crx12

I have been thinking about this topic for a while now. I remember when a 13-14 second FWD Honda was fast. I remeber seeing some of these cars at Palmdale when all this got going. As most of you know in the last 10 years records having been falling and speeds have been rising for years. I guess I just don't see much innovation as before. That may seem a little ignorant to say but I remember seeing wheelie bars come out on a FWD car for the first time.

So on to my question, what would you say are the biggest innovations in the FWD drag cars of 2-3 years ago up until today and then into the future 2-3 years? I understand as things progress you will see smaller and smaller increases in performance but you can still call these small increases innovations because the extra speed is harder to come by. I would think there is more room to improve records on street tires than on slicks but you are fighting the laws of physics big time there. I think the guys on slicks are sort of at a plateau especially the pro classes. I know rules limit a lot of innovation or at least make you work that much harder for it. On the other hand maybe it's good that rules prohibit a lot of innovation because the sport has time to catch up with itself and work on side by side racing. The downside to innovation can be broken cars which sucks to watch but I have to say I love technical innovation as well.

The innovators I can see on the horizon are the following:
Rado (when he runs of course) VDRIVE
Fabman VDRIVE
Laskey S2000

of course you can never use the word innovation without mentioning the Bergenholtz camp.

Anyway I would be interested to hear what you all think on the subject.

jdkindle

The problem lately is that people are shooting for a number that they feel they need to hit to be competitive instead of inching their way to success. There is also the copy-cat syndrome.

The majority of people who I have seen make the biggest leaps in the last few years have been a product of one simple thing; tuning. That can be tuning the motor, the suspension or the clutch; but people think you need better parts to go faster, when really you just need to make better use of what you already have.

DIRep972

iTrader: (1)

I agree. Its not about having some new part that nobody else has, its about making the parts you have work better then everyone elses.

danimal

what gm engineering did with the ecotec motor deserves a ton of respect, even if you don't like the platform.

all motor? honda's going deep into the 9's gets my vote

future? unlimited class dragsters!

PNG

The next big innovation in FWD racing is going to be reliability. Why does Ron Lummus have a 300 point lead in Hot Rod right now? Because they almost never give up a broke single to an opponent. Yah, the car is fast, but more importantly, it's fast all the time.

I have no doubt that they could run a 7.50 in that car if they wanted to, but Steve Bothwell is smart enough not to risk breaking stuff just to make a point. Plus, they'd throw a bunch of weight on the car, but you get what I'm trying to say.