salt in funny places

[dickj]

On my last trip home from Bonneville I ran the trailer and truck through car washes four times while on the road.  (Didn't have a race car, we sold it at Bonneville.)  We stopped and visited three parks in southern Utah, and Grand Canyon on the other rim.  We visited Roswell, N.M., and ended up spending the fourth night on the road outside of El Paso.

I got up in the morning and walked out of the motel room sipping some great motel coffee and spied a chunk of salt the size of a soft ball on the ground just behind the rear trailer tire.  I was astonished that such a sized piece of salt would make it over a thousand miles of very bumpy driving, or for that matter that it had survived the car washes.  Two little Mexican boys of about eight and ten years old each were stooped down examining the salt.  The littler boy reached out and tentativly poked it with his index finger.  He informed the older boy that it wasn't cold at all.  I about choked on my coffee trying to hold back the laughter.  The older boy, with all his wisdom, informed the younger boy that it was because we were so far south.  If we were up north, it would be very cold, he announced with all the confidence of several college professors I have known.  

After all, a muddy chunk of Bonneville salt does look a lot like a muddy chunk of snow!  This will always be one of my fondest memories of a trip to Bonneville.

[Cajun Kid]

They do not look like SR  tread patterns.. They look like Drag Radial directional tires (mounted backwards maybe)

Charles

[bbarn]

They are on backwards. We were taking off the salt tires for transport and tossed the drag radials on for transport. In a hurry, they were installed backwards. THEN we decided to roll it out onto the salt for a few shots. It was too late to take them off and reverse them. It's been driving Rob nuts everytime he sees them. I think he wanted to stop on the way home and unload the trailer to switch them around.

[Rex Schimmer]

Rob,
Have you thought of using the new Goodyear top fuel fronts, I think they are 22x4x17 and the order number is 808-130-089. Much narrower than what you presently have and are speed rated above 300.

Also think about doing something to cover the inside of the wheel and also the spindle. As this side is pretty easy to make something that does not rotate you may actually be able to make the air go were  you want it.

Rex

PS: Really love your Le Mans!!!

[robfrey]

Hi Rex,
Do you know what rim they recommend for those fronts? I do like the idea of inner wheel covers (non-rotating) but we are having trouble with tie rod end location. I believe them to be to far inboard creating way too much ackerman effect. This will need to be fixed before we start work on the inner wheel covers. I guess I should make them for the rear also. It will also help keep salt off the brakes and such. BTW, what is the load rating on those top fuel fronts? We have about 1500 lbs on the front wheels now.

[4-barrel Mike]

http://www.racegoodyear.com/tires/pdf/drag_front_runner.pdf

Mike

[jimmy six]

M & H Front Runners. 22's or 24's .....Been good to me for 20 years...........

[interested bystander]

I like Jimmy Six's suggestion -especially at ELMO.

Rex, don't forget, the Goodyear people don't look kindly on running ANY drag race stuff at a Landracing venue.

The front end load (even if it is 6000lb) is only brief seconds on a TF car.

I'd confirm with the Goodyear folks.

[Rex Schimmer]

I talked with the Goodyear engineer and he was didn't seem to have any problems with using the new style front on a LSR machine. There are several cars that run the older style top fuel front, Tracer Racing comes to mind and they have run over 240 pretty consistantly on the olde style.The guys to talk to at Goodyear are:Dave Farwill, LSR Engineer, 330-796-1202 and Mark Kan Kamp, Head Engineer Racing Div. 330-796-1217.

I talke with Dave a while back regarding running the new TF front on a 3 inch wide wheel and he gave it his approval.

Always good to ask.

Rex

[racergeo]

     A couple years age Dave Farwell told me front runners would fail on my lakester at 270mph and sure enough. It only weighs 880lbs on rear. (FWD) I now run the M&Hs. Goodyear has those cool lil 21" 300mph tires.

[interested bystander]

Rex, taking nothing away from your credible, informative, posts for years on this site, I'd personally tend to be more prudent is recommending those specific tires, which are, admittedly, much improved over their predecessors, and quiz Mr Farwell and Van Camp over the specifics of one's particular application.

If I were Poteet and Main, Nish, Sprit of Rett, et al, I'd certainly want those  two Goodyear person's and their supervisor's DOCUMENTED approval!

[Blue]

Note the front axle on our lakester. How did the salt get plastered to the front of the axle?  We pushed the car everywhere so it did not come from tow vehicle. Maybe some weird vortex coming off the nose?

I hate to disappoint, but there's nothing weird about this.  Yes, it is due to the vortexes coming off the nose;  and the inboard spacing from the wheels is due to the separated flow coming off the front of the tires.  This is perfectly normal for that nose shape: it's an excellent vortex generator.  Try going conical on the nose and using narrower front tires.