Landracing Forum
Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => Bonneville General Chat => Topic started by: bob on June 26, 2018, 03:35:43 PM
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been out a bunch practicing push offs with my streamliner - dead engine - no battery - no fuel in vehicle - remote area - no help - up to 60 mph. to check steering - brakes - straight line driveability - etc . so far all good. have been using a hand held two way radio to communicate with my pusher. I know that wont fly on the salt. what ,if any , type of radio does anyone else use . to communicate with their pusher . road bikes use all types of radios to talk to each other . is this o k under your helmet . would have to be voice activated , wireless . or am I over thinking this ? and just push and go . thanks for any info bob
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Personally, we start the motor..check oil pressure etc then it’s off we go ....up to 40, engage clutch and hit the gas. Just like the old Top Fuel dragsters started.
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ya , maybe it was just the first couple times getting pushed off ,was nice to be in contact with my pusher man . probably after getting used to how it operates will get a system down like you have . we all have a first time. thanks
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The race driver makes all the decisions, he leaves the push truck not the other way around. At that time the pusher can get off it & turn out. If the driver doesn't like something he can turn out while being pushed.
I've pushed a few cars where the driver was not focused & was wandering, not a good situation. You don't want to be chasing the muther around out there!
Sid.
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I am with Sid---we count 1001, 1002, 1003 1004 and put the car into gear at around 1005 and nail the throttle--- that is when our eng 1500 RPM idle speed comes close to matching low gear car speed. That was all determined by how fast the car will accelerate by it's self.
What ifs should be determined in advance.
The push truck driver has a big responsibility until the car is off the truck......
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we experimented with a few things even using a cell phone blue tooth set up in my helmet. It really is more trouble than its worth. Once you have a driver and pusher with some experience its pretty unnecessary.
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thanks all , ( tom burkland- your reply was much appreciated ) sounds like practice makes perfect . bob
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Teach your wife to drive the push truck......mine pretends shes pushing me off a cliff and the go speeds are perfect. 35-40 @ EM, 50-60 @BV
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Our rule is – when you think you can go faster than the push truck, leave.
We recommend not using a stick-shift pusher. They sometimes give unwanted results. Unfortunately, we don't follow our own recommendations.
(It would be great if ORB could post his famed "chase" in video or stop-action format.)
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Our rule is – when you think you can go faster than the push truck, leave.
I will second that
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And if you work at it the announcers will say it looks like the push truck is trying to get a time slip too. Of course you know how I know that...... :| :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
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Here's another tip that's really desirable for pushing long skinny cars. Mounting the push bar to the left chassis rail centers the race car in front of the driver & I also have a piece of plastic pipe that sticks up in line of sight to give an accurate center.
Back in the one course Betsy days, one pass would entail 16 to 20 miles on the push truck & one SW we made 14 passes & went through two tanks of gas in the truck. :-P
Sid.
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we tape a fork or spoon the push truck's hood that lines up with the center of the rear tire on Ms Liberty
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Where's Mike when we need him?
Here's just a shot of what can go wrong. I believe our friend Ray the Rat took it. The push truck driver didn't do anything wrong. He's just trying to get away. I'm not being unkind to One-Run Bob – he sent me the picture.
I was close to the starting line shooting some pictures when Ray came up behind me and said, "I'm going back to the truck." The sun was hard on him, his health was failing.
I said, "Ray, you can't leave now. Look who's on the line!"
Ray said, "Who's that?"
"One-Run Bob!"
"Whadaja mean?"
"Just pay attention."
It was worth the wait. I was going click . . . . click. Ray was going click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click with his better equipment and much superior talent.
Take alook – if I can post this . . .
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on my big truck I mounted a camera pointing down on the push bar, Always cracks me up when someone is trying to help by telling us how close we are to the car and the truck driver is looking at the stereo and ignoring them. Its pretty hard to see the actual car from in the truck till it pulls away. Course we only push about ten feet.
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It always amazes me when some crew member is using hand signals trying to move the truck up the last foot or so from the race car. It inevitably ends up with a small or large bang. We just get the truck close and easily roll the car back to it.