A Couple of Cool Sprint Car Pics

[PKRWUD]

No crash and burn this time, just a couple of pics of our car I picked up last night. Both were taken last week at Ventura Raceway. The first one is of driver Jim sliding sideways through turn 4. What makes this pic so cool is the angle. It looks like the car is coming straight in from the left, rather than following the curve in the track, but if you notice, there are no tire tracks to the left! He is actually sliding sideways, even though he looks perfectly straight.

[PKRWUD]

This second pic is a close-up of Jim in the car, just before going out onto the track.

[mustangman65_79]

Thanks for the pics, I always injoy these

[Shelby428cj]

Chris those babies look so fun to drive!! Are they expensive???

[PKRWUD]

Originally posted by Shelby428cj
Chris those babies look so fun to drive!! Are they expensive???

Yeah, they can be fun.

And they are pretty expensive, too. A new car with new everything will set you back around $50k - $60k, but you can get used ones for under $20k. It's mostly the engine that costs so much. There's no tranny, two axles, 3 brake rotors (sometimes 2), no electrical system, alternator, or battery, and usually no more than 3 gauges. It does run on pure methanol, though, and gets about 2 gallons to the mile.

The small ones, like ours (360ci), average about 2 horsepower for every 3 pounds of total weight, but the big boys with their 900 hp 410's have more than 3 hp for every 4 pounds of weight. There are no other circle track race cars anywhere in any type of racing that have as high a hp to weight ratio as Sprint cars.

Yeah, "fun" is a very good word them. In all the racing I have ever done, or worked in, from 1/4 mile to NASCAR, nothing even comes close to how much fun Sprints are.



Take care,
~Chris