[HWYSTR455]

Finally, to open the rabbit hole, why do dragsters have no front brakes?

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[HWYSTR455]

To give an extreme example, what happens when you jerk the e-brake at 60mph?


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[b-man]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Finally, to open the rabbit hole, why do dragsters have no front brakes?

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No weight to speak of on the front axle and that chassis really cannot transfer weight to the front axle in any appreciable amount if there were brakes up front. The 300 inch wheelbase isn’t likely to transfer much weight to the front axle.

Braking forces would twist the front axle out of the car if they did have brakes.

I used to drag race a 12-second VW with no front brakes, it stopped fine at over 105 mph after a run, of course this 1300 pound car was heavily rear weight biased.

[DaleO]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Not sure how accurate this is, but it is interesting.

https://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/bias-calculator/


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I think there is info here to consider. "Paragraph" four touches on greater rear bias as could be bad depending on how much more there is. Could a drum to drum set up throw things off I don't know, probably not like discs on rear and drums up front probably would.

I'm not looking for a reason to not convert to discs, it is all just interesting.

[DaleO]

Originally Posted by 1968GTO421

I noticed no one has directly answered your question of small brakes on front -vs- large brakes on rear. I had to track down my brother (Mr Chevelle guy) and query him. He had a '66 Chevelle with the 9.5 inch rums front and back. He also ran his Chevelle at local drag strips. Hence the Chevy 8.2 rear quickly gave up. He hunted down a late '70's Chevelle wagon that had the larger rear end and steeper gears) and the 11" rear brakes. He had a buddy do some cutting and welding on the rear so the upper and lower trailing arms fit correctly to bro's frame. With new brakes shoes, wheel cylinders, etc., they got the 8.5 rear into the '66 Chevelle. This job ran my bro out of money so he put off front discs for 6 months. He raced the car on weekends and drove it semi-daily along with his '66 C-10. Is he an "old lady" driver? Nope. And the 9.5 drums up front and the 11" drums in back stopped just fine. The front shoes wore faster but they always do. Brakes stop the wheels, tires stop the car.
FWIW

Thanks a bunch for this.

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by b-man

No weight to speak of on the front axle and thar chassis really cannot transfer weight to the front axle in any appreciable amount if there were brakes up front. The 300 inch wheelbase isn’t likely to transfer much weight to the front axle.

Braking forces would twist the front axle out of the car if they did have brakes.

I used to drag race a 12-second VW with no front brakes, it stopped fine at over 105 mph after a run, of course this 1300 pound car was heavily rear weight biased.

Exactly. Bias.

Originally Posted by DaleO

I think there is info here to consider. "Paragraph" four touches on greater rear bias as could be bad depending on how much more there is. ....

Yes, how much bias, that's what the formula/calculator helps determine, how much. Depending on the type of car, the intended purpose, there are more desirable front/rear ratios.

Another extreme example, you don't take a rail dragster on a road course.

Just because something 'works', doesn't mean it's optimal.

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[HWYSTR455]

b-man, that drag bug is cool!


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[b-man]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

b-man, that drag bug is cool!.

This 1957 bug was the second car I’ve ever owned, I bought it as pretty much a bare shell with floor pan and front suspension in March 1977. By summer of ‘77 it was out on the streets running in the 14.30s at 92 mph with a 1756cc engine. It could handle pretty much any muscle car or 750cc motorcycle that i happened upon while marauding around the streets at night.

By 1980 it became a very stripped down 12:1 compression 1835cc dedicated race car, I last hit the track with it in October 1981 on my 22nd birthday as seen in the photos in my previous post.

Now I’m bringing it back to life with a new 2276cc 9.5:1 street engine. Since 1989 it had been back and forth between my good buddy and myself few times and in December 2020 I let sentimentality get the best of me and now I’m deep into it money and time-wise. The first time I let the car get away in 1989 I traded it to my friend for his 1964 GTO which was my first Pontiac.

Photos in sequence, as found getting cleaned up, in the burnout box 1978, race day October 1981, rescued from poor storage December 2020 and lastly a couple weeks ago separated from the tube axle race-only 1967 gasser chassis my friend put under it, getting ready to have some body repairs done. It’s going back onto a stock chassis again, street racer special like it was in 1977 just about 2 seconds quicker.

[HWYSTR455]

Very cool! Love the history and vintage shots!

There's a heavy bug following around me, some of them are insanely fast. Guy has a rabbit that's in the 9s, turbo street car. I still prefer the classics though!


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[Skip Fix]

When I was into autocrossing actually one of the local Pontiac guys helped a buddy with an autocross bug!