Dry Lakes Racers Australia

I have sat in and launched a front engined rail up a driveway,even then with a 1/4 " shield and seat between me and the diff.... i was nervous Thanks Greg, now you've made me nervous. I'm really not sure I trust that little 8 bolt GM character enough to rest my nether region on it then hold th...

At the moment it's fun to just sit on the clamped together chassis and play broom broom games like a little kid :D I can't imagine how much fun it will be when I eventually get to drive this thing. Don't worry Zork, if the motor turns into an expensive grenade I'll probably be holding my breath anyw...

Greg,

The design has changed a bit from the first model. Drivers seat will actually be behind the diff with legs slung over the axle like the old dragsters. As for safety there will be a significant scatter shield over the back of the diff. Not sure I'd be brave enough to run without it

Thanks to the long weekend I've been able to get a little bit more done. The two lengths of steel which I had the metal supplier cut for chassis rails turned out to be 5mm different in length. I would have thought cutting accurately with one of those huge, extremely accurate saws would be easy but t...

Here's a couple of pics of the first chassis mock up. I've set it up front engine dragster style with the driver behind the rear axle. Wheelbase is 100". It looks as though the upper control arm mounts will need to be ground off the diff for leg clearance but otherwise I now have a good idea of...

Turns out the font axle is forged and not cast (I didn't even know there was a difference until someone with knowledge of all things metallurgical explained the difference. I thank him for suppressing most of his laughter :oops: ) Anyway, stress fractures are not such a problem for a forged axle but...

The top fuel dragster is up there as one of the finest pieces of mechanical engineering ever. My involvement in motorsport started in drag racing and these machines always fascinated me as the pinnacle of the sport. The engines on these monsters are so highly strung that they need to be rebuilt betw...

There hasn't been much progress lately thanks to moving house and one hell of an electricity bill :shock: however I'm now in a position to get things in motion. There have been some changes to the design, thanks in no small part to the advice of some of you forum dwellers. Firstly I will be includin...

I know! Plan a boat race! Then the lake is guaranteed to dry up...

Hmmm it seems like our biggest problem is some poor defenceless creature may be made to feel slightly anxious at our presence. Don't get me wrong I love animals, they're delicious, but at least Cullival doesn't seem to appear on any recent reports or council documents relating to conservation. If th...

No luck finding phone numbers for the properties near the lake. I called the local Police and spoke to an officer who was kind enough to ask around the station and find out if anyone was aware of the lake or who looked after it. Unfortunately no-one seemed to be familiar with it which tends to sugge...

It's not near me (I'm on the NSW Central Coast) however I'm very keen to look into any lakes in NSW which are suitable. I'll try and find a phone number for the farm that seems to be on the little dirt road and use my best telephone manner and friendly demeanour to obtain information :D As for the l...

Has anyone ever considered lake Cullival near Wagga Wagga in NSW as a potential race venue? It's about 5km long and 2km wide and unlike so many other lakes doesn't seem to support any sort of wildlife or flowers or endagered moss. It also seems to be dry most of the time, only holding water for a sh...

Thanks for that Gaz. Whilst the weight of the car is not yet known it is not likely to exceed 1000kg. In fact it will most likely be quite a bit less than that. Our goal for speed is 200MPH (isn't everyones) however the actual result again is likely to be quite a bit less than that. Whilst I don't h...

Thanks for the help. Looks like alloy might be the way to go then.

Cheers