JIRKA KAPLAN

[snakehips]

Been watching this guy for a while. Runs two cars in comp eliminator. A bad to the bone 23t and a 63 vette. Has gone 1 second under the indexes in both indexes. The smart says it him or Jay Payne into the 5's first in comp.

[Benni]

I never heard about him , but I am no expert in overseas Drag Racing.
What engine/ trans combos is he running, and what is AA/GS and AA/AM ?
I hope he does the really fast runs only in qualifying,
or is there no "competition index control" in NHRA ?
( Great performance, of course.)
Regards,
Benni

[Furyous]

I really wish I understood Complicated Eliminator....

[snakehips]

Bit of mischief throwing this one in. Google search. Jirka Kaplan.
When NHRA created the AA/AM and BB/AM classes in Comp in 2002, Jirka Kaplan was one of its earliest occupants. Kaplan, 40, a petroleum engineer for Bearspaw Petroleum, had already been racing his '23-T roadster with a hi-helixed huffed small-block Chevy in a 7.50 bracket class, even though the car was capable of recording 6.8s. He didn't like slowing down his" car, so he jumped into NHRA national event competition in 2002.

When Kaplan runs in AA/AM - the rules require an engine no bigger than 450 cubic inches, 5.4 pounds per cubic inch, and supercharged on methanol with a 1,50.0-pound minimum - he uses a 350-cid small-block Chevy and Lenco three-speed air-shifted transmission. For BB/AM, which requires a small-block-type engine and 7.5 pounds per cubic inch, he installs a 280-cid engine and a four-speed transmission. Kaplan had to forsake his hi-helix blower when he entered Comp and switch to a straight rotor 14-71 blower, a change to the tune-up that he said was not easy.

Ron Williams of Victory Race Cars built the car in 1988, and Kaplan has owned it since 1989. The AA engine uses a Rodeck aluminum block, and the BB engine uses a Chuck Knoll aluminum block. The aluminum cylinder heads were machined by Alan Johnson and use Johnson's rocker arms. The camshaft is from Crane, and the pistons and connecting rods are from BiU Miller and GRP. The ignition is a Pro Mag 44 that is set to give anywhere from 25 to. 35 degrees of spark advance. With the AA engine installed, Kaplan spins the Hilborn injection-topped Kobelco supercharger between 5 to 15 percent faster than the engine; with the BB engine, it is underdriven

[Time Machine]

It's been a while since I read the Comp Eliminator rules - what is the difference between the /A and /AM designation?

Have they finally separated cars from altereds as these used to all run under the /A (altered) designation, or does the M mean something else? I know it got more confusing a few years back when the added pro mod, super mod and nostalgia dragster classes.

[Eurodragster Tog]

Furyous said:

I really wish I understood Complicated Eliminator....

The way I explain it during commentary is this:

You build a car of a certain type, with a certain engine, and a certain power adder, and at a certain weight. Say a doorslammer with a nitrous Big Block. Then you look in the rulebook which will tell you what ET you should expect that combination to run. That ET is your index.

You benefit by going quicker than that index both in qualifying where furthest under index qualifies best, and during racing the because the handicap on the Tree is set to the index of each car and to not their qualifying ETs.

So if your index is 9.50 and you're running 9.10 in qualifying or eliminations, then that's good. If you're running 9.90 that's not so good - especially in eliminations if you are up against a guy who has run under index.

The rest of it (CIC etc) you really do not have to worry about unless you want to write a PhD about it.

I hope that helps a bit. There is a lot more to it than this but that's the simple version.

[Jon C]

Eurodragster Tog said:

Furyous said:

I really wish I understood Complicated Eliminator....

The way I explain it during commentary is this:

You build a car of a certain type, with a certain engine, and a certain power adder, and at a certain weight. Say a doorslammer with a nitrous Big Block. Then you look in the rulebook which will tell you what ET you should expect that combination to run. That ET is your index.

You benefit by going quicker than that index both in qualifying where furthest under index qualifies best, and during racing the because the handicap on the Tree is set to the index of each car and to not their qualifying ETs.

So if your index is 9.50 and you're running 9.10 in qualifying or eliminations, then that's good. If you're running 9.90 that's not so good - especially in eliminations if you are up against a guy who has run under index.

The rest of it (CIC etc) you really do not have to worry about unless you want to write a PhD about it.

I hope that helps a bit. There is a lot more to it than this but that's the simple version.

Thats how the majority of sportsman racing ran in the UK up to about 1985, before Bracket racing spread.

[MotorPsycho]

Not really relevent, but there's a couple of car running Aussie comp eliminator that are down into the 5's

Edited by MotorPsycho on Monday 24th November 20:29

[fester426]

what

[snakehips]

This is what there want! Seemed to be getting stale on here.
Benni is right, about running under the index in compition. You are out.
Great way to light a fire under the compition. Didn't we do the Aussie fast clocks here somewhere?

[fester426]

In march this year i went to bradenton in sunny florida i met up with tony morris out there,watch this car he said,it was a blown alchy rail,with the advent of injected nitro rails there are loads of blown alchy rails bracket racing,it ran 5.99,over and over again.It sat with the blades wide open with somthing nocking out cylinders until the driver hit a button and off it went ,,,amazing,,,,,,,nobody batted an eyelid

[Eurodragster Tog]

snakehips said:

Benni is right, about running under the index in competition. You are out.

In eliminations, if you go sufficiently under index you are not DQ'd but your index is changed downwards for your next round, which lessens your advantage. If you keep going too far under index in eliminations then the class index is permanently changed downwards, which lessens your advantage permanently. This is known as CIC and is the PhD stuff which we don't need to get into.

[Benni]

Hi DragHeads !

I know a little bit about CE because it is a traditional class in germany,
only in recent years have the super classes (especially SG) gained popularity and competitors.

It is also the class in drag racing that is running most on the material,
read expensive to build and race,
because the engine has to run full throttle all the way.

It is also a bit like chess, you have to look at the board (various indexes),
make your move - find a car/motor combo that has not been run "too fast",
and tune the sh*it out of it (getting good RTs and straight, constant runs neccessary, too).

And it also a bit like snooker, first you have to "sink the ball" (win the race),
and then you have to see where your cue ball is afterwards (not "killing" your index).

René Meierhofer of the "Banana Racing Bunch" is a force in germany,
(and switzerland,france, holland, denmark.....wherever he runs),
because he has a small car (Beretta?) with a de-stroked SBC that does 11.000 rpm,
and runs 0.7 to 0.9 sec under Index.

Bjoern Laehndorf recently went another direction,
by putting a BIG blower/meth on a small BBC and is also quite successful.

Regards,
Benni

Oh yeah, the latest trend in germany is "P/ET and SP/ET",
so the british journeys to Drachten have paid off...........

[Eurodragster Tog]

fester426 said:

It sat with the blades wide open with somthing nocking out cylinders until the driver hit a button and off it went ,,,amazing,,,,,,,nobody batted an eyelid

Maybe it won't be too long before someone actually tries that silly idea of mine for transbrakes for Top Fuellers (OK so Sneaky Pete Robinson already tried something like it)

[MotorPsycho]

Eurodragster Tog said:

fester426 said:

It sat with the blades wide open with somthing nocking out cylinders until the driver hit a button and off it went ,,,amazing,,,,,,,nobody batted an eyelid

Maybe it won't be too long before someone actually tries that silly idea of mine for transbrakes for Top Fuellers (OK so Sneaky Pete Robinson already tried something like it)

Trans brakes in fuellers would require using a torque converter fed gearbox though

[martyn b]

I cant remember what sneaky pete used to do, but I seem to recall it nearly killed him... perhaps it was a bit like biker E J Potter, who used to put his SBC powered bike on the stand, wind it up to max revs and then kick it off the stand!!

[snakehips]

Thanks Tog. I guess the point i'm makeing is sometimes you need a maveric to move things along.
Whilst T/F and F/C grabs the headlines(We have all seen the way the stands empty after the pro's run)It's great to sportsmen classes getting some attention.

[Eurodragster Tog]

snakehips said:

Thanks Tog.

You are welcome. It worries me that I know so much about Comp

snakehips said:

We have all seen the way the stands empty after the pro's run

It happens in the USA for sure. But one of the many things I am privileged to see from my perch in Race Control at the Pod is that during the FIA events a lot of spectators stay where they are for the Sportsmen nowadays. That has changed noticeably over the last few years.

snakehips said:

It's great to sportsmen classes getting some attention.

Absolutely.


Martyn B: That's exactly what Sneaky Pete did with his Fueller. He had the rear end of the car up on jacks, had it on full throttle, then put the car down. I would not have minded seeing that.

Motorpsycho: I knew there would be one. Look mate, I just have the ideas, it's up to the clever people to make them work

[veryoldfart]

snakehips said:

Thanks Tog. I guess the point i'm makeing is sometimes you need a maveric to move things along.
Whilst T/F and F/C grabs the headlines(We have all seen the way the stands empty after the pro's run)It's great to sportsmen classes getting some attention.

some thats because so much of the stands are given over to guests, VIP's and sponsors, who only take seats to watch pro classes and the vehicles they are sponsoring.

i recall some meetings way back when, when you didnt budge unless your bodily functions dictated it........and even then you held out (sometimes too long)

[martyn b]

Was that how you got that handle?