Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

For comparison sake, our 358 limited sprints here in Pennsylvania have a flat top piston, 10 3/4:1 compression rule. There are teams winning at the Grove with $1,900 Eagle rotating assemblies. The bottom end in a 410 easily costs three times that much and still doesn't last near as long. Same for the valve jobs, the 358s don't need $1,800 worth the valves every time you turn around either like a 410 All Pro motor does. Just a few of the many reasons ($$$) our tracks get twice as many 358s through the gate each night. If you want to talk engine economics then talk compression rule which is easily checked with a whistler gage, or even a rev limit which can be easily imposed by a chip or possibly valve spring limits. Regardless, they still have to unhook the cars long before they start messing around with the engines. The track record spec tire was laughable this year. They'd do much better just leaving the engines alone like the late models did, unhooking the cars instead, and give the fans in the stands what they pay to see.

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com

Harry Armenius “Father” Miller

Rest in Peace

That's exactly the kind of engine I'm talking about cubic dollars.A lot of people would like to get in to sprint car racing,but the price of 360's and 410 scare them off.You can build an engine affordably that has plenty of hp to power a sprint car,but the classes just are not there.

A whistler guage will only whistle 13.0:1 comperession, maximum

BTW, I have a Knoxville legal 305 that has 2 hours dyno time and 50 laps, if anybody is interested in it $17,500 will buy it. I just took the pan off of it last week to put new rings in it and freshen up the heads. Will be dyno'd before being sold. If interested contact Kelly at Wesmar

OK - while all of this is interesting stuff, I still see problem. 305 racers are paying $17,500 for a used motor? New or used, that's a lot for an entry level class that pays maybe $1000 to win, $100 to start.

Some entry level class, huh? But no one ever said racing was cheap, right?

And Kelly, I 'm not blaming motor builders for the costs/prices - it was proven a long time ago that racers' everywhere will try to outspend each other......

Chuck.....

No offense taken sprinter25. There again I could have used cheaper Chinese parts and built it cheaper but I chose to use good ol American made parts and good ol American ingenuity (within the rules) when I built it.

P.S. While people have suggested different ways to unhook the cars and such, with one way by using a smaller wing. The only complaint I have on the 305 class is why must we run the big ol 360 & 410 wing that we do? I think they should use a 16 sq. wing myself.

As far as engines go I think on an open engine rule you could without a doubt make MUCH more power for the dollar than under the current rules.

But the real question that right now nobody for sure knows the answer is at what level does a sprint car not benefit from any more power. Under an open engine rules do we have 2500 horsepower turbocharged big blocks powering sprint cars?? What is the point of diminishing returns. As an example I looked at a prominent ford mustang drag race engine builder and they had an engine package advertised at 2000 HP for $45000 now it's a drag engine and I have no idea what kind of longevity it would have in a circle track application. Back in the 80s indy cars had 1300 HP from 1.3 litre engines running on paint thinner with 90 psi of turbo boost. Nobody will know what people will go to on an open engine rule.

However I do think an open engine rules could do better than what we have now. With the option of bigger engines or turbocharged engines you should have to run less rpm and cheaper heads with less port work and get an engine that will run longer between rebuilds and cost less.

If someone would build a turbocharged engine they wouldn't need to have near the quality of heads needed now nor turn the rpms which should lower the cost of the engines and make them last longer no longer needing to turn 9000+ rpm.

It would probably be perfectly possible to make a 430 inch small block engine on a very restricted set of rules like the 305 or 358 engine rules that would run about 700 horse for under15k for a new engine.

As far as costs go there are classes for people to plant their butt in the seat of a sprint car on a low budget but it would be better for the sport overall if the top class was easier for people with the talent to compete but not the high dollar budget to get into.