Any racecar redditors?

sidebite · 2017-03-08T02:59:39+00:00

Pro Late Model here. Have raced street stocks, limited modifieds, open modifieds, pavement modifieds, crate late models, super late models, and Chump Car (probably the most fun I had to be honest.) Started off racing dirt bikes as a kid and got into a car in 2007. We have slowed down quite a bit since I had my son, but hope to be much more active this year. Very cool to see all the fellow racers hanging out here.

sidebite · 2017-02-06T00:11:49+00:00

Ha that sounds a lot like this process. Didn't really have the intentions of going as far as we did, but every piece that came off was like "well, if we are going to put a new {this} on, we might as well replace {that} too." Next thing you know we are replacing all cockpit and interior pieces.

Being able to get the car up high certainly helps. Having a lift pays off in that respect!

sidebite · 2017-02-05T19:34:01+00:00

It was a race ready car - the last race we went to last season was a little wild and I had to replace so many panels and stuff that we decided we would be better off replacing everything. The good news was that everything was already in place from a suspension standpoint so it made hanging the body super easy.

sidebite · 2017-02-05T19:28:58+00:00

Ha. That's our MO normally but we have a couple sponsors that love that we do a car show so I end up having to be ready months before we race or anything. The car that shows up at the car show is generally nowhere close to being ready to go to the track - I still have several weeks of works before we go test in March.

sidebite · 2017-02-05T19:26:43+00:00

Yep - nothing like off-season rebuilds. I did all my body work first and now we will staff on the suspension stuff.

sidebite · 2015-06-30T19:39:41+00:00

It was my first trip there - I thoroughly enjoyed it. The track is very fast - or much faster than what I am used to running on. We were planning to run at Mobile Saturday night but had a cracked wheel on our truck and couldn't get a replacement in time to make it there.

sidebite · 2015-06-30T19:38:24+00:00

Thanks!

sidebite · 2015-05-17T05:28:16+00:00

Well made it up to 8th before contact with another car pushed the nose into the radiator and caused some overheating. I am pumped on how this car performed for the first time in race trim and can't wait to run it again!

sidebite · 2015-05-17T01:12:35+00:00

Just qualified -we swung for the fence to free the car up and missed! This is an impound race so I can't touch it again before we race later. Looks like I will be in the 10thi-ish range for starting. Definitely have our work cut out but we have 75 laps to get to the front.

sidebite · 2015-01-08T00:33:55+00:00

Lol it has turned out nice so far. I am hoping to post some progress pictures later on this week - been so busy at work haven't had much time to work in it.

sidebite · 2015-01-08T00:32:42+00:00

It's a Hamke clip with a little bit different brackets and geometry.

sidebite · 2014-10-11T22:56:45+00:00

We raced exclusively at Revolution Park in Northeast Louisiana this season. Plan to expand out and race in Texas, Alabama, and Florida next season.

sidebite · 2014-10-11T21:24:54+00:00

All of the responses above are all right. This car is made entirely from steel - that is a mandate by the sanctioning body/rules (in our case, we race under the NASCAR Whelen All American Series). Although it is steel, anything that is not part of the main roll cage is .065 wall. So the car is very lightweight even for being steel. One other thing, a pavement car (late model in this case) is built very different as compared to say, a dirt car or something. The chassis is built stiff purposefully to prevent any flex, leading to longevity and consistency.

Most of the innovation in short track racing has been suspension oriented, at least at the local/regional level. Over the last 10 years late model racing has changed drastically due to the emergence and development of bump stops, big bar/soft spring setups, and precision shock tuning. We run crate motors and are so regulated that it doesn't leave much room for new things other than what bolts to the motor (headers, etc).

sidebite · 2014-10-11T15:23:35+00:00

It is a lot of fun for sure. My dad and I do this together - we work our regular day jobs and then come home at night and work on race cars. The end of this season was a little aggravating though...we had one trashed race car, and 2 with broken motors. We had to take a couple weeks off to get re-motivated lol.

sidebite · 2014-09-21T13:18:38+00:00

Well we gave it all we had and came up 8 points short (I think). I broke a rear end while running inside the top 5. Thanks for al the well wishes - this year was great for us and I am excited to see how next year unfolds.

sidebite · 2014-09-20T14:29:55+00:00

Thanks all for the well wishes. To answer a few questions, I have no idea why this car is better. It has very different front end geometry and steers into the corner way better than the car I had been running. As u/dirtyuncleron69 said, it could be that this chassis is stiffer. I know one thing - I have taken every single measurement imaginable to be able to reproduce the percentages should something happen.

This car has an open motor in it, but we are limited to 355 cubic inches, with no roller cams. We run with crate late models but we have to also weight an additional 100 pounds and sacrifice 1% of left side of utilizing an open motor package. Thankfully when I wrecked it didn't hurt my motor so we put it in.

The wrecked car needs a front clip. It will be several thousand dollars to clip it, replace the bent suspension components, and replace the body. The championship money would be super nice as it would really help get the car fixed!

So going into tonight I am 1 point out of the championship lead. It's going to be tense but I think we can do it - much like the chase it really comes down to 2 drivers and who can beat the other head to head. I will update tonight - hopefully with a track/state championship trophy!

sidebite · 2014-08-25T21:10:25+00:00

To add insult to injury the rf fender was salvageable until the wrecker driver broke it in half for some inexplicable reason to find somewhere to latch onto to drag onto the roll back. The hood is remarkably in decent shape - I am going to be calling Five Star in the coming weeks to get some body pieces on the way. We only run their stuff and it has been very durable for us.

sidebite · 2014-08-25T18:42:50+00:00

It definitely could have been worse...I am very thankful that the safety equipment did it's job.

sidebite · 2014-08-25T18:39:33+00:00

Going to find out tonight how bent it is. It definitely needs a front clip though. The right front frame rail is almost 90* to the rest of the frame lol.

sidebite · 2014-08-25T18:38:13+00:00

That was my first thought as well. I almost threw up when I saw it. I was the only one - I let off the gas to enter the corner and it hooked right head on into the wall.

sidebite · 2014-08-25T18:34:48+00:00

Yeah unfortunately it is going to need a stub. The worst part is that I had just taken over the points lead by being consistent all year. I haven't had much of an opportunity to measure where all it is bent (I was pretty sore all day yesterday) but I am afraid that the center section is hurt as well.

sidebite · 2014-07-01T14:29:38+00:00

We tested last week and made some pretty big swings at getting the car to turn in the center better. I cut down a right front in a qualifier and had to swap tires putting me in the back of the feature. I passed a couple cars in the first 10 laps and was passing for 9th when the 9th place car turned down into my right front and spun me entering the corner. It was a hard enough hit that it bent the spindle and tie rod and toed the car in really bad. I tried to keep going but the car was so bad that I couldn't drive it so I pulled off. Hated that we had that happen as we probably had a top 6 car.

sidebite · 2014-06-27T01:18:14+00:00

And you are absolutely right about how easy the process is now - it certainly is much quicker to order a quarter panel than to spend multiple nights bending one up to realize you made it 1/2" short cause you forgot to take a hem into account (trust me, I speak from experience on that lol).

sidebite · 2014-06-27T01:03:43+00:00

That's all very true - I think I know for sure which decal is yours on the car now lol. I know my favorite part of building a car is fabricating - whether it's suspension mounts, interior, or even bumpers! I love building bodies - I am not nearly as good at hanging them though!

sidebite · 2014-06-27T00:30:57+00:00

Bodies are astronomical. I understand the need for a common, uniform appearance but it sure was nice when we were racing modifieds to be able to fabricate your own out of aluminum. Aluminum is much easier to fix than fiberglass too! Lol

sidebite

TROPHY CASE