<VV>Windage Tray (minimal Corvair)

[Tony Underwood]

At 02:24 hours 03/27/2006, cjcavitt at comcast.net wrote:
>tony: It's obvious you dont know the first thing about drag racing

??

>  if you think it takes no skill,

...when did I say it took NO skill...?    I said it doesn't take much 
skill to steer straight and snatch 2nd gear on the street.  All it 
takes is a little practice.    Street racing seldom needs much more 
than that in most cases since most altercations seldom go much 
farther than winding out 2nd gear unless there's room and the other 
guy is "serious" and conditions allow a lesser chance of being 
busted... or, you and the other guy agree to drive out to Mt Pleasant 
Rd where the quarter mile stretch was marked off, or if you're 
serious and adventurous and don't mind the drive, hit the Blue Ridge 
Parkway where the Roanoke River bridge (which is very close to being 
1/4 mile long) crosses the river gorge, and have at it.    Sometimes, 
it was just a quick trip to I-581 where it was relatively easy to 
"get serious" on the straight stretch.

That's when street racing began to get more labor intensive.

Of course, going to the drag strip on weekends is NOT street 
racing.   Skill and more than a little luck plays a big part 
there.   But street racing for the mot part seldom involves much 
skill at all unless you're really serious and in such instances you 
should be racing at the dragstrip in the first place.

...I was wrestling with trying to speedshift a Mopar A833 4-speed, 
not the slickest gearbox ever but certainly one of the most 
robust.  Managed to not ever break one.    It's also worth mentioning 
that my references to "skill" revolved around the guy in the other 
lane.   If he were more "skilled" than I was, would that keep his car 
from being whipped by *my* car, all else considered, from a rolling 
punch?    If he snatched a quicker 2nd gear than I did and I still 
outpowered him, how would his "skill" have helped him if he had a 
slower car and I still caught and passed him?


Then again, knowing the best time to shift and how to synchronize the 
clutch with the shift lever does take some coordination.    On the 
street it oft times doesn't matter that much what with most 
altercations being fairly short, but at the dragstrip it's an 
entirely different matter.   Every little  bit helps, and consistency 
is all-important and remaining consistent requires skill.

What's consistency worth on the street...?   Not missing 2nd or maybe 
3rd?   That's about it, that and staying in your lane and keeping a 
lookout on the road ahead.


Frankly, it's a wonder I never got caught...


>I would like to be at the drag strip and here you tell all the 
>racers what they do doesnt take skill


I'd *never* stand there and tell those guys they don't need any 
skill.   And you took my comments *way* out of context.

Let's briefly discuss "low key" dragracing, the kind indulged for 
fun, like brackets:   "run what ya bring":

Brackets and skill are synonymous... and lots of people run 
brackets.   You *must* be consistent, as mentioned... so skill and 
"real" dragracing go hand in hand, obviously... brackets are 
tailer-made for cars with automatic transmissions... which means that 
the shifting attention is greatly reduced; I was stuck with a heavy 
Chrysler 4-speed so I had to learn how to muscle the shift 
lever.   Not a great bracket racer, me...  still managed to turn low 
12s and that's with nothing but uncorked headers and street tires 
(and burnt clutches trying to hook up) with the pressure dropped a 
tad in back (shaky ride on top).     However:


Wanna talk street racing...?   ;)   All you need is a strong car and 
the ability to drive straight and enough luck to stay unbusted and 
you can get pretty good at it.    I do not however recommend it as a 
way to spend a productive weekend.    But then again, that was then 
and this is now.    Times change, as do priorities, and we reach 
Childhood's End.



...and then we rediscover that childhood again and buy another '66 
Plymouth Satellite project car and start in on setting it up to head 
towards reliving good times...?    Perhaps not... no more 
streetracing on Williamson Rd on weekends using up tires.    But I'm 
looking forward to playing with that Satellite, solo, on back roads 
and that occasional stretch of Interstate, or maybe Mt Pleasant Rd 
one evening, just to relive the earlier triumphs.    ;)

No skill required.

I even indulged a bit of this sort of thing with that '65 Corsa 
ragtop, with mild success...  still had fun although it wasn't the 
same as that 426 Satellite.



tony..