WELD/SUTTON DIRT MISSILE build

[Payton King]

Sounds complicated Vince

[FETorino]

Originally Posted by gerno

I believe that but I assume you may let Alex and/or Rob drive at some point.....

And I was just thinking what a great question you asked.

:

Originally Posted by Vince@Meanstreets

Its all about placement, force direction-continuation-pathways and proper use of nodes. A straight piece of tubing will resist a bending force more so than a bent piece of tubing,even if welded. Its safe to have a bent tube but that depends on force loading, support (nodes) and directions.

So to assure the proper use of nodes and determination of force pathways do you use software or some type of vector illustration?

[Sieg]

Originally Posted by jarhead

OMG, i'm in tears

Over a Regatta, seriously?

[Ron Sutton]

Originally Posted by gnx7

What front spindles are you using? It is coming along nicely!

I developed my GT spindles over the course of the last few years. Each set was custom for a couple years. Now that we've landed on dimensions we can make optimum with all of our clips & any ride height ... we now mass produce them & the cost came way down, from $2000 before to $799 now.

You can see the Ron Sutton Race Technology GT Spindles & Hubs HERE.

We also offer them in rear steer, named GTR Spindles. The first set went on Greg's 65 Mustang. Since then, we've refined them to work on Fords & GM cars.

[Ron Sutton]

Hey Steve !

Originally Posted by gerno

Ron - another question about the structure, this time the cage.

Based on pics of other builds it seems typically people use 1 piece front pillars that extend from either the main rear hoop or the roof hoop to the floor. In this build the front pillar is a short piece attaching the roof hoop and dash bar. I also notice the dash bar isn't bent but instead welded together. Without having any real knowledge of what works best I always assumed it was better to bend the steel rather than weld it together. This build seems to prove my assumptions wrong and in general this looks a bit easier than bending in tight spots. Is there any difference or benefit in strength when bending vs welding a joint?

What Vince said in a complicated way is correct.

Originally Posted by Vince@Meanstreets

Its all about placement, force direction-continuation-pathways and proper use of nodes. A straight piece of tubing will resist a bending force more so than a bent piece of tubing,even if welded. Its safe to have a bent tube but that depends on force loading, support (nodes) and directions.

I'll clarify a few things ...
A. We do not want to butt weld 2 pieces of tubing together with no support. That would not be as strong as a bend.
B. But if we bring multiple tubes together ... triangulated them ... & weld them, that is stronger than a bend.

Looking at the photo below, if the red tube simply bent into the the tube in blue, and the tube circled green butted into this bent tube ... it would not be as strong as joining all three with welding.

The strength difference is not monsterous, but in the 15%-25% range.

Some bonuses of doing it this way is we can offset the A-pillar tube (red) to better fit the car & keep the firewall bar (green) higher than we could with a bent tube.

And lastly, just as Vince was stating, a bent tube is not nearly as strong as a straight tube. For example, when we make watt's link tubes straight (normal) we can run the 7/8" OD tube with .065" to .095" wall thickness & never have any issue. With our GT Watt's link, the lower passenger side tube is stepped. Meaning it is bent back & then bent again to be parallel. (See HERE). Those stepped tubes need to be .156" to .220" wall ... or they'll bend ... right where we "pre-bent" them.

Same with roll cages. Where you have a bend ... needs to be braced ... or that is your weak link. See how we brace them in the 2nd photo below. (Purple Circles)

Make sense?

[Ron Sutton]

Car Year & Model: 70 Ford Mustang Fastback
Competing in: NASA TTU & Track Days
Front Clip/Suspension: GT Track-Warrior
Rear Clip/Suspension: GT Track-Warrior
Engine: Track-Warrior 3 LS7 700 HP
Trans: Sequential Shift T56 6-Speed
Brakes: StopTech 14” ST60/ST40
Owner: Greg Weld
Builder: Randy Chastain – One Off Customs

The roll cage structure is coming along nicely.











Decoupled 3-Link Mount for Top Links. Decel Link bolts into the brackets. Accel link bolts into a clamp on jack-screw adjuster for quick & easy tuning.







With Body on ... before welding.









Building the front engine bay cage with our adjustable height coil-over mounts





Yes, that orange cylinder is one of the four air jax to make the car quick & easy to change tires & work on.

[57hemicuda]

Way higher and tighter then I thought it would be, can't imagine how many times the body has been on and off. Looks more refined then your usual glass race car, awesome work Ron.

[Ron Sutton]

Originally Posted by 57hemicuda

Way higher and tighter then I thought it would be, can't imagine how many times the body has been on and off. Looks more refined then your usual glass race car, awesome work Ron.

Thank you !

[Ron Sutton]

Car Year & Model: 70 Ford Mustang Fastback
Competing in: NASA TTU & Track Days
Front Clip/Suspension: GT Track-Warrior
Rear Clip/Suspension: GT Track-Warrior
Engine: Track-Warrior 3 LS7 700 HP
Trans: Sequential Shift T56 6-Speed
Brakes: StopTech 14” ST60/ST40
Owner: Greg Weld
Builder: Randy Chastain – One Off Customs

A lot of people have been asking about the aero. We're 6 weeks away from putting the body on & doing the aero, but I figured I'd give everyone a sneak peek at our high downforce dual element wing. Custom designed for Ron Sutton Race Technology by top folks in the IMSA aero field.

If you take notice, you'll see the dip in the wing is DEEP. This is how we make serious downforce, but it does create more drag. On a super speedway oval, low drag win. On a road course, high downforce wins. This wing intentionally is medium drag & high downforce. It will eat up 30-60 HP on the straights, depending on the speed. But the downforce when cornering will be nothing short of MEAN.

Pairing this with our optimized nose design, big splitter, mean front air dam, side splitters, full smooth belly pan underneath & highly functional diffuser in the rear will create downforce upward of 2/3 of the car's weight.

With this Track-Warrior build happening from start to finish in only 4 months, you will be able to see everything in a pretty short timeline.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

now its getting very interesting! love seeing all the parts come together.