[Augusto]

When suddendly a drag car turns to one side and crashes, is it usually due to a broken axle or what else?

thanks

 

[poncho62]

Tire blows........suspension part breaks.........

 

[E.Furgal]

water under one tire/ oil too

 

[69 widetrack]

Could be anything, even the torque of the engine when coming off the line can do it if the driver either under or over compensates for it. It could be anything, maybe he spotted a McDonald's drive through one block over and had to have a Big Mac like right now.

 

[monster76]

so many things debris on the track, broken axle, oil, water, getting out of groove, its funny how hard going in a straight line can be lol

 

[OneMoreTime]

Bump steer is another factor..

Sam

 

[cobalt327]

When suddendly a drag car turns to one side and crashes, is it usually due to a broken axle or what else?

thanks

With low down force drag cars like Pro Stock, anything that gets them out of a straight line by only a few degrees will cause them to lose control. This is often caused by a loss of traction, but could be any number of things like a flat tire, broken suspension or driveline parts, steering overcorrection, wheelies, wind gusts, bumps, debris, or irregularities on the track, etc.

That's why you see them lift and immediately pop the laundry when they get out of shape. The chute works to stabilize the car and helps bring it back into line.

 

[E.Furgal]

With low down force drag cars like Pro Stock, anything that gets them out of a straight line by only a few degrees will cause them to lose control. This is often caused by a loss of traction, but could be any number of things like a flat tire, broken suspension or driveline parts, steering overcorrection, wheelies, wind gusts, bumps, debris, or irregularities on the track, etc.

That's why you see them lift and immediately pop the laundry when they get out of shape. The chute works to stabilize the car and helps bring it back into line.

I don't know, I've seen old W.J. pedal quite a few out of shape prostocks..

 

[prostreet6t9]

A broken axle will do it also. With the Prostocks.. If the track is not prepped good they can get pretty scary at half track. They Just don't have as much Downforce as the the Fuel guys.

They had the problem 2 or 3 weeks ago and 1 car crashed pretty bad.

Colbalt holeshotted me... lol

 

[cobalt327]

Warren's mad skilz aside, today's Pro Stock cars are so on the edge that if they're not driven perfectly, there's no saving them once they're out of shape, unless it's in the first few hundred feet:

 

[Augusto]

being watchin this videos and a lot more, and seems like mosf of them over-correct when the car drifts sideways, seems like as monster76 said above "its funny how hard going in a straight line can be"

thanks a lot guys, learned a lot with this thread. :thumbup:

 

[Jimbo17]

Tires

Many times when you see a car get into the wall what's happening is one tire is hooking up better then the other tire and there are a number of different things that can cause this to happen.

Every watch the crew when they are staging a car at the line and one crew member is putting chalk on the wheelie bar wheels?

Once the car launches they then look at the marks on the payment to see if they are both the same lengths? Tells you a great deal about the chassis and it one wheel in hooking up better then the other.

There are also many ways to fix these problems but getting the car to go straight down the track takes work and know how for sure.

Getting a car to launch right and go straight takes a great deal of work.

Another problem for many drag racers is that when they launch with the front wheels off the ground the rear wheels and the horsepower of the engine are simply pushing the car from the rear so getting out of the groove can sent you right into the wall.

In circle track racing you have a similar problem but it's known as pushing which is when you get to a corner and even thought you have the steering wheel turned you are still heading straight for the wall unless you lift.

The rear end is over powering the front end of the car.

Jimbo

 

[tresi]

Once a car like a pro stock gets just just a little out of shape it goes from having very little if any down force to actually having lift. Unlike nascar cars the have no system to kill this lift. I don't see why this couldn't have been corrected years ago. Is someone going to die before they get a hadle on this?

 

[Augusto]

the parachutes should deploy automatically when a sensor detects some veering, this should be mandatory.

 

[cobalt327]

the parachutes should deploy automatically when a sensor detects some veering, this should be mandatory.

The fuel classes have an automatic chute release anytime the engine blows or lifts the burst panel or even if the driver doesn't follow the shut down sequence correctly after the finish line. This is combined w/a fuel cut off, maybe ignition too but not sure on that. But they don't use it on Pro Stockers, and for the life of me I do not understand why not.

I agree w/you on the chute release once the vehicle veers off course. This would be quicker than a driver could react- and could save cars from crashing and maybe save a life someday.

The idea of having roof flaps like NASCAR uses might be a good idea. The only problem as I see it is there's such a short distance before a drag car hits the guard rail compared to a stock car sliding across the track that the roof flaps might not have enough time to do their job. Still, I'd like to see it tested out at least.

 

[tresi]

The auto fuel cut off and chute deploy on fuel cars is to get the car shut off and slowing down if the driver is knocked out by a blower explosion. There is a few bug in it still. All it take is a break in a connection for a few micro seconds and the chutes come out. This has happened several time this year on the starting line. It would have happened more often but some drivers have a way to disable the system while staging the car if the starter turns his head.
Yes cars will still hit the wall if they get out of shape with a Nascar style system in use but they would stay on the ground and right side up.

 

[1Gary]

The very first time we pulled a chute was at Cayuga Canada.It was on a 1969 Super Gas Camaro. My partner said at first he thought damm we didn't pack it right and that was during the pilot chute was being deployed.Then the main chute hit and he said it was like the back of the car lifted off the ground.It hit hard!!!. He said there was a cross wind that he had to fight hard from pulling the car into the other lane.

Yeah the chutes do stop.BUT the other weather conditions do come into play and some of it can make things worst.

We have for yrs implied anyone can jump into any car and drive it.No matter how fast it is.Time and again I have seen guys build a car that is over their heads.Do we require licensing??.Yep.But that doesn't replace seat time and a slow progression in a number of slower class racing cars.Ego's get in the way of common sense.For some those faster classes are not for them.Well the definition I guess I'm talking about is it does take nature talent.I hate it when we are going up against a newbie.It is just damm scarey.Our driver we brought along in 5 yrs in Jr Dragsters where each yr he as track champion at two tracks.Four more yrs in 10.90 and 9.90 car.Since he was born he has been around Drag Racing his whole life and he knows the mechanics of every car he drives.Very competent.

 

[cobalt327]

The auto fuel cut off and chute deploy on fuel cars is to get the car shut off and slowing down if the driver is knocked out by a blower explosion. There is a few bug in it still. All it take is a break in a connection for a few micro seconds and the chutes come out. This has happened several time this year on the starting line. It would have happened more often but some drivers have a way to disable the system while staging the car if the starter turns his head.
Yes cars will still hit the wall if they get out of shape with a Nascar style system in use but they would stay on the ground and right side up.

The thing is, IMO there's too little time and distance before an out of shape Pro Stocker hits the wall and/or goes upside down for the roof flaps to deploy and correct the vehicle's yaw, pitch, or roll, etc.

When watching a stock car, many seconds can elapse before an out of shape car gets backwards enough for the roof flaps to deploy.

 

[tresi]

On a circle track car the flaps are positioned so the car must be about 45 degrees to the reletive wind for the flaps to deploy and the deploy quickly once that angle is met. This can be reduced a great deal in a drag car. It might not work but that could be tested in a wind tunnel without having to crash a car.

 

[cobalt327]

It might, in cases where there's a long enough skid w/o hitting anything. But even stock cars go upside down fairly often when they hit the wall or another car- flaps and all.

Agreed testing might be worthwhile. It wouldn't surprise me if they have already...