Landracing Forum
East Coast Timing Association => ECTA Rules Questions => Topic started by: tigerbird on October 01, 2011, 07:46:54 PM
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Are aluminum or Titanium lugnuts legal for LSR?
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After a quick scan of my '11 SCTA, ECTA, and LTA rulebooks, I can't find any requirements for lug nut material.
I'm curious, why would you want to run anything other than steel?
Ed
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NO
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I see it's on the ECTA site which involves a long drag strip. There might be some advantage in overcoming the inertia caused by the mass of the nuts but I would think the gain would be infinitesimal.
Pete
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Torquing the alum nuts would be good for one use. A lot of thread stretch each torque would weaken the nut, plus any side loading would not be good.
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Glen, aluminum lug nuts are quite common in oval track applications. They are used with 5/8" coarse studs and are put on and taken off with the same impact wrenches that are used with the steel studs. They are certainly subject to some wear but last a surprising length of time.
Pete
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would not be my choice and I think SCTA would dis allow.
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I don't disagree Glen and as I said, I don't see any advantage. Allowing them would just be one more rule open to interpretation and maybe causing enforcement issues. My philosophy regarding rules is that the thinner and simpler the rule book is the easier the rules are to enforce and the less is open to a racer's interpretation. :-D :-D :roll:
Pete
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Thanks for replies. I asked because a friend thought rotating inertial weight reduction(I think those were his words)might help me find a bit more speed. I think I'll stick with steel.
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Outlawed in NHRA as far back as 1969/1970 for use on any class car.
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aluminum or Ti lugnuts
NO
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An aluminum lug nut seem to be doable, although it might be more trouble than it is worth. It would work best with coarse threads as mentioned earlier and the design, alloy selection, and heat treatment would need to be carefully developed with lots of testing. This is a bit much for the hobbyist.
Titanium is a different animal than aluminum and it might work much better. It would not be good to rule it out. My choice, if I needed light nuts, would be to use ti. They would not be cheap.
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aluminum or Ti lugnuts
NO
These lug nuts are used in sprint car racing and the like where max acceleration out of the corners is the goal and light weight wheel, hub and suspension components are required, not a good idea where added weight for stability is needed.
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Personally I would not run aluminum nuts as they are easier to damage and have a pretty short life time compared to steel. They do get used by plenty of people on alot of cars with no problems.
I don't see a reason to not use titanium though. Cost aside, it is very strong and light. However, I don't think you would see any notable benefit from either over steel