RaceDeck Roadster Performance

[Kitch]

First, congraulations to Juergen Moller and the RaceDeck crew for the slew of new records they set at Bonneville in the last year.  They currently hold the F/Blown Street Roadster record at 188+, the F/Blown Roadster record at 197+ and the F/Blown Modified Roadster record at 199+.  What I'd like to have them address is how they feel the changes made to the configuration of the car affected the speed.  Did taking off the rear fenders really make a difference?  Did blocking off the grille shell make a difference.  Or was it a matter of running the motor harder or gearing.  They might not have all the answers, but I bet they've got a clue they could share with us.

[fwilly]

-I was thinking the same thing.
 -That deal is pretty impressive and I'd like to hear some of the stories behind the engine and the car.

[jimmy six]

Hey Kitch! take your fender off, remove your head lights, tape up the grille and take ride. All your giving up is driver location, engine set back, and a step pan. If my engine will live long enough I'd put on that pointed nose I've got and run modified. I've already gone 6 over that record and I'm willing to give up a belly pan and setback.(probably scare myself to death) JD. PS: I think we've just begun to see what those smaller engine classes with turbos are going to do.

[DallasV]

I drove that roadster a few times. To let you how impressive that is with a 4 cyl, I ran 207 with a 500" injected JP-1 in that car. Glen will probably remember that run because it took about 45 min to put 500" of aluminum JP-1 into plastic garbage bags after that expensive little pass. Anyway that car is about a un-aerodynamic and heavy as a roadster can be. (I'm not sure you can use aerodynamic and roadster in the same sentence?), so anything you can do to clean that car up is going to get you some M.P.H's. As for the motor, The engine builder, Darrell Cox and the boys at Hinckley Dodge put a bitchin motor together. They are currently putting another "F" motor together with more horsepower that they are going to put in a neon or something like that. you can see more info at www.racedeck.com

[Kitch]

Yeah -- that's what the question to Jorgen (sorry about the spelling the first time) is.  Some people have the opinion that shielding a rotating tire is an advantage.  In fact, as we all know, a lakester with fenders becomes a streamliner (yeah, it's just the rules -- not necessarily what really happens).  So here's a car that made minimal changes and we have a chance to learn what really happened.  J.D. -- I can't take the fenders off: they're molded on to the replica, slick body.  And I don't think Jorgen put a pointy nose on it.  So did the fenders (and the headlights) make a ten mile per hour difference?  The setback didn't change, nor the driver location.  Come on, Jorgen, tell us your secrets!

[DallasV]

He did put a pointed nose on it for the modified class. A cone shaped grill insert. He also had better air in Oct when he ran 200. Jorgan also put a flat grill insert in when going from street to roadster.
 
  <small>[ February 25, 2004, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: Dallas ]</small>

[RaceDeck]

Hey all!
 When I first got the Roadster,Larry Volk had already done some of his "magic" on the chassis set-up and that was a big part of our success. The car definetly handles better at speed with the coned nose plate we ran in the Modified Class. The car is a handfull as a street roadster with the open grill, fenders and lights...It likes to jump around a bit :>
 
 For this year we are putting a fresh motor in the roadster with a bit more horsepower, we are also working on a few other changes with the tranny and chassis set-up. I would like to try and bump all three of our records over the 200mph mark, which will be a real challange. We may also enter in the F/fuel classes as well.
 
  We are also putting together a Dodge SRT-4 for the F/Blown Coupe class.Hopefully it will be ready for SpeedWeek...
 If you go to our web you can see pictures of the three different versions we ran...
 
 Take Care
 http://www.racedeckracing.com