bantam roadster legal for rear engine modified roadster class?

[ulrace]

Would truly welcome input from someone who has tried this combination. I have looked at a couple mild steel cars that are relatively heavy. They tend to be in the 160" wheelbase range but are heavier wall mild steel and usually well built. We were at Speedweek in 2005 and started talking about the class and how there were chassis readily available. It just seems a natural to get to the salt without a lengthy construction time.
 I realize the tread width is the same for all  but the bantam body  looks as if it shields the air from the rear tires better that the fords do.  Of course it is wider so there is a tradeoff.

bob

[dwarner]

I think JD was saying that the required 50" rear tread moves the rear tires out of the protection of the body.

Are you going to find that the tubing dia. on the NHRA legal car too small for LSR?

DW

[jimmy six]

Dan is somewhat correct. If you are thinking of putting your tire wheel combination at the exact 50" you are correct in thinking part of the wheel will be inside of the widest part of the body. With that said if you want it as low as possible your rear tires will need to fit at the original fender./wheel well line which keep the diameter farily small. Good luck

[ulrace]

Thanks dan; I was concerned about the tubing also but the NHRA spec is actually .010 heavier than LSR and roll cage tubing is same od. Not sure about the other tubes but the cars i am looking at are both mild steel and heavily built.
 The hudson boys Austin is a good example of the body partially shielding the rear tires at legal width. Just looks like the way to go. Jimm Six has a great point about the tire size to get the car low. I'll look into that.
 When the rulebook says that skirts can be only 1/2"  thick; are they taikng about the material thickness? In other words a skirt could be 1/2 " thick but extend 3" from the rocker toward the ground. could not flip out at the bottom edge as that would violate the thickness rule?
bob

[Model A coupe]

Hello jimmy six.It's Dave Koskela,not Kostella.He still has the roadster(along with 6 392'S and an Allison V-1710 V-12),but it's all apart.He got hurt in a m/c crash and is partialy disabled.He lives about 2 miles from me we talk once a week,and I'll be seeing him tomorrow.
Your right about the frontal area,the late Alex Tremulis pointed this out to us in 1969.
Also had a wing attached to the underside of the rear axle in '69.SCTA would not give an offical time with it,but some officials were looking at the car without the wing and let slip that it went 208 on first run(over then record).Ran 202 without wing.The wing was a Smokey Yunick type deal,you had to read between the lines.
As was previously stated,that was then,this is now.

[interested bystander]

If you haven't bought a Bantam (or the earler Austin) body yet be REEEL careful what you buy -some of the ones that are available for mostly drag race use MAY not dimensionally be accurate. Even though it's a Modified Roadster you have to adhere (sp?) to stock height , width, length dimensions from firewall back. Of course maye you're starting with an original.
Ask KEN KELLEY about dimensional accuracy on his '27T. And he bought a car that was already pretty heavily campaigned but was DQ'd.

[ulrace]

Hey bystander.. that occured to me also. Looking at the bantam that Speedway makes but need to research factory dimensions vs theirs. All the dragrace  used bodies would be unlikely to be useable.
The body just seems to me to be much more  possibly aero than a 23 or 27 t. ilove the t's and have a steel track roadster. for modified rear engine I think the Austin is it.
 Planning on running as 3 liter (F) class.

 if anyone has the dimensions it needs to be that would be much appreciated.

thansk

bob

[interested bystander]

The Speedway body would be my choice, also. Probably the Fibreglass Trends(if you can still locate that company) ORIGINAL body with the fenders is OK- the fenderless dragrace body was cobbled up by yrs truly and Bonneville Streamliner builder Don Arivett back in the mid-'80s of which they made a mold.
But I'd still try to find an original factory body and maybe make templates off it- especially after Kelley's '27T debacle that I'm not sure was quite fair. That body hadn't been built since Oct 1927- at least Bantams were built (albeit in small number) up to '40. There are several websites devoted to American Austins and Bantams if you want to do the research.

My point is, what has time and miles of roads done to all the vintage bodies? How close do the dimensions need to be?

[SPARKY]

close enough to stand up under PROTEST!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ulrace]

Amen Sparky!!
 Bend the rules and go between them but always, Always comply.

So bystander; now we know Why the drag bodies may not be legal. Should ask what other projects you may have been involved in... (lol)
 It is a shame because the drag bodies are plentiful around here.. (Ohio) Still Speedway is reasonable. They list the width of the body at widest point at 51"  Hmmm; if that is the rear fenderwell then the tire is 1/2 behind that fenderwell.

bob

[interested bystander]

Projects yrs truly's been involved in?

 Lotsa drag race stuff, couple airplanes, some Landspeed stuff. In other words nuthin that made me a rich man!

[Rex Schimmer]

I am attaching a pic of a new Bantam rear engine roadster that ran in 2007 and 2006. Really pretty car, don't remember how fast.

Rex

[jimmy six]

Sorry to disapoint you but rear engine modified  in the picture is a 34 FORD.........................

[836dstr]

I was blown away with this car when I saw it at Bonneville in 2006. Beautiful car with incredible workmanship. Like JD said it was definitely a '34.

[jimmy six]

It used a 4 cylinder "KB" and ran over 200...Think he might have any plans of using all 8 cylinders?? It did need some body clarification while in impouds but they were straighted without too much weeping and knashing of teeth....