It's that time of year, when...
It's that time of year, when teams will look back on their prior season and decide how they can improve their program. For us, it's a new chassis. Our current car is a good piece but she's tired. In order for our team to reach the next level it's time for a new chassis. Photo Courtesy of Erica Smetters
It's that time of year, the time when plans are starting to be made for the 2009 season. The upcoming season often has a way of sneaking up on teams, things get busy during the off-season with family and work, and before you know it you have two weeks before the first race of the year. Trust me, the teams that will be contending for championships this coming year have already got a head start. Very rarely will you have a championship-caliber car or team that isn't more than overly prepared for the first race of the year.
Circle Track magazine is widely known around the racing world for providing its readers with beneficial technical articles and being the #1 Source for Advanced Racing Technology. For the 2009 season, Circle Track will be taking on a huge project: to show you, our readers, what it takes to build, race, and maintain a championship-caliber car/team. Since I ran the '08 Hooters Pro Cup season, we opted to stick with the 105-inch wheelbase car. This will give us the versatility to run in a competitive national touring series such as USAR Pro Cup or NASCAR Camping World Series. While that decision will be reported in the coming issue, the goal will be to contend for the championship.
This car will be documented throughout the course of the year, and we will be showing the build from the ground up, appearing in various stories showing its progress. In the next few months after the build is complete, we will be testing the car. We will not only show you how the car ran, but also show the changes we made to the original setup. Much of what we will do with the car will be applicable to many forms of racing. So without further ado, here's the first in a long line of stories surrounding this upcoming season.
The winter for most teams means one thing-getting your equipment ready for the next season. Many teams will have a choice, whether to build a brand-new chassis or to make improvements to the chassis they already have. Our chassis has been a really good car but it was time to get a new one. The chassis was close to 7 years old and has had three different teams call it their own. And trust me, each one of us had hit everything but the lottery with the car.
The foundation of a championship-caliber team is a solid car. That's why we decided to go with a Leavitt chassis. Leavitt Racing Components is one of the top chassis builders in the industry. Its workmanship is second to none, which you will be able to see throughout the build of this car.
I have broken up the building of the chassis into what we accomplished each day we worked on the car. This way, you'll be able to see how the car was built from the ground up and the process it followed to completion.
Built the rear clip for the chassis - I assumed when I arrived at Leavitt Racing Components in Mooresville, N.C., that we would piece the car together on the jig and then pull the chassis off when it was finished. However, what happens is the car is actually built in four steps. We build the rear clip, front clip, and center 'cage before ever going on the jig. And then finally we weld the car together on the jig.
The jig where you build the...
The jig where you build the rails for the rear clip serves two purposes, it not only ensures that each rear clip is designed the same, but it also prevents the metal from stretching or warping while the tubing is being heated by the welder.
The spring buckets have been...
The spring buckets have been set in place on the jig, but Leavitt has given us a new adjustment. We can move the jackscrew side to side by simply changing a slug in the spring bucket, something we had been unable to do on our old car. This will allow us to ensure that the spring is traveling the way we want it to.
Once we had the rails built...
Once we had the rails built for the rear clip, we placed them in the rear clip jig and started welding them up.
Built the front clip - Just as with the rear clip, the front clip is pieced together on the jig. However, it gets a little more complex, because of the control arm mounting points. If there is any type of bind or resistance in the movement of the control arms, then it will not allow the control arms to travel at a consistent rate once it hits the track.
We also will be installing...
We also will be installing our steering box mounts as well.
This is where we also built...
This is where we also built the track bar mount. On this particular car, we are planning on running a 9-inch-style rearend. By doing this, we'll not only gain a few horsepower over the quick-change rearend, but we will be able to move the fuel cell forward and closer to the rearend to place more weight right on top of the rearend.
Andy Maylish attaches the...
Andy Maylish attaches the sway bar tubing. Leavitt chose to use 2.75-inch tubing, I doubt we'll ever use a sway bar that large in the car, but depending on the track we will be running on, I've seen sway bars up to 2.25 being used.
Like we stated before, the...
Like we stated before, the mounting points for the control arms are extremely crucial. If the bolt is in a bind, then when we hook up the lower control arm it will also be in a bind.
This laser-cut plate for the...
This laser-cut plate for the front clip serves two purposes. First, it will protect the center link from dragging the track. Plus, it connects the sway bar tubing to both lower control arms.
With the front clip just about...
With the front clip just about finished, all we have to do is flip it over, weld the underside, and then attach the upper control arm mounts. Then we're ready to go to the center section.
Built the center section (or 'cage)
The center section includes...
The center section includes a lot of tube bending and fabricating work. Here, Steve Leavitt bends the A-post for our 'cage.
We have run a center line...
We have run a center line down the top of the 'cage to make certain that everything lines up perfectly while we are building the 'cage. We will also use this line once we get the car on the jig.
Since this 'cage jig has been...
Since this 'cage jig has been built, Leavitt has raised the halo bar for added safety. Over time, other series have followed suit and mandated that teams must do the same.
The bars are notched using...
The bars are notched using this Mittler-Brothers tube notcher. Doing this ensures a good, proper fit from tube to tube.
The finished 'cage, all that's...
The finished 'cage, all that's left to do is add a few door plates for the driver side once the car is off the jig.
Gettin' Jiggy - It's now time to get the car on the jig! We'll take everything we've made up to this point and piece it all together. This includes cutting and placing the framerails as well as centering the front and rear clip with the framerails. We'll attach the front and rear clip to the framerails, we'll attach the crossmember, and of course the truck arm mounting points.
OK, we've cut the framerails...
OK, we've cut the framerails and we've got the front and rear clip on the jig. Now it's time to center the clips with the framerails. We do this by running a centerline down the middle of the jig and centering everything with it.
This might be the most crucial...
This might be the most crucial part of building the car because if your framerails aren't straight, you'll always have difficulty aligning the rearend of the car. Remember, you align the rearend by squaring it to the framerails. *NOTE* Notice how Andy welded two straight bars to the very front and the very rear of the front clip? This will keep the front clip from warping under the extreme heat it will experience. Once we're finished, we'll have to cut those bars back out.
Once we have the framerails...
Once we have the framerails and the rear clip square, we start on the front clip. To ensure we get our correct wheelbase of 105 inches, per series rules, we have attached a special lower control arm that will locate our wheelbase for us.
Now it's time to put the crossmember...
Now it's time to put the crossmember into place and attach the truck arm mounts.
Notice the block we put under...
Notice the block we put under the right rear framerail. This will increase our chassis ride height on the right rear, but also gives us the room for the exhaust we need to ensure it won't rub out the right side.
Finishing the Rollcage - It's now time to attach the 'cage to the framerails. One thing we don't want to forget is since we have raised the framerail on the right side, we need to cut the 'cage down on the right rear to ensure that it will sit on the framerails level. In addition, we will attach the secondary lead rail on the inside of framerail.
Steve places the 'cage 1 inch...
Steve places the 'cage 1 inch farther back than he usually does to give me a little more legroom.
We have added half of an extra...
We have added half of an extra framerail to the left side of the car, which attaches to the crossmember bar. This will give us another weight box for our lead.
We need to finish attaching...
We need to finish attaching the 'cage to the framerails.
Getting Closer - With Day six upon us, we now attach the support bars from the 'cage to the front and rear clip. We mount the firewall support struts as well as the shock bungs in the front of the car. Then, we begin the process of checking clearances for the interior sheetmetal.
We're getting a lot closer...
We're getting a lot closer to being able to pull the car off the jig. Today we run the support bars from the 'cage to the front and rear clips.
This strengthens the area...
This strengthens the area around the fuel cell.
Before we can weld it up,...
Before we can weld it up, we need to check the sheetmetal clearance to make certain that we weren't going to run into problems later.
With the shock bars in place,...
With the shock bars in place, all we need to do is mount the shock bungs in the front of the car. The rear shock bungs were installed with the rear clip.
Pulling it off - The Jig, that is. The car is just about finished. All we need to do is go over the car and make certain we have welded up everything. We don't want anything that is just tacked getting sheetmetal.
It's much easier to finish...
It's much easier to finish all the welding now, than when the car has the entire interior put in it.
The finished product, ready...
The finished product, ready to come off the jig.