My Funny Car
 

I am putting this on here not to enter the speed contest but to get some of you guys interested in something that I love doing. I started my RC hobby in crawling right after I signed on here back in Jan 2007, but I got away from crawling because there weren't many events close to town back then. I then went into speed runs with my Traxxas Rustler (90mph) and then got involved in RC drags. BTW, the screen name that I go by every where else is SunnyHouTX. This funny car is the third drag car I've owned and one of four at the moment. My "stable" includes a 3S top fuel dragster, this 3S funny car, a 2S bracket funny car, and a 2S bracket pro stock. All the build threads of these cars are at www.gcdragracing.com forum. Hope you like this one.

Here's how it all started with the funny car about 10 months ago, with a Hot Bodies Lightning rear end and some spare parts. A friend built a spool to lock the rear end and a motor mount. The chassis here is 1/8" blue G10 fiberglass. She became known as the "Popsicle Stick" pretty quickly :mrgreen:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020137.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020139.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020140.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020149.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020148.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020147.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020151.jpg

Second wheelie bar:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020809.jpg

That set up worked very well for a long time until I got the car going pretty quick and harmonics would snap the motor shaft after about 2/3 of the 132ft track. Then I got this coupler from Litespeed Engineering in San Antonio and that worked.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020803.jpg

You can see that the center section was now replaced by two vertical carbon fiber strips to lighten the chassis and to add rigidity.

Then a few months ago, we sat down and put it all into CAD and came up with a new chassis design. Chassis is now all carbon fiber and the rear end is all boxed in aluminum. Motor mount is a "torque tube".

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1030002.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020997.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1030001.jpg

And with the body on:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020849.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020853.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020854.jpg

New body and my business partner's Super Gas/Pro Stock:

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...A/P1030035.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...A/P1030033.jpg

The best ET my funny car has gone is 1.489s in the 132ft at 84.1mph and the top speed so far has been 90.9mph.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1030043.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...r/P1020869.jpg

Here's a couple of videos:

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That's pretty cool. I would build one if I had someone to race. I wish there were a r/c club in Tuscaloosa. There isn't anything r/c relating going on around here at the moment.

Thanks Keith. There are some drag clubs but a little ways from you: Atlanta and Florence, SC. Man, hope you find something close by though.

love the torque tube. how much does the entire assebly with gears and all add to the total weight?

I think the whole rear section was about 6oz minus the gears. It couldn't be much lighter unless we do a radical design change.

whats the purpose of the painters tape? and what rear wheels/tires are those?

how did you connect the wheels thru that diff??? I have been considering the same kind of setup for my pulling truck using a maxx center but cant get it figured.

The painter's tape on the tires keep the traction compound from getting on everything and creating a mess. I make those wheels from rims I buy. They are 1/10 scale pan car rims and have worked well for me so far. The rims used to be a little flexible but they've changed the plastic composition and are much better now. I also use a plain black rim that is all rigid but a little heavier. The foam is a soft drag compound and is all that I've used and get good results. I will try out a little denser compound to have as an option in the future.

A friend of mine made a spool that lets you mount the ring gear on it and it rides in the bearings like the old diff. A 0.250" axle passes through it and is held in place by set screws. Works very well for drag racing.