Building A Street Barely Legal Race Car -  "Pro-Stock Car"

The Best Way To Start

The best way for a would-be designer to start is by first determining what type of car they wish to build. Learning everything there is to know about every type of car is admirable (and useful), but will lengthen the time required to ultimately complete your particular car. Learn all you can about the physics and features of the class or style you are building  and you will have built a fairly solid basis for building a competitive car in that class. Then, be aware of other class technologies.

What You Must Know

The construction of a race car is not a light matter. If you do not understand critical areas of race car design, you will likely have a critical failure at some point, which could lead to injury or death. If a grey area exists in your knowledge, refer to your books or to a mentor who has been racing for a long time in your chosen class.

Here are the some of the key things you should understand before designing:

Suspension / Handling
  • Inertial forces about a car that is cornering, accellerating and braking
  • Weight distribution and it's effect on the above
  • Tire/wheel properties (Tread, rubber compounds, wheel materials)
  • The relationships between tire and road
  • The center of gravity and roll center relationship
  • Unsprung weight
  • Suspension geometry and handling
  • Anti-roll bar principles
  • Damper/shock absorber principles
  • Suspension components, their use and placement for optimum performance
  • Troubleshooting methods
Chassis Construction
  • Structural design principles, most spaceframe design
  • Load and forces which affect the race car
  • Designing for the safety of the driver
  • Materials and their physical properties (Tensile strength, elasticity, etc.)
  • Joining methods (Welding, brazing, etc.)
Engine and Supporting Systems
  • A good understanding of the engine and drivetrain
  • Intake, cooling and exhaust principles
  • Engine placement and mounting principles
  • Transmission/Transaxle mounting principles
  • Final drive components and placement
  • Race car electrical systems
  • Troubleshooting methods
Aero/Bodywork
  • Principles of aerodynamics (Flow, pressure, etc.)
  • Tools of aerodynamics (wings, venturis, flow redirection, etc.)
  • Fiber/metal materials for bodywork and their fabrication
  • Structural requirements of bodywork and aero devices
  • Testing methods
Driver Support Systems
  • Driver safety considerations/driver support (Rollover, impacts)
  • Ergonomics of driver and controls
Other
  • Fuel cells and fuel delivery
  • Fire extinguisher systems
  • Probably a bunch more....

That about sums it up. The process of designing a race car is started with a solid knowledge and understanding.
The more information you have, even without the benefit of past real-world experience, the more successful your
car will be. For all prctical purposes we are going to stick with taking a Classic Muscle Car and build it into a barely
street legal Pro-Stock Drag Racing Car that can be also utilized for Street Rodding and Cruising.

It's time to choose a car for the build. It is important to realize your first car may not be the one you keep, but the one
you gain the most experience on. The car style might not even be the one you personaly love but someone else may.
The importent thing here is a good solid body and preferably an already large engine at least a small block 350 h.p. or
similar size V8. Stay away from heavy cars of which I call "boats". You'll only use more engine to carry the weight and
lose the power and performace. Heavy cars also stress all your drive parts from the engine all the way to the rear axle.

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