Lakester Project

[K38]

I am a car loving complete newby.  I have been interested in LSR racing since seeing the Spirit of America At the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago when I was a kid.  I also saw the Blue Flame in Akron when a group went to see the Soap Box Derby.  Talk about sensory overload for a car guy!  I would like to build a belly tank type Lakester that would get me to the 200 MPH club eventually.  I'm a school teacher, so I'm not rich and I realize the complexity of the project, including the long list of rules and safety devices.  Where does a 46 year old in Del Rio, TX start.  I have a couple of friends who are machinists and drag racers.  Any ideas would be great.  My son is studying Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M and I would like to involve him (straight A's in Calculus....Scary)  There is no time limit and I don't want to take any short cuts.

Thanks,

Dwight

[Dynoroom]

Welcome Dwight, You have chosen a tough class... but if you indeed have the drive you can do it. You are probably looking at unblown and in the "B" "C" "D" "E" class if the 2 club is your goal. 1st GET A RULE BOOK! Make it 3, you'll find out why later. Next you need to go to Bonneville or a land speed meet to look at what others are doing. A belly tank lakester is a great project but do the research to build a car that can be versatile enough to run in different configurations if needed. What I mean is consider different engines, transmissions or supercharging. If you follow through with this project you will find tremendous satisfaction in running your car. Good luck & I wish you the best in your endeavors. This is the best group of people you will meet anywhere. If you run "C" gas lakester you'll need around 770-810 hp just to give you some idea of what the current cars running (and setting records) might have.  

[PJQ]

Plan B:  Migrate the family to Australia and aim for one of the many open DLRA classes at Lake Gairdner.

Serious now.
Small steps that don't blow out of control.  That's my approach, being a similar age (and financial situation) to yourself and having no involvement with motorsport since some crazy teenage years.

My buddy and I are office-worker-corporate-slaves, not much involvement on the hands-dirty side. We've got a scrapped Formula Vee racer and chopped behind the drivers seat - rebuilding the rear for longer wheel base and bigger power plant. This is a massive short-cut to a Lakester that builds our experience while not being an overwhelming project. The BIG car remains a dream, while this baby is the reality check.

For me there's nothing worse than the feeling of being swamped by something way out of my league (in terms of experience required, or financially).

Regards,
PJ Quick
Velocity Science Laboratories

[K38]

Thanks for the quick replies.  I sort of like the Australia idea but when I was in high school I heard an orchestra from Australia that came to our school on tour.  Jeeeeze were they good!  As I am an orchestra director by trade I am sure I would be unneeded.  Back to reality.  I would like to go to Bonneville to watch the nationals some time, I'm sure I would learn a great deal.  If I lived in CA I'm sure that getting involved with one of the clubs out there would be a great way to learn.

Dwight

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Dwight, you've got way more going for you than do many new folks -- and being a school teacher is one of the good things.  That means (I assume) that you've got some time available in mid-August to go to SpeedWeek and see the show in person.  As you've already been told, it's (probably) the best way to get your feet wet in land speed racing.  go spectate, absorb, enjoy being able to get so close to the racers and crews (but be careful you don't get too close -- someone's liable to hand you a cleaning rag or a wrench and ask you to help!).

Another good thing is that Del Rio is only a hop-skip-big jump to Wendover, and you wouldn't even have to go out of your way much at all to stop in Blanding, Utah, to have Sumner give you a briefing that'll make the spectacle all that much more interesting.

Be there for Friday, 11 August, which is tech/inspection day -- and you'll be able to see all the cars opened up.  You can get a zillion ideas and concepts by looking at what the others have already done.  You can try out your ideas and have the bad ones shot down right then and there -- saving yourself some time when you're actually building, too.

We look forward to seeing you on the Salt.

[Rex Schimmer]

K38, great to see your interest in LSRing, the lakester class is one that certainly provide lots of challenges and certainly provide you with the 200 mph speeds that you are looking for. You need to go to Sumners web site, which is purplesagetradingpost.com and look at what Sum is doing are regard to building a lakester that is going to use a 750 motor cycle engine. There are also many more people that are presently building new lakesters for the salt, and I understand that Seth Hammond is going to have a new one this year so you should give it a good look over, also Steve Nelson is building a "tank" and is planning to be at Speedweek and I have seen Steves car and you could certainly use some of Steve's great ideas to design your car.

I am also planning a lakester project with my son, also a mechanical engineering student, great welder and country fair fabricator. Once I get my roadster done, the next car is going to be a 1000 cc lakester.

I would highly recommed a trip to Bonneville and this year looks to ge a "dozzie!" Lots of new cars and if the weather holds the salt could be hard, long and fast, and the people are the greatest!!!

Rex

[RichFox]

Just thinking about a tank, If I wanted to be in the 2 club I would look at the G/BFL record of 204. Honda S2000 motor, turbo, maybe a tiny bit of squirt. Looks like a plan to me.

[K38]

what about the the tank body and the frame offered by www.rodnrace.com  ?  Are most lakesters designed for Bonneville suspended or are they rigid?  I can see how both could have advantages.

Thanks,

Dwight

[Sumner]

what about the the tank body and the frame offered by www.rodnrace.com  ?  Are most lakesters designed for Bonneville suspended or are they rigid?  I can see how both could have advantages.

Thanks,

Dwight

Hi Dwight,  are you going to be able to make it to one of the meets this year as the others have suggested?  I feel that is priority one right there.  You will learn more in 3-5 days than you will searching the web for a year.

If you can't then if you go to this page:

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar/bonneville-Index.html

.....where you will find a link to my lakester construction and to Harv's lakester construction.  On my pages near the beginning you can see what I think about the suspension deal.

More important though is further down that page you will find a link to a page with dozens of links to other cars under construction.  You can also do searches on this site as a lot of the questions I'm sure you will have have been discussed.  If you can't find an answer then ask.

I think after you look a little and decide what motor class you want to be in you will have a better idea if you think that tank will work for you (Hooley got the front for his stude from them).

I assume you realize to be in the 200 mph club you have to set a record over 200, not just run over 200.  Personally I'm just shooting for "my 200 mph club" right now.  As someone else mentioned this is a highly specialize class and there are not very many "soft" records in it anymore.  Also if you just pick a soft class by the time you get your car done it might not be so soft anymore.  I would look at cars and decide where you are most comfortable with motor wise and build wise.

One other thing to consider if you plan on running over 200 you will have an easy $3000-$4000 in safety equipment, so budget that in and take the rest of your budget and probably triple it.

If I can help at all let me know and as Jon said come on by my place and go to the salt with us we are right on the way for anyone driving from Texas (and there are 34 entries from Texas -- any of the rest of you coming this way???).

c ya, Sum

[Freud]

Marlo Treit's 330+ MPH lakester is for sale. It's ready to run if you drop a Chrysler type engine in it or you could adapt it for any type engine.

It's a runner and it has tires.

If building is your challenge, that's one thing, but if running is a priority buy a car and run 4 years earlier.

The car hasn't run for at least 5 years and still holds the Class "A" Unblown Fuel lakester record at 292+ and that record was established in 1997.


His e-mail is MTreit@AOL.com.

FREUD

[landracing]

Buying Marlo's lakester would be the cheapest way for you to go...

Its a runner, the whole setup is done right, no testing needed for handling or chassis. Proven car...  Well worth the money for something thats already done tested and proven, and like Freud says could be on the salt World of Speed or World Finals this year racing...

Jon

[Bob Beatty]

Joe Law's lakester is for sale also.  I is complete, proven, fast and ready to run as a streamliner or lakester.  It can be had with or without the tow truck and trailer and a fresh spare engine.  It is on ebay right now at http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130010878896

[Dr Goggles]

[quote="Sumner
One other thing to consider if you plan on running over 200 you will have an easy $3000-$4000 in safety equipment, so budget that in and take the rest of your budget and probably triple it. c ya, Sum[/quote]

Triple ??, fruit! we ain't nowhere near finished and we're , um , well lets say we've spent about three times what we thought we'd do the whole thing for.....already...and there is still some way to go, oucharoonie!!!!!

That said I don't regret a single second or cent of it but I do have a little piece of advice .If your other half and you ever fight over money or she doesn't "get it" you're on shakey ground. Other than that unless you plan on writing off the expense as a "promotional item" for a business( and it doesn't sound like you are) don't even think about keeping the receipts , why? Because there is no logical reason to , there is no re-coup point in this game and frankly it feels much better to be able to answer " honestly I don't know and I don't really care" when people ask you how much you've spent......at the moment I say to people that we could have bought a new Commodore( the local GM big 4 door) with what we've spent and , you know, I'd rather have the tank

....building one makes buying one look like GREAT value.......it's just there aren't many on the market(there is a half finished Merlin engined one here for about 35k U.S)and building one is kind of like higher purchase.......

dig in