Drag racing is a cruel mistress

Today I took the Torino to the track for a test & tune day ahead of a big national event next weekend. The day started off well with a huge P.B of 8.09 @ 167.9. We made some more passes with varying success working through some little car and driver issues. Sadly, the day ended very badly when on the last pass of the day, a deteriorating track bit me hard and I hit the wall hard pancaking the left side of the car. Throwing money away like this is getting a little old.

Damn, sorry for your misfortune.

Damn that sucks. Sorry to hear that.

well I somewhat feel your pain.........




this is the truck Ive done all the chassis work on the last 2 years, 2 pass last night, went a 6.08 w a baby tuneup...... went staight as an arrow. said when he left off it wiggled a bit to the right.... hit brake and shot him hard left in the wall. I walked the track with the manager and although it was a street carbnight. tnt we saw nothing wrong w the track. I think the truck just got a little light in the rear and he stabbed the brakes too hard and this was the end result.

chassis is in good shape, it'll get a fox strut type front end and glass front clip it looks like. Driver is fine im sure he is gonna be sore today.

always wear your safety stuff guys, the belt rules and stuff are a pita but you never know.

And the Jomar oil filter survived without a scratch lol

Man that sucks, sorry to hear for both of you.  Goes without sayin' that I am glad both drivers ok. I have insurance, but for pits (paddock) and in trailer, travel, storage at home---but not on track, so if this happens to me I would be in the same boat.

Ouch.

Reminds me of a few years ago....

We were testing and it was cold. Like 40 degrees and gloomy. Tune up was too big for conditions but I was playing with the shocks so I needed a big hit on a shitty track. Car left perfect (of course it did lol) but by 400 ft I was dead left, then dead right, then left again. I pedaled that thing so much it drifted the length of the track lol. Hell, I'm surprised it did start hurting rods with the amount I played with the throttle. I had to buy a new set of pants after that. I got lucky, and we loaded up after that.

I feel for ya buddy. 

Quitters never win and winners never quit. Which one are you?

Hate to hear about the damage. I had to abort one run yesterday, and got real concerned about the car "moving around" at 1100' to the stripe.
I guess it is better just to pull it back in the trailer on some days.

Keith

Man that sucks.

Is the Torino body all fiberglass, or are you going to have to find some OEM sheetmetal to fix it?

richter69 wrote:...........hit brake and shot him hard left in the wall..........

Jon, how was the truck's master cylinder plumbed? Was it plumbed OEM with the front brakes doing most of the work, or backwards so the rear brakes did most of the work?

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Man that sucks.

Is the Torino body all fiberglass, or are you going to have to find some OEM sheetmetal to fix it?

The doors and quarters are OEM steel. Dunno know what I'm gonna do yet, find new steel or repair the quarter. I have a spare door.

Sorry Steve,that really SUCKS. Hang in there.  

Do you have pics of the damage?

Dave C. wrote:Do you have pics of the damage?

Not yet. I can barely look at the poor thing. I do need to take some, though.

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:

richter69 wrote:...........hit brake and shot him hard left in the wall..........

Jon, how was the truck's master cylinder plumbed? Was it plumbed OEM with the front brakes doing most of the work, or backwards so the rear brakes did most of the work?

Its a Wilwood setup that came with the front end kit he bought. I know its plumbed per their instructions. More i think of it having no front bumper im sure air was getting under it and its also light in the ass, it prolly wiggled and the kid does not have a lot of experience so it all added up to a bad scene. We already have a plan to fix it and make it better, the next time it goes out I may drive it myself and make sure its all tip top.

Sorry to hijack your thread Im sorry to hear about the Torino. I was gonna start my own thread and saw this and figured it was worth mentioning it here.

We'll, reading all this and planning to do test hits on mine next Friday. I have new brakes and the adjustable prop valve. I think I'll borrow a pressure gauge to set it instead of chancing it. Any idea of a pressure differential on this?

70FB wrote:We'll, reading all this and planning to do test hits on mine next Friday. I have new brakes and the adjustable prop valve. I think I'll borrow a pressure gauge to set it instead of chancing it. Any idea of a pressure differential on this?

I added a proportional valve on my car and during testing just kept adding rear bias until I could slide the rear tires and then backed up just a smidge.

Probably not the correct way to do it, but it worked for me.............

StephenW wrote:

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Man that sucks.

Is the Torino body all fiberglass, or are you going to have to find some OEM sheetmetal to fix it?

The doors and quarters are OEM steel. Dunno know what I'm gonna do yet, find new steel or repair the quarter. I have a spare door.

Have you ever thought about getting a fiberglass shop to pull a mold off the body & make a 'glass shell? Instead of permanently fixing the damaged sheetmetal you could try to just patch it with some foam & bondo, slick it up with mold release, & pull a mold off it. It would be a lot of work, but it might be worth it seeing how the old sheetmetal is getting harder & harder to find these days.

Not so pretty now
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The kids truck is worse than that..... Get er fixed......

Ouch !!!

Any frame damage ?

Its too bad you are so far away   

http://www.racingjunk.com/Door-Cars/181893669/70-Ford-Torino-Cobra-Trade.html