4WD Lakester

[maguromic]

At our weekly bench racing  breakfast this morning the question came up, has there been any 4WD lakesters in recent times?  I have seen the 4wd stream liners and roadsters, but cant recall ever seeing a lakester.  If you have pictures of the drives on any of the stream liners roadsters or lakesters post them.   Tony

[Glen]

John Bjorkman built a 4wd  lakester. The 4 drive wheels were in the rear , all were chain driven and powered by a 2 cyl blown KB engine the John also built. The lakester started out as a motor cycle with the same engine. It crashed a couple of times so John made a lakester out of it and when it crashed the 2nd time he added 2 more wheels. The KB was sideways and chain driven to the rear axle, when the 2nd rear axle was added it was also chain driven thus becoming a 6 wheel 4wd lakester. BTW, it ran 218 mph sever years ago in 2wd drive. The car now is powered with a Chevy and standard rear axle set up.

I  don't know of any others but it could be a interesting project.

[maguromic]

Thanks Glen,  I forgot about that one, sometimes at our breakfasts they throw out  mind benders on the trivia.  Tony

[javajoe79]

 I was thinking you could only run AWD in a production class or a streamliner.  Guess not though.

[Tman]

As tight as most lakesters are it would be tough. Chaz and the Strange Days guys from MT have their Front wheel drive lakester ready to run. Something like theirs might have room for a driveshaft.

[Stan Back]

But, lakesters don't have to, by rule, be tight.  Tread width does that.  And those pointy ones at both ends make them tight.  Take Treit's car, put the wheels outside, and you've got a 4WD lakester, but probably not the most efficient (who knows?).

[PatMc]

Drivetrain losses increase with 4x4, weight and 2 more gearsets.  If you are adding ballast, then just the extra gearsets.  Not double though, since you are reducing the load per axle.

IMO, 4x4 when used correctly is a safety feature, not a performance feature.  I'd rather race with it on.  Side benefit?  It won't tear up the track as much.

[Tman]

But, lakesters don't have to, by rule, be tight. 

Yes, but you know human nature!

[kiwi belly tank]

Getting the driveline past the driver is a tough one that most people don't seem to want to tackle. A lakester would actually be easier to do than a liner due to the wheels being outside the body. Nolan White & Burklands liners were that configuration.
Back when we ran Betsy we always had traction issues. Now with traction control allowed under the rules that has changed the playing field in 2WD but it's pulling the power out. 4WD liners are typically fatter in the front for obvious reasons.
My liner is 4WD, rear engine, driver behind the front wheels & 35" wide. All with off the shelf parts.
  Sid.

[SPARKY]

Sid put the driver in front of the frt axle or behind the rear---frt would put more weight on frt axel

[kiwi belly tank]

The car is built & I'm doing systems. I have no interest in being behind the fire or forward of the front wheels where there is no reference points to the attitude of the car. Weight & ballance is designed into the car.
  Sid.

[Glen]

Sid, I agree. BTW are you going to make SW this year?Be good to see you again.

[Tman]

Sid, you make a good point and got me thinking of ways you could do it. Not that I will or can on mine, just good things to mull  over in my head. Mental builds are far cheaper than the real thing!

[kiwi belly tank]

SW next yr for the liner, this yr I will just be a tourist.  
I was originally going to 4WD the tank but then realised I'd better cut right to the chase so I started building the liner.
I'm not sure that 4WD is nessessary unless you have gobbs of power to hook up. I just have memories of giving Al's tires a hair cut down at the 11 & sending him back again.
  Sid.
ps, Two transfer cases is the easy, simple & cheap way. The front T-case in front of the diff with the pinion facing forward so you can run rear end gears for better ratio choices.
On a NP-205, (no chain) between GM, Dodge & Ford units, there are enough shafts to have 32 spline sticking out of every hole. This will allow the use of standard 32 spline Greek Couplers if you wanted to eliminate UJ's.