Now my question to you is when they started Thunder cars back in im gonna say the early 90's and then ran stock bucket seats and seat belts, very few bars did you try to have the division done away with?
That was what they had back then. Brendan they did not have stock belts (3" 5 point), and the cage kits were pretty much the same.
The car I owned in '94, and the car I own today had pretty well the same cage, maybe a few differences. CSC has not made really big changes in those cage kits for 30 years, which is a testament to the original design. Most of the differences lie with the builder of the car.
The big changes are in tires, seats, rims, springs, rear ends, tin kits, bodies, etc... Some big influences have made their way down from the upper classes to the "Street Stock" classes and the parts have changed to something better (but more expensive)
Street Stock 19 lb rims are common now instead of the old Chevy rallye rim at like 40 lbs ;D
Brendan, the JYD class at Barrie Speedway lasted 6 or 7 years at the most and then it died. And it wasn't for lack of cars. It became Street Stock if I can remember correctly.
So let's have mandatory fire suits, racing seat and belts that are somehow attached to the roll bars that were installed. This wouldn't cost that much at all, and in the eye of safety would be great for the division!
Now the 1 million dollar question, how would a SAFE 4 fun car, as described above, be different from a legal (not the fastest car on the track) mini-stock? Answer, it isn't cept for Falcon tires.. Its as silly as having a divison for slow LLM and fast LLM, or crappy built LLM and well built LLM.
You missed the fuel cell vs the gas tank. The issue with the stock tank is not nesically that it is stock, it should be reasonably strong. The problem is size. Gas dosn't explode, it just burns, gas fumes slightly compressed expoled. Since I doubt may are out there with a full 30-40 lt fuel load, that mean they have possibly 35 lt in area of gas vapor, which is basically a big bomb.
Barrie has the Chargers and P/S classes in 4 cylinder. So, basically the same cars but less and more experienced drivers. There is also 60 cars showing up, so something had to be done to accomodate all of those racers. And there is a difference between the two.
Ross it is true that gasoline usually does not explode, but it can. 1 gallon of gas is the equivalent exposive power of 19 lbs of dynamite. You can also have an explosion if the liquid is heated to boiling. My issue with the stock tank is not so much it's strength, stock tanks tend to rupture on the seam, and lose the contents in a big hurry on to the track, usually ending up somewhere near the exhaust manifold because of the banking of the track. Fuel cells are stronger externally and have a bladder that is more resistant to rupture. The foam inside of the cell retains fuel and slows it down if it does rupture. And Ross, as you say the fuel vapor is far more dangerous than liquid fuel when looking at possible ignition.
That being said I would not drive a race car on the track without a fuel cell. Passenger cars on the street generally do not back themselves into concrete walls. Racing these cars with the stock tanks is exceeding the design limitation of the car and the stock fuel tank.
Brendan, the JYD class at Barrie Speedway lasted 6 or 7 years at the most and then it died. And it wasn't for lack of cars. It became Street Stock if I can remember correctly.
From '93 on I only remember the Street Stock class ruled under CASCAR as the track was sanctioned by them. Then around 1995 the "original "Pure Stock" class was formed, but they were 8 cylinders. Similar concept to the Four Fun in technical advancement (there were none allowed 🙂 ), but a good cage definitely was necessary. Terry Nitzbon was a champ in that class in a Ford Crown Vic as well as a young Gordie Shepherd in a crazy crab walkin' Caprice!
Mark
Yes Mark, I do remember what you are talking about.
I was talking about the Junk Yard Dog class that started about '86 (I'm sure our friend Statsman would be able to tell us for sure) it was a V8 class and like Four Fun, they had no cage, marine tank etc... I don't think it made it very far into the 90's.
About this same time (late 80's, early 90's) Challenger was part of the mix too, so for some reason I thought (getting older by the second here) that most of the JYD cars became "Street Stocks". I may be wrong.
Dave Melson may be able to comment here because he was running Challenger around that time too I think.
Now my question to you is when they started Thunder cars back in im gonna say the early 90's and then ran stock bucket seats and seat belts, very few bars did you try to have the division done away with?
Glad you asked Brandon. I wasn't running the the early 90's I would've been 12. But anyhow. I've run metrics in a stock seat, with stock 3 point belt, stock gas tank in the trunk, coveralls and no cage, only one bar behind the drivers seat from the sheet metal floor to the sheet metal roof. I was a moron..... Peterborough endro series.. Its an acident waiting to happen... They had a moron taken out in an abulance because he didn't fasten his battery down..
Thats why now I am in favor of safety. I'm not a freak about it, I don't wear a HANS, I don't even wear a neck brace or gloves, but some of the 4 fun stuff is just scary. I promise you one death in those conditions will end it for ATLEAST that track.
As I've pointed out again and again, safty isn't 1 million dollars. But racing isn't free. Spending 30 bucks to secure your battery, not up under the hood is an example.
If the track is interested in getting people into racing, as they should they should do it safely. Like CCS's deal on the roll cage. Only problem I have with that, is you have to go fast (unsafely without a cage) to win in. And the mear fact that you would want a cage means that you were running without one. Kinda like giving a helmet to the head injury victum. Heres a what if.. A guy at CCS is leading the 4-funs in points on the last night. He crashes, injuring himself because he didn't have a cage. The number 2 driver, because of the crash, gains enough points to take over top place. Who gets the cage? LOL
Don't skimp on the rules, help those that want to get into the sport get into it. HAve a meet the drivers night, not to give out candy to the kids, but for those interested to come and talk to the drivers, and learn how to do it right. OPEN INVITATION from me a driver, want a cage in your car, don't have the stuff to do it, give me a call. Bring your car over, with your tubes, some wire (maybe a 6 pack of beer for me if you are nice) and I'll show you how to weld it in, can do it right here, use my MIG.
So yeah, maybe I would like to see the 4-fun class as it is now killed. Much better I think than someone getting killed to kill it.
As for the 60 car count, yeah you do have to break it up, but you don't need another class. For example, at Kawartha, there is Reyns and Mayhew in Thunder. I might be on the track with them, but they are in another class to me.. Racing still goes on, those guys battle for the win, a few try and get up there with them, and a lot of the pack has their own battle/race. I'd be the last guy in the world to want Thunder class (Reyns, Mayhew, Poulton, Ford, Strawn) and Thunder Jr class (me and others)... Same with the minis...