Street Rod... going the way of the dinosaur

[DerbyDad4Hire]

VOTE AT THE TOP!!!

Under the current state of the Street Rod class I will probably not run it next year. You guys are very creative and the class has always had loopholes to turn the car into a long Street Stock car. The spirit of the class is for it to look like 2 cars actually racing. I have had several conversations and this is the proposed changes for the class.

The goal is to make it challenging and different.

Change #1- Everyone will use the same Lexan body. The only mod to the body will be the wheel cut out. No other holes. No other cutting at all. The bodies are very cheap and we can probably get a great deal on them if we buy bulk.

Change#2- No extenders!

Change #3- All 4 wheels must touch! This will be checked rolling down the glass tuning board. This will make the class completely unique and the most challenging of all classes.

I will clean up the rest of the rules.

These bodies are very cheap so we can do a few different ones throughout the season.

 

[Spirit Racing]

John, I think you read my mind !! I just today thought of all using the same body. I was going to send you an email. But you beat me to it. Maybe you could buy um in bulk, we could buy them from you. Maybe two bodies, one for first half of the season , then after the break the other body design. However, not to crazy about four-on-the-floor rule, I think I would **** at that

....SPIRIT.........

 

[zeebzob]

I love this class. It has the potential of being one of the most fun classes to race. 4 wheels down sucks though, I have a hard enough time with 3 wheels down. I am not a fan of the lexan bodies either. They look like crap and it will take this class the way of nascar. Can't tell one car from another. They are only a nameplate.

I sent an old car in this past month that I built a couple years ago. I knew it would be one of the slowest ones out there because of its big heavy model body, but I just love the way that car looks going down the track. It looks like you are watching a 67 Shelby Mustang on the 1/4 mile.

It is what it is. I will try to support this class whatever direction it takes, but i may not have the same passion for it.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

The reasoning behind 4 wheels touching is to make the class different. I would think the best builders in the world would like the challenge! Otherwise it is just a Street Stock with a full body. I agree with you Zeeb, I like the model bodies better they are just very expensive and too much modification gets done to them. The best races we ever had with this class was when everyone ran the same bodies.

The bottom line is, the more classes, the less participation and we all know that nobody likes to race 3 other cars.

 

[Quicktimederby]

Bring on any changes!!! 4 on the floor, NO PROBLEM! You all are going down!!!

I think we should do this race one time a year at the nationals, and do a stubby car at the Man of the mountain.

 

[zeebzob]

Yeah maybe the 4 wheel down thing wont be all that bad. If we all have to do it then its a level playing field. I can just see a huge learning curve for me though. Lol.
So how much are lexan bodies and where can we get them from?

 

[StoneColdRacing]

I vote to leave the class the way it is.

 

[StoneColdRacing]

I vote to leave the class the way it is.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

Any change would be for next year.

 

[Quicktimederby]

If it something that is only ran 1-2 times a year, we should make the class out of the model kits. They are only a few $ more and it has to be a production made car, no extenders 1/24-1/25 scale. I like seeing the variety of the different cars. If we all have to run the same model than its a little redundant. The slot car kits are faster but no where as cool.

 

[E.T.Racing]

+1

 

[OPARENNEN]

There are hundreds of bodies available. See http://www.toytechracing.com/
However, only a limited number would work out for .
Some of them are too wide
Some are too narrow, i.e. all wheels would be showing.

HOWEVER, most of the bodies would work.

You could possibly have about 6 to 10 models that are about the same . I bought 4 at one time, and all of them were withing a 1/2 inch of each other.
choosing several with approximately the same width and length, and let the racer choose. I think that we could still buy in bulk, choosing multiple , however the price of most of these bodies are only 5 dollars to begin with.

If we were to go this direction, i.e. several models with about the same , I would be willing to further investigate which models would be appropriate. When you look at the site, it doesn't sow the , but I could find out, then post pictures of possible candidates from which we could vote.

FYI - the best thing about going with bodies, is that the difficulty of mating the body to the platform is greatly reduced. In fact, once we settled on a model(s), John could create longer blocks to use. But in my case, a standard block was sufficient, by balsa to the front, keeping the front end weight down.

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

The length is very important. Even 1/2" makes a large difference. This has always been the problem with this class. I like the normal plastic bodies better for looks but the Lexan are much easier and they actually look really nice when painted. You have to use models that are about the same length. Opa, let's look into getting the dimensions on some of the bodies and see what we can come up with.

 

[OPARENNEN]

John, I still don't know how to insert a picture into a topic reply, so I will send you pictures in a separate email.

However, I completed two cars which I raced in SR, called:
IROC-Z -- Was really a Mustang. TR5107 or TR107.
KILLER BEE -- TR 5090 or TR090 on the website Difference is lexan thickness, .015 or .010 (mine were all .010)

I created two partials and gave one to you and another to SoGone.
I am not sure of their numbers without seeing them again, but I think they are:
TR5106 (and TR106), Camaros, with same dimentions as KILLERBEE.

IROCZ is 8.25 long and 2.5 wide
KILLER BEE is 8.75 long and 2.5 wide

Even though IROC-Z was faster, I think if we run only a single body shape, KILLER BEE (OR THE Camaro look-a-like) is the best, meaning a car that is very close to 9 inches long.

When you compare the pictures of my cars to the website, you will see that I cut off a lot of the bottom Lexan, in order to make the car more areodynamic. But if we are all the same, that would not be necessary.

The greatest building challange will be in building the platform.
i.e. weight distribution and stopping air from entering into the body.

Pitures are on the way via email. Just post them.
OPA

 

[Quicktimederby]

In my option this is what a street rod should look like. No extenders, no tape, looks just the way it would if if where driving down the road.

 

[Skippy Kicky]

I agree. I haven't had time to get involved with the street rods, but would love to get involved in a build like that.