I think if you really want to break a record you have to do several
things. The first is to come up with a logical budget of time and
money also critically assess your fabrication skills so you know how
much you have to spend on farming work out. That will help decide what
class might be appropriate. For instance if your fab skills and
equipment are modest the a special construction car is probably not
for you unless you can find one used at a real good price. If the
finances are tight give the classes and current records a hard look to
see what you might be able to fit in to. Remember there is no less
honor and glory in setting a record in F/Production than in AA/FAlt or
AA/BFS. It is still a worlds record and you are the fastest. At that
point pick out the best car that fits he class both aero and engine
and do ignore what might be your favorite for now until you make an
honest assessment of what might be the smartest choice rather than the
popular one. If your favorite is the best then go for it but many
times you will find it is not the case. The same goes for whatever you
have kicking around. A while back there was some discussion on the
merits of a Monza vs. a Camaro aerodynamically. The Monza is about 3/4
the size of the Camaro with about the same Cd. There is noting you can
do to get 25% more power than a well preped engine to make up the
difference so if you pick the car body wrong then you are immediately
at a disadvantage. The same goes for the engine as well. Don't come up
with some obscure combination to try to prove a point and make your
favorite engine fit a particular class. Proving a point is very
expensive. Many people try to build a Chevy v-8 to run as an E class
engine and yes you can do it with a lot of money and experiments on
the dyno but it will not be cheap and might prove to be very
frustrating as well. A better combination might be a Buick V-6 or an
import engine. I ran a 4 liter one not too long ago on the dyno and
came up with about 560 hp on gas. Not a real world beater but more
than the chevy combo probably has to offer and it was done with all
old tech parts as these engines have been out of favor for a long time
now. I think Bob Gribble has a pile of these parts around or did at
one time anyway so a Buick V-6 in a Monza size car might be one
way. Another is the import route. Lots of small cars that are pretty
slippery with a 3 or 4 liter 4 valve engine that might just slip right
into a class. The whole key is to really look at what you have in time
and money and be creative using them. Just looking at the records some
of the E,F and G GT and production records look pretty old and slow
compared to what might be done with modern equipment. Even if you are
a chevy fan remember that the new import body styles in those
displacement ranges are pretty slippery. Here is a real sleeper.. A
Subaru WRX sedan in G production supercharged. It has 4 wheel disc
brakes and all wheel drive as a factory deal and is small and has
pretty good aero. The stock engine is a 2 liter 227 hp but the
european models run more boost on pump gas and make about 340 hp. A
race version of the engine is around 550 to 600 hp the current record
is 196.. Another might be G/GT the honda 2000 is a 2 liter 240 hp 9000
rpm engine off the showroom floor and the current record is 157.. The
key is to think a little outside the box engineering wise. If you
build what everyone else has to run the same class they are in you are
banking on being smarter than the accumulated knowledge and efforts of
what has been done already. Unfortunately the only way to do that is
with money and lots of it and most has to go under the hood because
everyone has the same body design and same aero load so the only way
to go faster is with more power rather than reducing the power
requirement in the first place by picking a slipper small car to
start.
As always Your mileage may vary, and this is for entertainment purposes only,
flame suit is on as well.
Dave Dahlgren
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