Nostalgia Funny cars?
Discussion
Sat down with my son to watch his favourite film this afternoon Fast company (bloody good taste for a 3 year old) and it got me wondering whats happening with the proposed Nostalgia funny car series?
Not really heard much about it lately, anybody got any news or idea of whos running.
Not really heard much about it lately, anybody got any news or idea of whos running.
kestral said:
Nostalgia Funny cars. As soon as possible please. Just like the 70,s and 80,s when the racing was good. Proper sounding engines on 90% Nitro. Proper rolling burnouts and dry hops, chirping into stage.
non-rose coloured glasses said:
Just like the 70,s and 80,s when the racing was almost non-existant. Proper sounding engines on 90% Nitro (except when required to run on Methanol for qualifying by the promoter, or set up with some ghastly dual-fuel system in an attempt to save money) . Proper rolling burnouts and dry hops, chirping into stage by the one and only team with sufficient funding and sponsorship, whilst the rest of the field look whistfully on. Followed by a three hour clean up.
I cant wait to see the nostalgia funnys out there, but lets leave certain aspects of those days behind, please?[quote=except when required to run on Methanol for qualifying by the promoter, or set up with some ghastly dual-fuel system in an attempt to save money
[/quote]
I understand where you are coming from but lets not forget that unless Roy put on the show that he did in those times, Santa Pod would have folded, and we would not have what we have now. No one else supported fuel racing to the extent that he did.
Herb
[/quote]
I understand where you are coming from but lets not forget that unless Roy put on the show that he did in those times, Santa Pod would have folded, and we would not have what we have now. No one else supported fuel racing to the extent that he did.
Herb
Edited by herb andrews on Sunday 11th November 22:13
The question was to jon c. I remember the sept 1979 world finals. There were plenty of Funny cars at least two from America a 300mph Rocket car and the place was packed. There were no swings and roundabouts like there was at the 2007 Main event. Just some stinking toilets to attract the punters. Did not look as though it was going to fold. I think I owe Roy and Bob Phelps an apology. You don't now what you have got until you lose it.
Edited by kestral on Sunday 11th November 22:58
kestral said:
The question was to jon c. I remember the sept 1979 world finals. There were plenty of Funny cars at least two from America a 300mph Rocket car and the place was packed. There were no swings and roundabouts like there was at the 2007 Main event. Just some stinking toilets to attract the punters. Did not look as though it was going to fold. I think I owe Roy and Bob Phelps an apology. You don't now what you have got until you lose it.
Absolutely, the 1979 Finals was a classic, which will be long held in the memories of all UK drag race fans (exactly and precisely two of the fuel funnies were from America and they both, predictably, got to the final. 6.00 losing to 6.04 holeshot were the announced times). Not sure why you feel you owe Bob and Roy an apology though? Edited by kestral on Sunday 11th November 22:58
The place was packed, indeed, and the Phelps' did indeed ensure that the sport survived some difficult times. I am not going to go down the whole debate again here. I am just saying that yes, Harlan Thompson, Bootsie, Ray Beadle and he whose name should not be mentioned did some ferocious burnouts, dry hops and practice launches which modern clutch systems would presumably not allow (many good examples on YouTube). There was also some stuff tried (esp in the 80's) in the name of economy, which are best confined to history.
Well put it this way.. if they did do all those dry hops extra burnouts and chirps, we would have time to use the improved toilet facilities.
Watching videos from the past can be tedious after the umpteenth pair, waiting for them to get into stage. Tog has time to make a cup of tea, don't you Tog ^_^
Oh and thats a no thanks to the zillion burnouts... but a yay and yes please to the nostalgia funny car series!
http://www.eurodragster.com/news/features/hall_of_...
Hall of Fame includes the Phelps family of course.
Watching videos from the past can be tedious after the umpteenth pair, waiting for them to get into stage. Tog has time to make a cup of tea, don't you Tog ^_^
Oh and thats a no thanks to the zillion burnouts... but a yay and yes please to the nostalgia funny car series!
http://www.eurodragster.com/news/features/hall_of_...
Hall of Fame includes the Phelps family of course.
to be fair to Kirstie, kestral was talking about dry hops, chirps etc
while they do look and sound pretty sweet, if every car did them it would lose the appeal of being something different, plus it puts unnecessary stress and heat on the clutch, crank, rods etc etc which you really don't need in any motor, especially nitro
I'm looking forward to seeing the nostalgia floppers out there, where looks are more important than aerodynamics, if we can get a big enough growth of nostalgia cars a Hot Rod Reunion type event at the Pod would be awesome - NFAA, Nostalgia Floppers, Nostalgia TF, Outlaw Anglia, Gasser Circus, some kinda nostalgia eliminator bracket class would, I think make a brilliant mid Summer event, the Hot Rod Drags and Nostalgia Nats cater this to an extent but they are more hot rod oriented and we need nostalgia at the Pod
and Jon; would that be a McEwen/Hoover style swoopy vette by any chance? as you seem to know the person thinking about it
while they do look and sound pretty sweet, if every car did them it would lose the appeal of being something different, plus it puts unnecessary stress and heat on the clutch, crank, rods etc etc which you really don't need in any motor, especially nitro
I'm looking forward to seeing the nostalgia floppers out there, where looks are more important than aerodynamics, if we can get a big enough growth of nostalgia cars a Hot Rod Reunion type event at the Pod would be awesome - NFAA, Nostalgia Floppers, Nostalgia TF, Outlaw Anglia, Gasser Circus, some kinda nostalgia eliminator bracket class would, I think make a brilliant mid Summer event, the Hot Rod Drags and Nostalgia Nats cater this to an extent but they are more hot rod oriented and we need nostalgia at the Pod
and Jon; would that be a McEwen/Hoover style swoopy vette by any chance? as you seem to know the person thinking about it
MotorPsycho said:
to be fair to Kirstie, kestral was talking about dry hops, chirps etc
while they do look and sound pretty sweet, if every car did them it would lose the appeal of being something different, plus it puts unnecessary stress and heat on the clutch, crank, rods etc etc which you really don't need in any motor, especially nitro
Thank you Adam. I think i was trying to say that. I can never get the correct words out and probably say the wrong thing thus get shot down for it. Which lets face it i have a high probability of getting it from the know it alls.while they do look and sound pretty sweet, if every car did them it would lose the appeal of being something different, plus it puts unnecessary stress and heat on the clutch, crank, rods etc etc which you really don't need in any motor, especially nitro
I've no idea what they (in the nostalgia series) are planning. I'd rather have the cars intact at the end of the day IMHO.
End!
Nitro-besty said:
kestral said:
And I expect it will be a lot cheaper to build the cars in comparison to 4sec top fuelers.
Yes and no, the chassis will be almost identical to a current Funny Car one, more so because the chassis regulations are what they are (SFI 10.1E is for Funny Car chassis, regardless of if they're FIA/NHRA or Nostalgia). The saving comes in the clutch and engine area. 6/71's, bug catchers, small pumps and single mags all keep the cost reasonable. Picking a random number, you could probably get up and running on £45k if you know exactly what bits you need to do the bare minimum (that's with new everything, so you could probably get there on less if you bought a used chassis and block for instance). A fibreglass body will set you back around $3000-3500 at the moment.MotorPsycho said:
and Jon; would that be a McEwen/Hoover style swoopy vette by any chance? as you seem to know the person thinking about it
...well I could always ask... I have talked on this subject before, but the main difference in running cost's from the old Panic car and my current car is the clutch program. Take that out of the equation and I bet is cost's about the same to run Chaos or Venom on a run to run basis on an average of 4 runs per event, as it does Showtime. I am open for any challenge on this statement so fire away.
The 6/71 at 19% O/D is not going to cut it I am afraid. If you spent a small fortune on a trick 6/71 blower it would cost 5 times more than a current spec 14/71 and still be a week dog in comparison. Back in the old days we would run at 50% OD 6/71 with a 19 gall pump and the car would run flat out 6.59/210 MPH. Whatever you did it would not run quicker than that. A very expensive datalogger could probably improve on that once you were smart enough to understand it. Now being a racer for 35 years, the natural progression is to want to run quicker so my cars evolved into what we have now. I agree they have lost their identity, which is sad in someways, but given the choice I would not go back in time.
To save myself with this post, as by now everyone is about to throw me under the bus, I am willing to answer any questions, technical of otherwise. My E mail address is available very easily and my memory is still very good so let me know if I can help in anyway.
BJ
With regards to the nostalgia fcs there is both good and bad points to it all.having the rules as they are to stop modern fcs with old bodies is a no brainer.if showtime/shockwave/starkotter/penzzoil etc put old bodies on dont you think we would notice twin mag,big pump,direct drive?It doesnt make sense for that to happen.Modern funny cars are so powerfull that modern bodies have a task to keep up.Do you think that 8000hp cars with an old plymouth/dodge/ vega/monza etc would ever go anywhere?Some of the old pod funny cars got dangerous in the end because of engine/clutch advancements.I do think that we blindly follow the usa sometimes(modern cars included)Yes to restraints,yes to bags/diapers,yes to modern fire systems and suits etc but,why not underdrive a 10/71/12/71 than try to over stress a 6/71,do we need sfi specs on chassis that mirror 320mph cars?do we need sfi wheels?especially fronts and what about the body rules?we could use up lots of bodies out there now if old bodies were allowed and that alone could increase car count.Nostalgia funny cars would be great but i think that the rules have not been thought out,its all relative.we dont have 50+states to run in,we have two uk tracks.Our turnouts at small meets is low so will the promoters be able to pay pro mod,top methanol,nfaa and nfc?i think not.If then the promoters dont have the funding are people goin to stretch there car and possibly burn it to the ground just for a small turnout on the bank?Then poses the question that maybe the fuel altereds would suffer,lawrie gatehouse and all the copetitors in nfaa have done just a terrific job with the ranks swelling,then what if in the future some cars put a body on then it would detract from there show.Nfaa has many cars but you can count nitro ones on one hand so will fc be any better?nitro is nitro it all costs the same wether your putting it in an altered,modern fc or nfc and it still consumes parts too regardless.Im a funny car guy through and through but do we have room to do this with any success?many say they will but now i only kno of two cars and they aint even built yet?
Gassing Station | Drag Racing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff