Capital Chassis

[84wedge]

Why is it they are super fast at the beginning of a race and then always go backwards? Do they burn through tires faster than other cars due to their design?

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

The chances that it is a design issue are pretty small. Most likely setup or driver related. The cars are close enough to each other.

[Henry Every]

I think the cars have been improved, but still seem a tad shy in some way. Having said that MB_Racer is dead on. The other 2 major builders I think benefit from sheer numbers and info flow at the highest level, Capital is more popular in general with weekly racers, Crate and limited's, so less top level feedback for setup and chassis refinement.

[brainbucket]

This should be interesting….

[dirtcrazy4u]

Rocket and Longhorn have been copied by anyone that has the knowledge of building a chassis jig. I have always wondered why when the Bloomquist Sweet or Bloomie/Brucebuilt cars have been so successful that they have not been copied more. Or are they and they just don't know how to drive them and set them up. Sniper anyone ?

[foxfire2dirtracing]

John Blankenship took one of his Bloomquist Chasis to Rocket’s shop for “ research purposes” when he switched from Team 0 to Rocket.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

And then the failed orange front was born. Those Bloomer cars have no more magic in them than the Capital does failed engineering.

It's what you do with the bolt on stuff.

2 things matter, wheel loads and wheel alignments

[grt74]

And then the failed orange front was born. Those Bloomer cars have no more magic in them than the Capital does failed engineering.

It's what you do with the bolt on stuff.

2 things matter, wheel loads and wheel alignments

how rigid, and how easy it is to make adjustments, thats the job of a chassis, the rest is set up like masters has said, bloomers cars have a ton of forward drive built in them but they suffer on a rough track, "rigid"
the problem with a very rigid car is you'll have to work on your set up alot more because there isn't any flex in the chassis, i learned this one along time ago, its not uncommon to make huge swings in the spring rates with a rigid chassis, but the reward is once you find the set up, its very repeatable, chassis flex is not very repeatable

[foxfire2dirtracing]

Scott’s cars are very rigid. He didn’t want to be sideways in the turns- he always said if you’re sideways you aren’t going forward. It seems those cars will last forever because they don’t flex a lot and get twisted up. Many drivers couldn’t adapt their driving style to his Chasis. And in the same sense: he built his Chasis for his driving style instead of all types of preferences. Maybe this was a downfall of his- but he’s stubborn ole goat!

[Barbecueboy]

Dale McDowell sure does still make black magic in them…..that’s just very cool all the way around what he and Shane get accomplished there.

[foxfire2dirtracing]

They are a great duo/team. Dale is veteran driver with the years of experience behind the wheel and Shane is so very/very smart working/prepping/ adapting the cars. He watches the track-watches Dale- listens to Dsles input and usually makes the neycha he’s.
Shane is a very intelligent mechanic with awesome abilities to prepare a car and read track conditions.
Of course these 2 brothers have been together since day 1.

[Dirtslinger20]

Dale’s driving style is a lot similar to Scott’s which is why the combination fits Dale so well. Dale doesn’t back a car into the corner, he’s straight and smooth. And he refuses to bang the cushion. He even said years ago in one of his driving schools, if he had to run the cushion at every race track, he’d just soon to quit racing! Perfect fit IMO.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

how rigid, and how easy it is to make adjustments, thats the job of a chassis, the rest is set up like masters has said, bloomers cars have a ton of forward drive built in them but they suffer on a rough track, "rigid"
the problem with a very rigid car is you'll have to work on your set up alot more because there isn't any flex in the chassis, i learned this one along time ago, its not uncommon to make huge swings in the spring rates with a rigid chassis, but the reward is once you find the set up, its very repeatable, chassis flex is not very repeatable

It should be at least 5 times the torsional rigidity of the suspension. Some of them probably aren't. It isn't the job of the chassis to absorb the rough track, it's the suspension. However, when we are running aero dependent go karts, it's hard to do both. An Indy car wouldn't last a lap on a rough dirt track. If we put the late models on radial tires, we'd either fix the aero dependences or everyone would quit.

[dirtcrazy4u]

You change sidewall flex it can destroy a driver. Back when I was crewing a sprint car, the driver loved Goodyear and we ran top 5 on many occasions. When Goodyear left dirt racing are driver was lucky to finish 10th. He blamed us of course, no matter what we did he just never felt the same feeling as when he had a RR Goodyear.

[Henry Every]

I know for a fact when Bloomer was having his cars built at Warrior that he used thicker frame rails and extra bracing than the regular Warriors, even the Black Magic cars weren't an exact Bloomquist.

[txl9t]

Speaking of Capital, the 16 team is selling all Capital stuff and switching to Longhorns also dropping off the tour.

[Escobar]

Speaking of Capital, the 16 team is selling all Capital stuff and switching to Longhorns also dropping off the tour.

I'm really surprised that it's taken this long for him to switch over. Chase Junghans and his team were taken back by the quality and technology jump when they made the switch from Capital to Rocket.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I'm really surprised that it's taken this long for him to switch over. Chase Junghans and his team were taken back by the quality and technology jump when they made the switch from Capital to Rocket.

We aren't talking computers or microchips here. I've heard guys think they have technology because they have Earnhardt Technology birdcages.

[BTExpress]

Hate to see Bruening give up on his Capital chassis. The LOLMS & WOOLMS has turned into a Longhorn/Rocket world. I guess there is no room left for a Capital, Black Diamond, Barry Wright, Mastersbuilt etc on a National tour. It is amazing how the rest of the chassis builders stay in business. I guess they cater to the Regiional and Crate series racers.

[KTMLew]

Hate to see Bruening give up on his Capital chassis. The LOLMS & WOOLMS has turned into a Longhorn/Rocket world. I guess there is no room left for a Capital, Black Diamond, Barry Wright, Mastersbuilt etc on a National tour. It is amazing how the rest of the chassis builders stay in business. I guess they cater to the Regional and Crate series racers.

Been interesting how HTF made the switch to LH and hasn't run all that great. Oddly, Joseph says he feels like they are faster, but results sure haven't come. Been waiting on a wide-bore at least 6 months although I don't believe that is an issue. My guess is the list of teams that get engines are heavily weighted to the long-term customers. Like Rocket/Davenport/ etc, etc.

IMO HTF's main issue is their mechanical abilities, to me, appear to be limited to sometimes getting bolts in the holes properly. They seem to struggle with fairly basic things. They have mentioned how much easier the Capital is to work on/assemble.