In drag racing, it has been a common thing to stagger, or offset, the steering knuckles on straight axles. Even on the tri-pod front ends on dragsters and funny cars they are allowed up to TWO inches stagger to increase rollout thought the staging beams. Guys even took to staggering the spindles at the ball joints on stock type front suspensions, where ONE inch difference is permitted. These are wheelbase centered tricks; the wheelbase remains the same side to side, just "spaced' differently. Guys have also used beam breakers that extend from the front of a car to trip the finish line lights. Cars have been constructed to be so low, or parts hanging down so low, to effectively increase their rollout through the beams in order to "leave real early". Then there's the trick of staging at an angle relative to the beams to also increase rollout; taller tires, or underinflated tires, also increase rollout. And that's just on the starting/finish lines! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Simple compression ratio is just a calculation of volume change between BDC and TDC, so altering it with oil pressure doesn't seem to make sense. But read the Variable Compression Ratio and Dynamic Compression Ratio sections of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_ratio for some interesting ideas. I also seem to recall reading about a hydraulic camshaft variable timing system similar to Hondas VTEC. That wouldn't modify the compression ratio, but by fooling with the valve timing at low speeds, it could have been used to simulate a lower compression ratio when tested, while being a higher compression engine at race speeds.
I worked as crew chief for a Cobra racing team in the 90's. We were running in the European FIA Historic GT class and competition was tight. I built an 'original' 1964 Cobra from scratch using high-tensile thin-wall tubing for the chassis and suspension arms. The body was made from thinner gauge aluminium than standard, and the doors, hood and trunk lid frames and hinges were made from tubular aluminium painted to look like the standard steel frames. The doors were so light that when I bolted the door catches to them the weight doubled! We eventually cast our own T10 transmission housings in aluminium with the 'correct' '64 casting numbers on them but using super T10 internals, and painted to look like iron. That car won it's first race out of the box, and walked away with quite a few more. Unfortunately it was totalled at Goodwood a few years back, and I doubt the chassis was rebuilt as light (and stiff) as the original.... Later that decade we decided to go tintop racing, and built a late model car. The rules stated that the original inner arches must be retained - but they didn't specify where! I moved the monocoque chassis members about 1.5" inwards so that we could move the inner arches in by the same amount. Lots of people (including the techies) looked at the car and marvelled at how we got such wide wheels under the arches, but no-one twigged as everything looked so 'factory'.
I know some of the Nascar guy's used to soak there air filters in Polypropylene and then stick them in a cooler with dry ice and then install it in the engine just before they would go out to qualify. Sure made the times faster and after a few laps when they pulled in it had all been sucked through the engine. Nascar realized what was going on and told all the drivers do not worry about installing the air filter because we be installing one for you when you pull up for qualify. Jimbo
All classes of stock cars where we ran had a rule that all cars had to have operating brakes on all 4 corners. Most of the teams gutted the RR and just left the drum in place. We thought ahead. The brake line on that corner had a slug silver soldered into it. The brake nails were tack welded on the inside of the backing plate. So it looked 100% legit. One day, the tech team comes around, looking expressly for RR brake compliance. They slid under, looked with a mirror and moved on. The team next to us in the pits in a higher division were busted. There was a demo derby that night... and one derby driver driving around less the RR brake and some cash in his pocket.
I guy I once knew, draind the secondary float bowls and filled them up with a HOT fuel mix, went up to the line on the primaries, hammered the peddle and off he went, by the end of the run they were filled back up with gas. Back when we were racing 3/4 midgets, there was this car we had bought and in the process of going thru it we pulled the fuel tank and there was some empty qrt milk jugs in it with the caps taped on, now these jugs were all busted up. We figured since they did fuel check at the beginning of the main, that these were filled with a % of nitro mix and during one of the normal red flag moments (all cars stopped) a crew member would check fuel level with a stick and punch the jugs open to release the hot mix
I had a 51 Anglia that I ran with a 300 Ford 6 in H/Gas back in 1970, In order to make the weight I melted lead bars down and poured the liquid lead in the roll bars rear section
We weren't allowed any aerodynamic aids on the Cobra's, being Historic racers, so I came up with the idea to run a wide (UK) license plate between the front brake ducts. And we put a drip-tray under the engine which was the full length and width of the car. So we had an air dam and flat floor!
I ran a '65 Chevelle at Dells Motor Speedway Super Stock Division in the late eighties/early nineties. Rules called for stock ignition parts. So, a stock Coil was mounted to the firewall. It was hollowed out & the coil wire ran through it (with a boot on the wire to make it look right) to a big super coil mounted under the dash. We also had to run stock brakes. My fronts were stock for a 1/2T truck. When questioned about the disc brakes, I told them it was a Z16 & 50 of them were made by Chevrolet, this is one of them. Good thing they didn't do any homework on that one. My "stock" cast iron 4bbl intake (with 2bbl carb off a big truck) was so hogged out, it probably weighed 1/2 of what it should. No adjustable suspension allowed. The rear spring adjusters welded into the frame, were pretty undetectable without taking the spring out. I had to dirty up my new racing springs by painting them with flat paint & rolling them in the dirt. Only engines that came in the vehicle were allowed. 355 under the hood, 327 decals on the front fender.
Not exactly cheating but I had a buddy with had ex Highway patrol black 58 Ford w/blackwalls & poverty caps back in 65 that did a lot of street racing. He had a 427 in it painted all blue even the aluminum intake with a big factory 390 air cleaner and Edsel valve covers. To project the proper image we would put 10 weight oil in an old Flint Fly Sprayer and coat the engine and drive it down a dirty road. This was repeated until you couldn't tell what it was. He had a 3 speed overdrive on the column that fed 12 volts to the 6 volt OD solenoid so it shifted like a 6 speed. Took a lot of money from the 55-57 Chevy boys
my apologies if someone beat me to it but one of my faves is a tale I heard that Smokey would not only dip his bodies in acid to thin the metal but then the tram replicated his racing helmet out of solid lead and placed it on the passenger floorboard at weigh in to fool the tech scales. Love that story, factual or not.
A few not me but friends and other people I have observed in the past 50 plus years of racing..First is 327 engine bored 60 over. then front cyl on each side sleaved to 3 and 7/8 This class had a 310 rule.................................... To pass chassis heigth put a hose clamp on shaft of shock when going through tech. slam on brakes and chassis will settle down very low. I have also saw chalk in the springs that would break on pace laps........................................... If you have a vacum rule pull off 1 plug wire or advance the timing a lot this will cause a high vac read......................................................... I saw a mini stock race car race with a small clutch but had a full size unit bolted to the floor board. when proested he pulled the trans slid it and the stock clutch on the ground...................................................................................... a very famous driver from Georgia had a engine mounted on sliders so the driver could move the whole thing back 4 inches during the race and forward on cool down laps.. He had a 2 pc drive shaft with a mid bearing slip joint................................................................................One local guy had a large open vessel on the right side frame rail by the radiator. He would always come in and pour water to cool engine but little was on the ground. He added weight to the total and the right side............................ To beat a P@G tester file a grove on the spark plug threads so the air will leak and show a smaller engine........................................ Propele oxide is used to soak a K@N air cleaner for qualfing and the first few laps. I still own a roll cage that is made from aluminum it bolted to the frame and just a 4 post.This has got long I will post more later.. Bobby..
Not a cheating story, understanding the competition, son started racing go karts and we had help from very sucessful kart racers that knew me from my racing days, we needed an engine from local prominate builder, bought one, very pricey, but now we are fast, short lived engines, bought 3 new stock engines and blueprinted them to match the one purchased, very shortly, my son is winning class and beating engine builder's karts. OK, now we get teched and told my engine is illegal by senior tech inspector, who just happens to be the prominate builder, (good guy & nice man, another old racer) discussion continues and I explained that mine will match his to the .001 of an inch and if mine is illegal so are about 20 of his engines in our class, So..... After all that, ALL was good, The Inspector and I became friends, Kart racing in Wi. Is very well organized, good people, nice track and a good deal for any racer, young or old.
Another old racer story, BMARA, 1979/1980, I hold the record for the # of times my engine was pumped at track, only missed a few nights in 2 seasons, also for inspector coming to my shop for tear down and measuring engines. I tried to take this with a grain of salt, because when you win continuly, everyone figures you are cheating some how, BUT we were not, just happen to hit on combination of chassis, engine, great driver (Stan Fox), ALL the stars aligned for us, lasted 2 years, was a car owner champion 2X, driver/car owner champion 0X in 21 years of racing, great memories, Fun times. Just for fun, used to jack with competitors, machined a alum box, attached to torqe tube w/ wires to nothing under dash, kept covered, we told 1 person it traction control, almost caused a riot, we ran a Firestone RR grooved up for soft mud, qualifying tire, would put on a pair for feature time, 0 stagger, and watch all the monkey see, monkey do, put theirs on and roll up for push off, we always were fixing something, quickly changed rear tires and got out last, amazing, this worked several times, until officials made us start last, did not matter ,Stan won anyway. Some of this was for payback on the continued harassment Stan and I received. It got so bad, if we stopped at a tavern after races, we had to post a gaurd at car (open trailer) caught dangerous attempts at sabatouge. Someone told me once, be nice to all the people on your way up, they will be there on your way down.
A friend of mine helped his buddy cheat, in of all things, soap box derby racing. They took a round slug about 5" diameter and about 3" thick (approximately.) They notched it with a torch so it would slide around the steering column. There was a pin to hold it up high on the column. After the gate dropped and they got going pretty good, the kid would pull the pin, the weight would slide down the column and impact the floor giving him a little "boost." Now, to me, that's wrong on a fundamental level and they are teaching the kid to cheat. I couldn't do something like that myself but I would bet that all the top finishers have some kind of "edge."
During tech the crew chief uses a rubber blowgun to stick in the spark plug hole in front of the inspector who monitors the compression gage. supposed to read the compression unless you have filed a groove down the side of the spark plug threads that can be resealed with the plug washer. Another is most 400 small blocks have one extra freeze plug on the side of the block except for the first year of production which has the same amount as the 350.
With the stock cars, if I ever had to start in the back on a re-start, I really hung back. As the field came around for the green, I would stand on it and pass a whole ship load of slower cars very quickly. Usually got away with it too.
A friend of mine used to run nitro propane in his gas for some extra horsepower in his stock car. Please be aware that it is a carcinogen and he did die of cancer. Of course no one knew that back in the 60s. I don't know if that caused it or not
I had a friend who won a very big race in penescola fla in dec. On the first and second pit stop wheels with 2 inch more offset were installed on the right side of car. this gave you about 3% more left side weight. then on the last caution flag pit stop you reinstalled the 4 inch offset wheel. Well that year no caution. in tech he was several lbs over the limit and was DQ.. I would drill holes in the headers close to the cyl head. When I was P@G I would slip a peice of wire under the exhalst valve. this would cause a leak and read a lower amount on the pump. I ran a air shifter on my trans with a momerty switch to kill ignition and shift gear at the same time. I was kicked out because of the air tank not the shifter. More to come...
A man races a Cup car this was a Mont Carlo He cut about 1 inch off the inside edge of the fenders by the hood. He then narrowed the bumper and grill and in looked stock and cut down on drag. He got awat with this for about 6 races unbtil another guy cut the mid section of the head light bezzel and they got busted. On a drag race car I installed some plastic sheet from Speedway Motors under the frame to the ground that blocked the beam. That way you could get a good jump on the light. This car was only about 3 inches off the ground. It took about 4 weeks before we got busted.
I will write 2 more. NOT RACING but getting there. About 35 years ago I had a electronics friend [[[[{ he was a cheif engineer at Chrysler Electronics}}}}}}}}}}}build me a transmitter that would tell radar receivers that I was going 45.Cops would know I was going 80 but the thought their unit was bad. I was pulled over and inspected but nothing was found as the unit was built in a Chrysler radio. The wired to the after market horns in the grill. This worked great until one day I forgot to shut it down in a school zone.300 dollar fine plus 136 court cost 6 points on lic and attending a defensive driving coarse............................................................Last but before the previous part of this post in 1969 I built a 64 Chevelle {{very hot 355 cid engine}} street race car right after I was discharged from the Air Force. The car was painted with radar absoring paint looked flat black or dark grey primer. Cops would look at their radar unit that did not register and not know what was going on. One A F veteran who was a cop knew what I did and gave me greif for mufflers and anything else.
You had a breather on the tube at the rear that also held the fuel pump this was 48 back but could be installed on a 49 up intake.; on the 49 up intakes at the front of the intake on the left side their is a tube for a breather.
What a great thread, have read my way through all the way from post 1! Awesome.... We have an annual oldstyle, flag man started 1/8 th mile drag race in Finsterwalde , just south of Berlin. Years ago,they only had 3 classes for cars, flatheads and ohv 6s, v8 up to 300cui and v8 over 300cui. No modern , late model engines like centerbolt 350s allowed...One guy won the max 300cui class against bare bones Hot Rods with punched out 283s and 272s , blowers and multiple carbs in his visually stock 56 nomad, ....he didnt even bother to remove his roof rack or take his Camping gear out of his trunk.everyone was on slicks, he was running Bias ply white walls. .. I think after a race or two he had to take the rack off....he owened the class that day and NO one could get a glimpse at the block numbers, because the block was so close to the firewall. He claimed he had a stock 283 with power packs and a 4bbl. I know an externally ballanced 400 damper when I see one, and when I asked if he had drilled the crank for a retainer bolt , he said , no, it came that way.... Another guy in a glass 28 roadster with basically stock 350 ZZ4 won the big class that weekend against Hemis, blown BigBlocks, you name it... the torquey blown big blocks were still searching for traction when everyone could tell he hit the bottle after the car had hooked up...
Not car but still cheating.or stealing I have a friend who works for the utility co. He caught one guy that would change his electric meter on week ends to lower his bill. every sunday night he would reinstall the correct one. he would cut the seal and glue it back together. ....Another story he told me was that a man drilled a hole in the glass case of the electric meter and shot a salt water solution on the rotor wheels they then rusted and moved a lot slower.. More later,,
A friend once told me a similar story about KS Pitman's 33 Willys....Somebody ended up not switching one out after tech and Ks tried to make a pass with it. Car ended up wadded up into a big boulder alongside the track.
We used to build stock cars at a buddy's shop. Nobody had $$ back then and we relied on "silent sponsors". These were people who donated to the cause, but they didn't know it. Anything we could appropriate for parts, supplies, etc was fair game. The old meters back then, if you broke the seal and turned the meter itself around 180*, it ran backwards. So when we welded, the meter was flipped. One night, we forgot to put it back... next day, a meter-reader shows up. The seal only looked intact, he just about flipped when he saw the meter was flipped. My buddy had an adjusted bill the next month and a newer type of tag that was almost impossible to mess with.
The Jalopy Journal
