actually i guess i need
A LOT of help
Hi, my name is stephan (i was born and raised in switzerland ...so please excuse my sometimes bumpy english
)
i build very radical off-road cars that we mainly drive in the desert and sand dune areas of the west like Dumont CA, Little Sahara UT, etc...
my best friend Ryan English (and owner of the most powerfull car i ever build) was/is already a speed-freak but now he got somehow infected with the Landspeed bug
i`m new to LSR and dont know much about it but he told me that two older LSRacing legends (IIRC the names are Lufkin and Isky if i spell the names right ??) visited his home in Henderson NV and after seeing his car they told him he absolutely has to take it to Bonneville and see what it can do WOT
but here starts the trouble; there is no doubt the car has the power and the strength to go fast ....but it was designed for serious offroad action only (with things like 21" suspension travel at each A-arm corner....i guess thats about 20" more then what we would need on the salt lol )
i think all the aerodynamics are
completely wrong for high speed;
the car is designed to scoop large amounts of cooling air into the radiators and coolers that are needed with the amount of HP we are running.
i guess the car is about as aerodynamic as a barn door
to make things worst the car has full skid plates (they can safe your butt in the dunes but create a huge amount of lift under speed)
here are a couple pictures of the car and some tech data:
the car (we like to call it V-Rex) has a front/midship mounted all aluminum, all forget internals 572 cid brodix tall deck bigblock with a 5 rotor dry sump system on it. it is force feed by low mounted twin turbos that share a large intercooler.
the trans is a top of the line custom full manual TH 400/Allison hybrid with 10" race TC (~2200 rpm stall and ultra tight to keep slip/heat at a minimum) together with a large Fluidyne
Enduro Transcooler and a scatter-proof SFI bellhousing.
the engine/EFI/turbos are set up for endurance/good driveability and not peak HP but it still made 855 hp at the rear wheels on the last dyno pull (at 12 psi boost and 91 pump gas) the engine/fuel system could handle a lot more boost (on race gas) if needed.
the rearend is a very stout custom B&J Quick change with all 300M internals (including the torsional torque sensing differential) and a oil pump/filter cooler setup.
the rear A-arm suspension uses race 935 CV`s with 300m axles. the rear hubs run on full floater GN snouts and are driven by 300m drive plates and stub axles.
the 1.75" DOM tube frame is extensively triangulated and also has already some "armor plates" in key locations (mainly in the center tunnel around the trans/driveshaft and between the tires and the driver compartment (the 39" tall sand "paddle" tires are not really designed for the speed this car can reach in the dunes)
all 4 A-arms are controlled by 3" race 3 tube bypass shocks and progressive two stage coil carriers
the car weights 4200 lbs wet; the weight distribution is 45% front : 55% rear. wheelbase is 130", overall length is 14' and it is 92" wide front and rear (with 35" desert tires).
needles to say that the car is very fast in the desert/dunes but
where the heck do i start to modify it for high speed i guess lowering the car and limit the travel would be the first step. switching to longer QC gears and start searching for high-speed tires is next....
we actually plan to go to El Mirage in a couple weeks for a little testrun to see how the car feels like at higher speed (the car was already over 130 mph in the desert and except for some front lift it was reacting very stable)
we dont expect to brake any record with our brick on wheels (i guess it is/will be the fastest dune buggie anyway) this is strictly just for the fun of it
any and all suggestions, tips and help are highly appreciated stephan