[Land-speed] Belly pan minimum height or clearance

[23weldon]

Glen - I greatly appreciate your interest in my question.
I wasn't considering a high stance on a modified roadster although we have 
at least one such doing pretty well in current competition.  I understand 
the line of thinking behind that approach.
But it's not for me.  Primary reason is the one you cited, safety.  I 
watched Doug earn his spin pin in the Gold-digger 20 years ago.  That's 
something I don't need..
 Personally I believe the sharp nose modified roadster is the stablest most 
spin resistant configuration of all the body styles in landspeed racing.  I 
want to go as low as I can.  I plan a suspension on the rear; but it'll be a 
rough ride with limited travel.  My fat posterior has plenty of cushioning; 
so that doesn't worry me.
I do like Tom Bryant's suggestion about the sacrificial skirt in the front. 
I wonder how far around the body a skirt has to go to be effective.  The 
doorslammer guys just put air dams on the front under the bumper area.  But 
the modified roadster has a wedge shape with the 27T body sides at the 
bottom blending into parallel with the centerline somewhere around the rear 
side of the door location.  Need some research here.
I have a feeling that a sacrificial shirt made of roughly 3/16 ABS plastic 
sheet would have the right combination of strength and ability to wear 
without shattering.
Tom - You or anyone else have specific experience to share?
Thanks, everyone for taking the time to share your ideas with me.....Ed 
Weldon

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <speedtimer at beyondbb.com>
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2011 4:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Land-speed] Belly pan minimum height or clearance


>I agree with Neil.8 to 10 inches of height could cause lift and even blow 
>over conditions. Going into a spin and getting backwards it would probably 
>get airborne.

 ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "23weldon" <23.weldon at comcast.net>
>> Thanks, Neil -- I'd like to get closer than that if I can but I'm not 
>> hopeful.  My belief is that every inch of ride height in that low range 
>> is that times the body width increase in effective frontal area.
>> There is a small school of thought relative to roadsters that says 
>> raising the body off the ground begins to pay off at some point; maybe 8 
>> to 10 inches.  That's a direction I don't want to go in for a number of 
>> reasons.