After looking at Tim's picture of the competition - it occurs to me that maybe some drag reduction is going to be needed. That chebbie has no hood scoop - and the "fleetside" bed - and the coefficient of drag gets multiplied by the speed squared when trying to calculate the required top end torque. I remember seeing a magazine article in the last five years or so, where a (very well off) guy took his Bonneville roadster over to England (where wind tunnel time was cheaper and more available at the time) and the result was a major change in his top speed. More than you could easily get out of the motor.....Tim is better than "good" with the motor but every little bit helps when you get out there on the edge.

Nascar guys "tape up" their outfits to stop frontal air entry - probably not legal out front of the pick-up, but can you restrict air travel to or through the radiator bulkhead? Perhaps use an air box and hose to the carb entry and slick off the hood some? They also fool with the front springs so that the faster they go - the tighter she hugs the ground - literally bumping the front brakes to collapse them at just the right moment to close suction - and they were doing that with the old bodies, before the "splitter" joined our vocabulary. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

The shifter location does leave a lot to be desired and it is a little sloppy but if I take a little time to make sure it is in gear it's better than missing a shift and then trying to get it back in, I have missed gears on a few occasions.  Bonneville it is no so critical because you have three miles to pick up speed, well two and one to get timed, but at El Mirage it is more like a drag race with 1.3 miles although there is very little traction on the dirt and you kinda take it easy in first and second anyway.

Ah, and then there is the question of aerodynamics.  We talk about that a lot and there is not much we can do, class configuration limits it and the body that we are stuck with limits it.  The first thing I said to Charlie when I saw the blue chebbie was "uh oh, it's a fleetside" as for the hoodscoop there has been talk about that too but the biggest fact is that just by installing it we gained 5 mph out at Elmo and went from trying for the record to breaking it by 3 mph so I think it stays.  For some reason it's legal and a hose to the airbox is not.  I have often thought that a "Unibody" would make for an excellent landspeed truck so if anyone has one to donate and a little extra cash $$$ to set it up, I'm game to try.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Back when "Grumpy" Jenkins was running a '55 scrub in stock class at the drags, he had a front license plate on the car, and it was tilted back a little, not vertical like we are used to seeing license plates.  Years later he admitted to a small aerodynamic advantage, and at the time the car was probably running in the 80 mph range.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I dunno, maybe you should do a Smokey and build a 7/8 scale replica!

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Frank:      You 're on to something there....there wouldn't be another F-100

        close by to compare it to.....less weight, etc.....

                                              Bill

        It would still be a production body!!

Bill

Pelham,Al

Well, Tim, that Merc Unibody is near you. I can't remember, did you get a price from the guy?



I've never had mine on a scale. It has a 5000lb max gvw. With 1000lbs carrying capacity, that should put it around 4000lbs I think. But some who have weighed theirs say it's close to 3000lbs.



Do different grills fit the '57 truck? Might there be an aerodynamic advantage with a different grill and will it be a legal swap?



Something I think you can try to see if the shifting is significant or not is to focus the camera on the speedo. After the run you can review the data to see if it might be worthwhile to improve it. Missed shift or slow shift, it costs some amount of time and speed and where a record can be determined by only a few mph, every second and mph counts.


Lawrenceville, GA

Do you need Gears? remove the tranny and go direct drive from the flywheel to rearend. Don't some midget sprint cars run like that, have to be push started and you have 2 miles to get up to speed, that should knock off a lot of parasitic drag if allowed.

My 57 F100 is shortbed fleetside, can you just change beds?

How about an Aussie UTE body, similar to unibody but with car nose so better aerodynamics, would that fall in pickup class?

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

billy the only problem with one of our ute bodys is that there starting to get a bit thin on the ground now lots just rusted away on farms cause the farmers wouldnt sell them thats in my neck of the woods.

moz. geelong victoria australia.

graduate 1980, bus, truck, car, hot rod, boat, submarine, hovercraft, hydrafoil, firetruck, mobile home, jet, helicopter, cruise ship, motorcycle, bicycle, santa's sleigh, clock, alloy bullbar, alloy fuel tank, lens, dr who's tardis, matter - anti matter warp drive buffer & y-block lover

I like the ideas being brought up here.  Some of the best solutions come from bench racing like this.  Reality is The "Brick" is ending it's career soon.  I dedicated the 2010 season to Tim to let him feel the same experiences I did at El Mirage and Bonneville.  I believe he will make a good effort to make more power for the last run of the season at El Mirage in November. 

Records are just made to be broken and no matter how fast we make this pickup run, someone will top it before long.  You could spend a whole career leap frogging with some one trying to be the last to set a record.  I believe Tim will break the El Mirage record and then we will be able to say that dog has had it's day. 

I had always said I wanted to walk before we started to run and we have done that.  Now we will start to trot a bit with the Comet.  Our success has been good, but my goals are hardly realized, and the time frame for my 10 year plan is slipping away (and I'm not getting any younger).  I will now turn my attention back to the BonnevilleComet which has been on hold for a whole season.

Charlie Burns Laton, Ca (South of Fresno)







BurnsRacing981@gmail.com

Thanks for giving me a chance Charlie, I'll be there for you with the Comet.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias