Tech question (Yes another!)

[Miss Corrado]

I was asked a question about the purpose of rollcages in cars.

Now i stated the obvious, safety... to which i got a hummm...

Are there any other reasons why a drag car would have a roll cage? I was told its for power and torque. Are there reasons that would differ from other motorsports such as rally or circuit.

[Jon C]

General stiffening, makes chassis easier to tune, lighter than monocoque?

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Regulations....no choice....

and safety....like if a Top fuel dragster rolls...the drivers tend to like keeping their heads on their shoulders

All the best Brett

[bigmouse]

Stiffening the chassis and body is better for drag racing as it reduces loss of torque through the vehicle flexing; you'll see pictures of cars leaving the line with the whole body twisted - it might make a good picture but some of the power the engine is producing is causing that rotational flex i.e. being wasted.

If that flex is reduced then more power gets delivered down through the drivetrain to
where its needed most, at the rear wheels

Its also the reason why many R/H drive cars used for drag racing have the drivers seat on the left rather than the right, keeping the weight on the left hand side of the car helps to balance out the forces trying to twist the car.

.....I think

[Jon C]

bigmouse said:

Its also the reason why many R/H drive cars used for drag racing have the drivers seat on the left rather than the right, keeping the weight on the left hand side of the car helps to balance out the forces trying to twist the car.

.....I think

Dave Warnes last Sierra produced some especially entertaining launches as a result of this.

[Tet]

bigmouse said:

Its also the reason why many R/H drive cars used for drag racing have the drivers seat on the left

A right hand drive car with the driver's seat on the left? That must be entertaining trying to reach the steering wheel :-)

[bigmouse]

Tet said:

bigmouse said:

Its also the reason why many R/H drive cars used for drag racing have the drivers seat on the left

A right hand drive car with the driver's seat on the left? That must be entertaining trying to reach the steering wheel :-)

Nobody ever said it was going to be easy Tet :-)

[nitrohaulic]

To add to that, there's been some discussion on a couple of boards recently about "lay down" and "sit up" funny cars. Narrow cars started out as more of a sit up, then they went to more of a lay down to get the body as low as possible for aerodynamics (some of them to INSANE levels). Now they've been back to sit up. Virgil Hartman explained to us that it's because the shorter the driver's compartment, which flexes very little due to the extra required tubing, the more area you have in front of the driver where you can get more flex.