negatives of FED as bracket car?

[wideopen231]

Ok first I know we have had threads about bracket racing a FED. Is it the choice of cookie cutter crowd?No. Is it easiest to get tune up info on,heck no. Is it cool? xxxx yes. Can it be just as consistent as a four link RED? I think so,with proper prep and tuning. Have been told from day one( alot of days between then and now too) a FED is wrong for bracket racing and can not win on anything but a fluke day. Reason I asking here is site is FED's and not a bunch of do as everyone else or you don't have a chance bracket racers only site.Maybe short cut learning curve.Yes I know getting it on track would too.Trying for end of August once heat dies down some,its just not my thing to  play in.

Question what would be the negatives or obstacle with a FED as a kick butt screw the names bracket race car?

[dreracecar]

I cant think of any reason/obstacle why it would not be competitive. we have some index cars that are deadly right on the index and you have a better view if you are wheel racing. The only criticism I have is that sitting in a fed, you/yourself cannot get the belts tight enough and you would need some help, those that say they can do it themselves have never crashed at speed because they are still alive.

 Adding to that, the bigger and faster/quicker the motor, the harder it is.  Its just brackets with a very lite car so it does not take a lot to be consistent.

[spookie]

Bracket raced my fed for 20 years. Runs 5.60s 1/8mi ,delay box on bottom bulb.When racing faster dragster I see the front wheels 20ft before they see mine,helps with finish line racing.Cut a good light,dail it tight,Bring home the cash!!! Have won my share.

[masracingtd1167]

I think if you are good at what you do it dose not matter what you are driving ! A really good bracket racer will pay attention  to what the other racers are doing and when they race you they will know if you are holding or not and most of the good ones will hold a little ! Some racers don't care for bracket racing buy I think it is a great way to race and it makes you a better driver !

[Curly1]

It has taken a year to get my FED to working good and it still is not as good as my 4 link altered was. Plus the FED really is a pain to load and unload, race etc. The 4 link altered handles much better in shut down are and stops better. There are several tracks around here that I simply can not run the dragster. The altered had no problems. The altered stopped much better than the dragster because it had front brakes but more importantly does not flex / bounce like the dragster does. So you really should throw out parachute every pass. That is not good for a bracket racer. You want to make it simple for one man to race.

You certainly can bracket race it but you will find it is much harder than a door car or 4 link car and that takes a lot of fun out of it. Much more like work and if it is any where near as hot there as it is here you do not want to make it any harder than you have to.

[Curly1]

Plus a FED is flexible and the chassis will not last for as many passes as a stiffer suspended car. Note we are not talking about a short, slow FED here.  When you start running low 5's or faster then you need to get that chassis to working or suspension. An altered, a door car, funny car or even suspended dragster has a stiffer chassis and will last much longer. With all of the flexing a 225 inch FED has it going to break uprights, welds and stuff. And if it does not flex it probably is not going to work good. On a fast car it is hard to get chassis, tire, weight balance and everything working together right. Tire selection on a suspended car is very forgiving. On a FED it is not and I do not I do not know about you but I do not have $750 a pop to try 10 different tires to find right one that works. The MT 3074 tire was best tire ever on my altered.  Does not work good on dragster at all. Same rear gear, same motor, same transmission and almost same weight yet does not work good. Luckily I have a good data logger to help me narrow down the problem.

I also agree the FED is cool and while RED 4 link dragster may be best tool  for bracket racing I have no desire what so ever for one.

You can bracket race a FED but you will find it is much more of a pain in the tail. Unless your car was running something like 6 in the 1/8 mile or slower. The faster you go the harder it is going to be to make it work (unless you know someone who has already got a really good combo and closely copy it) even then they are not the same. My altered was just as fast and it was fun and easy to bracket race and I did not need any help to do it. My dragster is a whole different animal and I do not bracket race it. Too much of a pain and no fun. I think you will quickly tire of bracket racing it. But to answer your question. Yes, you could.

[dreracecar]

Plus a FED is flexible and the chassis will not last for as many passes as a stiffer suspended car. Note we are not talking about a short, slow FED here.  When you start running low 5's or faster then you need to get that chassis to working or suspension. An altered, a door car, funny car or even suspended dragster has a stiffer chassis and will last much longer. With all of the flexing a 225 inch FED has it going to break uprights, welds and stuff. And if it does not flex it probably is not going to work good. On a fast car it is hard to get chassis, tire, weight balance and everything working together right. Tire selection on a suspended car is very forgiving. On a FED it is not and I do not I do not know about you but I do not have $750 a pop to try 10 different tires to find right one that works. The MT 3074 tire was best tire ever on my altered.  Does not work good on dragster at all. Same rear gear, same motor, same transmission and almost same weight yet does not work good. Luckily I have a good data logger to help me narrow down the problem.

I also agree the FED is cool and while RED 4 link dragster may be best tool  for bracket racing I have no desire what so ever for one.

You can bracket race a FED but you will find it is much more of a pain in the tail. Unless your car was running something like 6 in the 1/8 mile or slower. The faster you go the harder it is going to be to make it work (unless you know someone who has already got a really good combo and closely copy it) even then they are not the same. My altered was just as fast and it was fun and easy to bracket race and I did not need any help to do it. My dragster is a whole different animal and I do not bracket race it. Too much of a pain and no fun. I think you will quickly tire of bracket racing it. But to answer your question. Yes, you could.

  I have had to repair more RE chassis for uprite breakage then I have had to for the FE chassis,  its not the motor placement/flex, but overall chassis design that causes the problems.

  Bracket racing is all about having a good reaction/light and consistency FOR THAT DAY.  Dial-ins can be changed throughout the event, so what the driver is strapped into, does not matter. I can show you 50+ time slips of my blown alc FE dragster (no suspension) with 1.09 60' times and never had to weld the uprites back in. but again Ive never had to race on a track with a crappy shutdown area, Id rather pack up and go home then to kill the car

 

[Curly1]

There are a lot of tracks around here with rough or short shut down areas. Not worth crashing the car. My dragster is actually much stiffer than it was originally and still very flexible and it does not take much to make it bounce in the shut down due to flex. In fact some of the tracks I raced in my altered never even thought of the shut down area or noticed how rough it was. Same track in my dragster was a handful. Using parachute helps but who wants to do that every time?

[wideopen231]

First I am not arguing the negatives posted,input is why I started thread.

 On the seat belts.I have done cpl test fit deals and get them pretty dang tight and I am firm believer in tight belts.I do have belts where you pull up to tighten lap belts which maybe difference.

 Loading wise I do not see where FED is any different from any other 225" car.If issue is with dragging especially on stupid beaver tail crap all trailer(most) come with.I will be doing away with that as soon as I can get to where I can build what I want instead of buying something  that is just a get me by.

As for the ET part .This thing will be 4.70 1/8 or less.If not I will be redoing a bunch of stuff. I do not expect it first it but should be by hit number 3.LOL I figure with close to 1000 hp and around 1625 lbs that is not a unreasonable expectation.If anything it should do better.

If not for challenge of getting it tuned to work like I want I would not have built it. I am just thinking maybe you fellas with lots of FED experience  will have more insight to these than the guys who run those boring everybody got same car things.Not that they do not work great and probably smart way to go, I  believe you can always do it different and do it just as good or better with work.

[Curly1]

I also agree with very tight seat belts but that is on any car I drive.

As for consistency my dragster is good now that I have got most of the bugs worked out.  The problem is the shut down area on most tracks that is not an issue with all the other cars I have drove.

[dreracecar]

Bet I can get another 1" out of them

 And why is it the fastest part of the track , where you really need to maintain control when things go bad is so rough and bumpy

[Mrs Esterhouse]

we have won a lot of events bracket racing, only thing we fight is if the track starts to go away in the later rounds it seems to affect us before the red,door car guys.

[wideopen231]

Curly,

 Two thins I have on my car for bad shut down. Well one but two way to activate. I have a air solenoid  for chute. I can either hit the oh crap button on steering wheel(both hands on) or if  I know track has rough shut down I can do it off timer and have chute out every time same spot. I can also just hit handle as norm. I also have a second chute with quick swap set up so as to avoid having to hurry pack chute. If you drive into chute it will make rough shut down lot smoother.

Glad you are getting your car worked out.

[Calkins]

but again Ive never had to race on a track with a crappy shutdown area, Id rather pack up and go home then to kill the car

I hope you packed up this day.  I think this was Sac?  Made for a great photo opp...

[dreracecar]

In fact, I did not even go to that race, or been up to SAC for 5 years now, where the owner of my former car races it, is his problem now.