Dry Lakes Racers Australia

Question for the car blokes ....looking for a ball park figure of putting a car on the salt, first for 150mph then 200 mph, for arguments sake I have a stock donor car (jap 4 banger ).
Point is to put some options to prospective gentlemen who are keen to do the salt thing.....and I have no idea of putting a budget together for a car.

cheers

150mph is irrelevent if you are aiming at 200mph. So Jap 4 Banger to 200mph. Need to be turbo injected and good ECU. Very slippery and solid HP. I'd say $30-$40K would be realistic. That is unless your labour is free. Current regs have increased costs.

Don't forget the safety gear. Good helmet, fire suit, hans, belts, fire bottles, plus 200mph plus tyres and approved rims. I refuse to add up what i've spent so far on my vette, but it would be North of $30k, (without the initial cost of a "damaged" corvette from US) I have most of the engine components, (but have yet to build it) a solid clutch and gearbox, and a roll cage 3/4 done. I have only the rims from the items in the above list. My aim is 200 1st, and 240 plus if the piggybank holds out. Obviously, if you happy with 199.9, and no runs over 200, you can skip the exxy tyres. Mind you, a C4 Corvette is about the worst possible choice for a M/S vehicle, as the cabin is almost all f/glass
Regards, Denis

True Dennis. Tyres at $800 each once you pass 200mph. I was not including Helmet and suit. Most budgets blow out. Think I'll build a bike next time,

Thanks blokes ....I expected it would be some what more than that I roughed up the cost for a reasonably competitive bike 200+ mph ( not including the purchase of the bike its self busa) in the 30K region ....that also excluded the riders safety gear .

Though the drivers and safety stuff would pump up the cost no doubt another 10K???....well Ill give them some options see if they run for the hills.

your safety gear also changes when the class you're running in reaches 200mph
G

Budget?
I am probably not the best person to ask.
GAZ

i stopped counting when aiming for 200mph found it was easier to sleep at night

Here is a quick count up on costs of safety gear:
SFI 3.2A/20 Suit , Gloves , Boots , Over Boots , Arm Restraints $2,650.00 (any one that contacts me regarding suits , I advise them to buy a /20, that covers them for ANY vehicle (car),and gives 40 seconds protection before 2nd degree burns)
Snell 2010 Helmet , $410.00
SFI 38.1 Head and neck restraint $690.00
SFI 16.1 5 point harness $180.00
10lb Coldfire extinguisher system $785.00
Kirkey Alloy seat $300.00
Inertia switch , for electric fuel pump $75.00

TOTAL of $5,090.00

NOTE that these are retail prices in Aussie , you can buy better (there is a full 2A/20 set and helmet restraint for sale here on the forum for $1500) , and suits do not have to be recertified in the DLRA/SCTA sport , so even 2nd hand drag suits are fine (as long as they are in good condition)

Maybe Grumm could do the same for the required bike rider safety gear???

So to run a bike would cost 30K + safety gear??

You can build a car that would be fun for that or less , + the safety gear..

Tyres , a light weight car can use drag front runners to a "bit" over 200 , a heavy car cant! The ZR rated tyres (depending on the load rating) can run a "bit" over 200.I suggest to people asking me about this ,,, to run the ZR 's or drag tyres UNTILL they make 200 ( and a "bit") , then spend big to go fast.

Hope this post helps Hawk,

Bob Ellis
DLRA Chief Car Inspector

I see the aussie $ is in free fall against the green back ......things just got a whole lot more exy...why buy today that you can put off buying until (add what ever you want here )

Hawkwind- I apologise in advance for the "highjack" but think what follows is sort of relevant in relation to "bang for your buck
I am a lone wolf- the fab., welding, design, engine build, paint etc is all being done by yours truly, as I suspect is the case with most land racers.
It is a passion- I spend every spare hour in the shed, and when I'm not physically working on the car, I am plotting, planning, doing research etc towards that same goal.
I am not prepared to spend this amount of time and (for me) considerable expense, on a vehicle I can only play with once per year "if it dosen't rain"
So I am going to considerable lengths to build a car so that it exceeds DLRA safety requirements, and will protect me in a 240mph Danny Thompson type incident, but can be used for other M/S stuff.
I have designed the inner R/C with helmet restraint to be removable, so that what remains is a very strong "normal" R/C which with bolt in side protection, will allow the car to be logbooked for CAMS events, eg Street Sprints, lap dashes etc. (N.B. Bob Ellis is yet to see and approve the final design)
Am running Willwood 6pot Ft/4pot/Rear calipers with big rotors, I fitted years ago When I started competing in Targa Tas- this means I can go hard and test properly, at Lakeside, Morgan Park etc. Once I get to 200mph, and fit the 15" steelies, I will make new brackets, and fit "tiny" rotors for the salt.
END PART 1

PART 2
The car has normal race setup, separate ft & rr brake cyls. with remote bias adj.
20 lit tank for salt, 40 lit otherwise
Will rewire the car completely, using marine grade wire, and Mil Spec connectors, but will retain bke/tail lt., h/l, flashers etc. some of these are reguired anyway, for M/S.
Did some sums the other night on fuel usage, time to get to 210 mph, etc and came up with these figures(based on my experience with the vette at 425fw hp, and allowing the 434ci producing 650 fw hp;
SALT 90seconds plus (depending on traction)
DRAGS 11-12 seconds
LAKESIDE 60 seconds
STREET SPRINTS 45 seconds
(Don't we all spend an inordinate amount of time and money just to sit in our toys and go hard for a matter of seconds!)
Reminds me of another activity, which hopefully lasts for a little bit longer...
Any way, the point I'm trying to make is that with a bit of planning and careful design, is that it is possible to build a DLRA compliant 200 mph plus salt car (sedan) which you can take to your local drag strip, or roundy roundy track, on any old weekend
Denis