Hey Glen ~ Speaking of using aluminum( aluminium in the UK, and maybe
down under, too )for constructing trailers ...... how about for race car
frames ?
Do you remember Archie Leiderbrand's 'Hypersonic 1' top fueler with
blown
chizler motivation and an all aluminum frame ...... late 50s era, and out of
Kansas,
I seem to recall ? Also, you might have seen another aluminum and / or
magnesium chassis car run there at Lions, or at some other LA area strips
around
that time :
I think the builder's name was Chuck Jones, the car might have been called
the
Magwinder, and it was also chizler powered, but it was a Crosswinder with
chain drive
-- a second or third generation copy of Jack Chrisman's Sidewinder ( Joe
Mailliard
possibly one of the builders on that ? ) Jones's car was considerably
lighter than the Chrisman ' winder, and a fine sleek- looking red & white
example
of expert
construction wedded to some advanced theories, but I'm not sure how well it
ever
ran out there ....... you probably saw it run, yes / no / maybe ?
I seem to recall Jack stating that the sidewinder cars actually got Too
Much
Bite off the line ...... I bet today's Top Fuel Aftermarket-Chizlers would
change that
situation very quickly ! As to my take on the aluminum, I used to replace
steel parts
with aluminum in many places, but the strength seemed lacking unless I went
thicker
and heavier with the aluminum pieces ...... bringing you back to square one,
and with
all the fabrication effort, it didn't seem worth it . I settled on
lightening the steel stuff
without weakening the component too much for its' intended purpose(
hopefully ).
Try your memory banks on that piece of drag racing history, Glen
.......
You were at Lions a whole lot more than me back in those days ......
going on
Fifty Years now, you old codger ! Bruce ~ noticing some gaps & cobwebs
in my
Instant-Recall Archives nowadays ........ but happy to still be here !
|