My Idea is to run 4 VR or Hall Sensors, positioned at 90 degree intervals, and run a wasted spark coil system with 4 old school Mopar, or gm HEI modules, etc. Have them on a slider to adjust full timing. Yes there will be no curve to that system, but a lot of mags (including the one we ran last year) are locked advance anyways. We usually just get the motor spinning, then hit the mag, and usually works pretty well. Even at 38 deg timing!
Sounds like a good plan to me.
I agree that vintage should be vintage. I also do not agree how a 7,000 dollar race pack can be allowed, or the 44 amp mags people run, as both of these were never around in the 50's. It should be a POINTS ONLY breaker in vintage. The problem is, what do you do with all of the people that have records with Crank Computer Ignitions?
Some people think vintage should be vintage and take it to extremes and say that everything down to the gauges you use be vintage. Then there are those that think you should be able to use EFI. So there are two ends to the spectrum. I personally don't see anything wrong with any kind of logging system as they offer no direct performance advantage to the operation of the engine. They just collect data. And I've personally yet to see someone running vintage show up with a 44 amp top fuel mag yet but I get what you're saying. I've honestly been pushing for something should hopefully work for everyone. While saying points ignitions only is obviously very vintage, I think it's acceptable to allow CDI and HEI ignition which aren't truly vintage as they didn't exist until the 70's or so, they aren't as modern as a fully computer controlled ignition like an Electromotive. What do you do about the records set by people using computers? Nothing. You let them be. I don't think anyone has set a record so high using a computer controlled system that it couldn't be overtaken by someone using a vintage style ignition. Case in point, Richard Reed took 3 of the Montana Boys records at Speed Week last year using an old Wico mag. The point of limiting things to older technology IMO is to keep things vintage.
BTW where I got the crank triggers were used in the 40's and 50's was from an official as I never knew they were being used back then.
I understood where you got that from but I've discussed the usage of crank trigger ignitions on cars used at the lakes with my dad numerous times and we're both in agreement that they were not used however there's the likelihood that the technology to run a crank trigger ignition did exist back then in some form. The rules have kind of followed the idea to try and use what was commonly used on the lakes and not just what was available anywhere in the world. Perhaps he didn't fully communicate in his email what he was trying imply.
Are the committee reps supposed to be ignition experts and know everything about crank trigger ignitions and what Mallory, MSD, Accel, etc etc etc makes and what's legal and what's not??
Nathan, I chopped out the rest of your reply because this stuck out to me... If I had to answer this question, my response would be YES! It should be expected that the official knows, at minimum, what is legal and what is not.
You didn't answer my question. Are the committee reps supposed to be ignition experts? You said they're supposed to know what's legal and what's not. They do know what's legal and what's not. Ignitions that are computers and illegal and ignitions that aren't computer controlled are not. That is known.
I know you guys are new at this so maybe you don't know this yet but in the inspectors world, we take a very hands off approach to competitor vehicles. It's not the inspectors job to tell the competitor how to build their car. It's simply their job to make sure that the competitor is compliant with the rules. The same thing applies to any other official. It's not the officials job to tell you what kind of parts you should use. If you want to know if brand x of ignition system is okay to use then I'm sure they could review how brand x ignition works and determine if it's okay or not. That's a question that'll actually get you an answer. Asking what ignition you should use to guarantee that you won't get protested is not. Similarly, asking an official what kind of tires to use, what fire extinguisher brand to use, and what fire suit brand to use won't get answered. That's not how it works. It's your responsibility to use parts that meet the rule requirement and it's the official job to see that they are, not tell you how to do it. Speed rated racing tires, check. 10lbs of extinguisher agent, check. SFI -20 fire suit, check. Not, oh yeah go buy some Mickey's, use FireFox and buy a Deist suit. That's not how it works.
