New Straight-Rail Asphalt Car - Circle Track Magazine

The very first chassis in Leavitt Racing Components' new straight-rail asphalt program. There are still a few details to be worked out, but most of the work for a great race car is already in place.

The very first chassis in Leavitt Racing Components' new straight-rail asphalt program. Th

Anyone who has been a part of racing for a while has likely noticed a sort of ebb-and-flow of technology and wisdom that moves between the racing strata. For example, expensive technology developed in the professional racing classes gradually becomes cheaper as it evolves and usually gets adopted by Saturday night racers. Or it can go the other way. Every year, great new crew chiefs, chassis specialists, and drivers make a splash on the Sprint Cup tour, or other professional series, after cutting their teeth and winning races at the local level. A lot of that is planned, but some happens more naturally.

This particular car is set up for Cup-style big springs, but owner Steve Leavitt says it will also be available with coilovers. Leavitt adds that the chassis is designed to work well with the front end sitting on the bumpstops.

This particular car is set up for Cup-style big springs, but owner Steve Leavitt says it w

Take, for example, Leavitt Racing Components out of Mooresville, NC. The chassis shop has always built cars for all levels, but for the last several years it had been quite busy designing and fabricating chassis for NASCAR's top-level racing series, the Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Series. Building cars on that level requires a lot of expertise as well as technology. To that end, owner Steve Leavitt added a complete CNC-machining center to be able to fabricate custom components for the chassis, installed computing centers to completely design a chassis to determine strengths and weaknesses before bending the first piece of tubing, and many other tricks.

Despite Leavitt Racing Components' success as a chassis builder, the vogue trend in the Cup series is for teams to build all their cars in-house. It makes sense for the multi-car teams to invest in the capabilities to build their own chassis, but even single-car teams feel the need to emulate that trend in order to "keep up." So despite the organization's success, Leavitt slowly found its high-end Cup chassis business drying up through no fault of its own.

The rear clip is fairly straightforward (and light) with an underslung rear.

That ebb from the Cup end of the business winds up "flowing" to the benefit of the Saturday night racer. Leavitt Racing Components is already a major player on the USAR Pro Cup Series and has several winning NASCAR Late Model Stock teams running its chassis. And now the company is designing a new straight-rail asphalt car.

"The NASCAR Late Model Stock is really only dominant in the Southeast," Steve Leavitt explains. "But the straight-rail car is raced all over the country. We used to build a lot of straight-rail cars but haven't in years. Now that most of the Cup teams are doing their own thing we have the ability and the time to start building them again, and I think we can put a really good race car on the track."

Following is a close look at Leavitt Racing Components' new straight-rail chassis. As this went to press Leavitt says he can't give an idea of the final cost. "There's still too much left to be finalized," he says. "This is the very first chassis, so we're developing jigs and new ideas as we go along. When we get the second one built we'll have a better idea of what we will need to charge. I do know we'll have at least a few on the track by the end of the 2009 racing season and, hopefully, this chassis will have wins to its credit before the start of the 2010 season."

That's 1/2-inch-thick plate bracing the sway-bar tube with the lower control arm mounts. Leavitt says bracing the very front of the car like this is important because with the big bar/soft spring setups that are popular now, the sway bar is so stiff it wants to twist the chassis. A rack-and-pinion is also definitely the way to go with these cars versus a more traditional drag-link setup.

That's 1/2-inch-thick plate bracing the sway-bar tube with the lower control arm mounts. L
The suspension mounts haven't been added yet, but Leavitt says the car will use a three-link rear with multiple adjustment points. A truck-arm style rear, obviously won't work with the underslung layout.

The suspension mounts haven't been added yet, but Leavitt says the car will use a three-li
The suspension mounts haven't been added yet, but Leavitt says the car will use a three-link rear with multiple adjustment points. A truck-arm style rear, obviously won't work with the underslung layout.

The suspension mounts haven't been added yet, but Leavitt says the car will use a three-li

Lots of bracing to help keep the right-front corner rigid.
Plates are used to separate the center section from the front and rear clips. In the event a clip gets damaged and must be replaced, this should make it a much quicker process (and cheaper for the race team).

Plates are used to separate the center section from the front and rear clips. In the event
Although the left side of the car has four door bars-with plating-for maximum driver protection, the right side is fairly open with this "X" pattern to make it easier for teams that wish to run the exhaust out the doorskin.

Although the left side of the car has four door bars-with plating-for maximum driver prote

Engine mounts are slotted for adjustability. This way teams can easily adjust their setback if necessary. Leavitt will also have a chassis that accepts motor plates for mounting.

Engine mounts are slotted for adjustability. This way teams can easily adjust their setbac
While all the bars have a structural component, several have also been placed with the idea of keeping a broken driveshaft contained and away from the driver.

While all the bars have a structural component, several have also been placed with the ide
An overhead view of the car.

Leavitt says years of building chassis for Cup teams have benefitted his other chassis designs. For one, weld quality and fitment is top notch throughout.

Leavitt says years of building chassis for Cup teams have benefitted his other chassis des
Welder Rodney Brooks works off one of Leavitt Racing's immaculate jigs.
Leavitt Racing Components is fabricating spindles specifically for this chassis' front suspension. Notice the heat marks from all the welding required.

Leavitt Racing Components is fabricating spindles specifically for this chassis' front sus

Leavitt says the most important thing for a good chassis builder is to have good fixtures. This is the fixture Leavitt Racing Components uses when fabricating its spindles. This type of heft is required to make sure everything stays where it needs to when the heat from welding is trying to move things around (as you can see from the photo to the left). Fixtures like this are used for practically every welded component on the race car.

Leavitt says the most important thing for a good chassis builder is to have good fixtures.
Another fixture for the front clip.
Leavitt says the entire chassis-including the jig it would be built on-was modeled on the computer and tested for strengths and weaknesses before the first arc was struck on a welder. Another benefit from building Cup cars for years that isn't seen in many chassis shops.

Leavitt says the entire chassis-including the jig it would be built on-was modeled on the

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New Straight-Rail Asphalt Car - The Straight Scoop

Leavitt Racing Components Introduces A New Straight-Rail Asphalt Chassis