Blue/Gray/Orange/Black differences?

[W2Racing09]

Can anyone explain the differences between all of these variations of Rocket chassis'?

Thanks,
Jeff.

[Bcollins82]

Black is the one Mark Bush designed for them, Blue is the one they stole from Rayburn, Orange is the one they stole from Bloomquist. Black front cars like to be driven harder and thrown more, but they are no longer developing setups for it. Blue front cars like to be driven straighter. No Orange experience, so someone else will have to help there.

[W2Racing09]

I see, it seems like the Blue/Gray combo car is pretty popular -- what is that all about?

Does anyone know which variation the House car is? Or which ones drivers like Satterlee, Carrier, T-Mac, etc. are running?

Thanks,
Jeff.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I see, it seems like the Blue/Gray combo car is pretty popular -- what is that all about?

Does anyone know which variation the House car is? Or which ones drivers like Satterlee, Carrier, T-Mac, etc. are running?

Thanks,
Jeff.

Pretty much every big name guy has the blue/grey

[W2Racing09]

Pretty much every big name guy has the blue/grey

Excellent,

That helps a lot.

Thanks!

[7uptruckracer]

I've been helping a super who bought an orange its been converted as close as possible to a Blue but its been a definite struggle. IMO if you get one go blue 2013 or newer

[FlatTire]

What rocket front end did Black Diamond and Club29 steal?

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

What rocket front end did Black Diamond and Club29 steal?

I am pretty sure it is the Rayburn front end. How close does it have to be to be stealing? I don't think the spindles are the same.

In all reality, almost all the front ends out there today are only slightly different than that Rayburn front end that is the blue/grey.

[FlatTire]

Ive got all the front end coordinates for a rocket blue-grey and a rayburn. There isnt as much difference as i thought. Says a lot for rayburn.

[SuperEight]

Black is the one Mark Bush designed for them, Blue is the one they stole from Rayburn, Orange is the one they stole from Bloomquist.Nominating this for best/Trueist post of 2015.


Ive got all the front end coordinates for a rocket blue-grey and a rayburn. There isnt as much difference as i thought. Says a lot for rayburn.Nice to hear someone say something nice about CJ instead of kicking him in the head all the time.

[7uptruckracer]

CJ might be hard headed and brash but without him we wouldn't have half the stuff you see! If he actually got a shock program going he would be more the relevant. Even if you look at some of his stuff now you'll see things other people take from his cars in the cars they release next year.

[FlatTire]

There are very few innovators out there......most prefer to copy someone elses idea.

[Bcollins82]

Rayburn is an innovator, no doubt. But he didn't design the frontend geometry for his cars that everyone is using today. That frontend geometry was designed by Ed Howe for CJ.

[Matt49]

Rayburn is an innovator, no doubt. But he didn't design the frontend geometry for his cars that everyone is using today. That frontend geometry was designed by Ed Howe for CJ.

If we're going to talk about the original car builders, you can't leave out Gerald Dixon. Ray Callahan was his crew chief going back to the 70s and the Bullet frond ends came from there. And I've also been told that Rayburn copied some from Gerald's Featherlite cars. And D!ck Shroeder (C-Line Engineering) is actually who designed and fabricated a lot of the components being used by all of these guys.
All of these guys were doing a lot of these things at the same time and sharing ideas with one another. I wouldn't necessarily call it "copying" as much as these guys were all trading notes and trying to figure out what would work best.
I think most people would actually be surprised how much this still happens today between builders.

[Bcollins82]

If we're going to talk about the original car builders, you can't leave out Gerald Dixon. Ray Callahan was his crew chief going back to the 70s and the Bullet frond ends came from there. And I've also been told that Rayburn copied some from Gerald's Featherlite cars. And D!ck Shroeder (C-Line Engineering) is actually who designed and fabricated a lot of the components being used by all of these guys.
All of these guys were doing a lot of these things at the same time and sharing ideas with one another. I wouldn't necessarily call it "copying" as much as these guys were all trading notes and trying to figure out what would work best.
I think most people would actually be surprised how much this still happens today between builders.


Absolutely... That was also back when many were building their own cars and components and everything wasn't so cookie cutter. Not like today where most just buy X brand, set it up like the book says and go race. I think it's normal for most chassis builders to look at other things or hear about them, get an idea, and build it yourself with your own twist to hopefully improve upon it. I call it copying or stealing when you sit another brand of chassis on your jig and copy the pickup points, spindle design, A-arm lengths, etc.. And call it a different color. This wasn't the case with Howe and Rayburn from my understanding. Howe designed it FOR CJ, and it was used with his knowledge from the beginning. My point was although Rayburn did come up with some things himself, (and borrowed some ideas too) the frontend geometry he is normally given credit for is not actually his own design.

[FlatTire]

What is this new "rear steer assist" CJ is talking about for his cars?

[Bcollins82]

Probably a hydraulic ram mounted to the chassis side of the RR lower bar. It connects to the steering and changes rear steer as you turn the wheel. At least that's how he did it about 15 years ago?

[fwdbite]

Orange cars are built stronger in the rear or more rigid i guess is a better word. Totally different design in the rear as far as the way its fabbed. We have had all three. No complaints with the orange but no complaints with the blue/gray deal either. And I believe Mark bush deaigned the blue/gray front. At least thats what he let on at when i was at his racewise class.

[Bcollins82]

And I believe Mark bush deaigned the blue/gray front. At least thats what he let on at when i was at his racewise class.

Revising a couple things over the last 10 years like longer steering arms on the grey spindle or spacing the RF out 1" isn't designing a front end IMO... But I've seen people take more credit for doing less... Lol

[7uptruckracer]

Mark was the Black chassis.

[RacerX10]

I've been helping a super who bought an orange its been converted as close as possible to a Blue but its been a definite struggle. IMO if you get one go blue 2013 or newer

What's the difference between a very late (december) 2010 blue rocket and a 2013 blue rocket ?

[TRocket8]

What's the difference between a very late (december) 2010 blue rocket and a 2013 blue rocket ?

Probably the raised crossmember

[7uptruckracer]

Correct Raised Crossmember

[dirty bert]

Without CJ we'd be trying to find 55 rear frame's to weld on camaro front clips.

[lazermod3]

Before CJ,Ed Howe,Ray Callahan,Etc. The real deal was Tiger Tom Pistone.

[7uptruckracer]

Tom Pistone is still a hoot. His front clips were still pretty good a few years ago in LMSC when they first when to the high travel stuff