Salt flats pickup?

[Charlie B]

Hello all, I’m looking to build a salt flats pickup using the moebius 65 custom cab and want to kit bash with a nascarkit. I’ve never built a race car so not really sure which direction to go in. Any help on a nascar kit to use for suspension, roll cage,etc. any builders here can give some pointers would be appreciated. Thank you and if anyone here has built a salt flats pickup I’d like to see them. Thanks again Charlie b

[Charlie B]

[Ace-Garageguy]

"Salt flats" Land Speed Record cars are generally "run-whatcha-brung" vehicles that fit into one of four major classes, with a technical emphasis on good solid engineering and safety.

One of the great appeals this kind of racing has is that it's pretty much the last bastion of independent thought and individual ingenuity in motorsports.

A NASCAR chassis under a mid-'60s pickup body is exactly the kind of thing you might see in reality.

Strive for a clean build, make your roll cage look the part and fit it to the cab carefully, and spend some time looking through online photos of LSR vehicles.

Here's a link to the current Technical Inspection Form that has a lot of info regarding equipment and specs.

https://saltflats.com/Forms/Car Inspection Form.pdf

The cars are built to SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) rules, and some research on your part will turn up everything you need to know to build a reasonably accurate model of a possible contender. Here's a link to the SCTA.

https://scta-bni.org/

Here's a link to the USFRA (Utah Salt Flats Racing Association) as well.

https://saltflats.com/index.html

 

 

[Fat Brian]

If you want to save yourself some work you could get a kit from the NASCAR truck series. 

[Muncie]

not sure I would call Bonneville run what you brung... it's more like run what you brought if it meets the rules...  Rightfully so, and even if you don't agree with them, the The tech Inspectors at Bonneville take their job very seriously - there is too much on the line where safety is concerned.  The SCTA rule book for Bonneville and El Mirage has over 280 pages, and about 100 of them apply to four wheel vehicles.  There are 18 pages of individual car and truck class records printed in the rule book. 

Fortunately, we can build a great model that looks the part but doesn't have to meet any of them.  Although it would not technically meet the frame rules, a kit bash of the Custom Cab with a NASCAR chassis would certainly look the part for a truck running in one of the Modified Pickup Truck classes. Four classes, times 10 engine class breaks.  The 358 cubic inch NASCAR engine would run in C/GMP against a 224 MPH record.  I'm pretty sure that you can eliminate the radiator and use a twenty to thirty gallon coolant tank in the bed in this class so you can plate over the grill for aerodynamics. The coolant tank would also distribute more weight toward the rear for traction.

A good source for technical information about land speed cars and trucks are the Tech Information section and the great build diaries in the forums at landracing.com ---   Build Diaries (landracing.com)

 

EDIT - one of Jesel's pickups - they have used several and pretty much dominated gas and blown gas modified pickup class records - website - Hot Rod Engine Tech Jesel Landspeed Team’s 241 MPH Blown Fuel Modified Pickup - Hot Rod Engine Tech

Edited April 12, 2021 by Muncie

[Charlie B]

Thanks guys for all the great input I’ll be doing some reading up before jumping into this build. I do plan on using a nascar truck series kit but have to do some research on them too and see which would be the best fit as far as detail and what not. Thanks again charlie

[misterNNL]

Very interesting stuff.