rethinking the drag race roadster

[Larry Woodfin]

I have always had affection for roadsters. I owned the very first 27 roadster that Gary Harwood built in 1981. It was also the first Harwood roadster to move under its own power and the first Harwood roadster to win a race. It was a great working car, simple, light, straight front axle, ladder bar, small block, ran 9.60’s.

In 1991 I bought a Spitzer 27 roadster, [Harwood 27 body] It was a more advanced design, strut front, four link, moly tubing, ran 8.80’s. However, it was near or past the practical, consistent bracket package for a 105" wheel base roadster. When conditions were good, it would fly and run the dial all day. But if conditions began to degrade, it would unusually miss the dial because of spin or handling. In spite of that, it remains my favorite race car with many wins over five seasons.

Lately, I am building a Land Shark 185 wheel base rail and although it is some months away from competition, I expect it to be very competitive. Therefore, as I work on the Land Shark, it has occurred to me that a modern design could be applied to a roadster.

Since I am often looking ahead to the next project, help me with ideas about a new roadster design. First, it must be roomy and have easy entrance/exit for the driver. [I have FOS disease, fat, old, and stiff] Second, I think the wheel base should be considerably longer than we have seen in 27 roadster designs.

So, what are your thoughts?

[Adger Smith]

Larry,
My thoughts are:
1. You should have done a trade with me on your stocker for this modernized Harwood roadster that Vic @ EasTex Race Cars built for me. (the last Strut car Kit Gary Harwood sold) The cage is actually a design that is ahead if it's time. Built to take care of the cage safety problems of left side steer roadsters before NHRA addressed them with new SFI specs.
2. You won't get one built as nice for the price. It's all new, creative show quality paint, ready to wire & plumb.
3. You ruin the roadster look when you do a wheelbase modification
4. You don't need long wheel bases to run fast. IE: Pro Stockers
5. The air management is the key to keeping any roadster on the ground.
6. Roadsters are "The Car" for men with your disease. :~)

[Bubstr]

Do they still have and engine set back rule? This could keep you from getting too long on the WB. Been a long time since I fooled with these, but with the 10% setback rule that used to be any advantage to longer WB went away at around 110 inches. Seemed like with higher % weight on front, you ended up installing weight higher to get it transfered to rear on launch. this higher weight made the car a little more unstable. Just my thoughts.

[BillyShope]

4. You don't need long wheel bases to run fast. IE: Pro Stockers

Good point! There is, however, something to keep in mind. Specifically, the Pro Stock has a suspension and the dragster does not. The long wheelbase tends to "decouple" the front wheels of a non-suspended car. This has the same effect as an anti-roll bar in a suspended car. Everything you can do to increase the rear roll stiffness, relative to the front roll stiffness, helps to equalize the rear tire loadings during launch and keep the car pointed in the right direction.

[travlinman572]

Check out mine in Showoffs on Racing Junk, Topcat572 hotrods. Enough said,TC.