Torque converters in Pro Mod

[ribaric]

Anyone care to relieve me of my ignorance? Time was that a converter car was strictly bracket material and all serious contenders had a clutch and multi-speed Lenco. What's changed? I saw David Vegter run 6.1 with a converter... wow!

[SpencerTramm]

Most of the Pro Mods in the States are converter cars now, Bruno Bader has been the leader in running a converter in Europe for many seasons.

[Rat_Fink_67]

Same as most things, technology has just moved on. The Lenco is still the transmission of choice barring the odd B&J or 'glide, it's just the bit in the bellhousing that's different. As with most things, once the number of racers using converters increases, so does the data, and the pace of R&D picks up too. Ultimately a clutch when set up perfectly is probably quicker, but that's very few and far between. Another bonus is that no clutch frees up bodies for other maintenance.

[ribaric]

Thanks peeps. It does seem to me though that a clutch can be adjusted through a wide range whereas a converter can't. I guess you can have an army of slightly different converters though.
I also see a growing number of transbrakes in Pro Mod, is this just the turbo cars?

[Rat_Fink_67]

With modern bolt-together converters you can take them apart at the track and replace the stator to suit differing track conditions so they're not as restrictive as they used to be in days gone by. Transbrakes are a fixture of all the converter cars. Whether they run a Bruno, B&J Quick Drive or a Rossler, a transbrake is the only way to 'disengage' drive to enable the shift between forward and reverse, and also for the launch procedure. To keep things 'equal' on the tree, in Europe the transbrake has to be operated via a 'clutch' pedal. The argument being that it is quicker to release a button with your finger than it is to lift your foot up.

[ribaric]

Thanks "67". I used a tranny brake in Super Pro ten years ago, we couldn't get reverse on a fitted glide without using it. I have to say, putting the transbrake switch on a foot pedal seems a bit ridiculous.

[Turn7]

I have a question on these...

IIRC,Andy Frost had big oil temp issues when using his Brunodrive, how come none of the other cars appear to have ?

Turbo related rather than blower ?

[Rat_Fink_67]

It's relatively common with everyone who uses a Bruno, turbo or blown. It's a flow issue; the problem being that regardless of how big your cooler is, the Bruno itself causes a bit of a bottle neck in the system and the hot oil can't escape quickly enough.