody'd
Dash cars utilize a smaller version of this design. There's a hell of a lot
of adjustment available on just this aspect of these cars, but the design is
quite simple and historical. They're called "truck" arms cause they came
from a 60's model pickup.
We ran a 2.75 rear gear with a locker. I've little experience on the salt
but am convinced the locker is best.
The best tire combination was the Goodyear Rain Tires as used by NASCAR in
Japan. Even though they're 12 inches wide, there's plenty of open space in
the tread designed to expel water (and air). I plan to test a smaller
version next year on the fronts but the back setup is right!. They picked up
very little heat even though I ran them at 50 PSI and showed no sign of
tread separation or degradation. No slippage getting up to speed (over 200
in the quarter) and steady as she goes in the open. I wish I had a dollar
for everyone that came by and told me how they were not going to work.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Dahlgren" <ddahlgren@snet.net>
To: <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 7:25 AM
Subject: survey question
> For cars with about 600 to 700 hp 3000 to 4000 lbs speeds over 200...
>
> What type of rear suspension ?
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