What was different when the "Original" XR1 came out?

[Henry Every]

I asked some of these questions in the "XR2" thread and it seemed to confuse people so I started a new thread to clarify. lol

1. Looking back, what made the XR1 different from the outgoing Blue/Gray cars?
2. Was the XR1 the first under-slung Rocket?
3. Was the outgoing BG car considered flexible or Stiff or somewhere in between this new car?

I'm not a Rocket fan, probably never will be, but chassis design and evolution is a hobby for me so anything you'd like to share would be cool. Below I'll include some images I have of the 'Original" XR1.

520235211_1852819465585281_8909756887287541199_n.jpg 520239217_1639773974076617_6620964180523220559_n.jpg 520485456_1189429759868976_5732885112016894594_n.jpg 521407187_1421814065761465_1541969247356419046_n.jpg

[Jking24]

I asked some of these questions in the "XR2" thread and it seemed to confuse people so I started a new thread to clarify. lol

1. Looking back, what made the XR1 different from the outgoing Blue/Gray cars?
2. Was the XR1 the first under-slung Rocket?
3. Was the outgoing BG car considered flexible or Stiff or somewhere in between this new car?

I'm not a Rocket fan, probably never will be, but chassis design and evolution is a hobby for me so anything you'd like to share would be cool. Below I'll include some images I have of the 'Original" XR1.

520235211_1852819465585281_8909756887287541199_n.jpg 520239217_1639773974076617_6620964180523220559_n.jpg 520485456_1189429759868976_5732885112016894594_n.jpg 521407187_1421814065761465_1541969247356419046_n.jpg

I answered several of your questions in the first thread. As far as the question about the b/g being considered flexible or not. Their were many suddle variations through the years aswell as some periodic big changes in the b/g cars. Their we're some light weight cars some shorter cars some taller cars etc.... but as a whole the b/g cars were probably Somewhere in the middle as far as flexible. Most fast b/g cars would crack in certain areas but the cracks could be repaired and the car would continue to be fast and consistent. My opinion of the cracking was it was more to do with the material and the manor in witch it was welded than because the car was flexing excessively. Basically chromolly is too bridal. Tiging it may have helped but it's not practical in the dirt world. I can also say that i never saw a b/g car "flex out" a good one was a good one up until the day it got mounting points permanently relocated. I also believe that one of the biggest questions in dirt racing that has yet to be answered is why is a flexible car more consistent over a larger variation of track conditions. Most every chassis guru will tell you that a flexible car is a variable you cant control and is unnecessary. But in the dirt world the flexible cars always seem to be faster through the whole night. My opinion is their is a sweet spot where the car will be flexible and have a larger sweet spot as we call it but will not move enough to have an cyclical effect. (Flex out).

[riddle28]

some of the blue gray were underslung, the way i understood it was the xr1 was a blue gray back half with a different front end but i could be totally wrong

[84wedge]

Interested......

[Flathead]

It could be anything and I’m no expert but I think a car that has a little more flexibility in it is also a little more forgiving if the chassis setup isn’t spot on. Rocket could’ve went back to using something besides Docol to make the chassis out of. Not saying they were way off with the 1.2 but sometimes taking a step back to the basics and not overthinking things makes improvements.

[billetbirdcage]

The cars are still docol

[Henry Every]

So did Docol start with XR1 or were some BG cars Docol as well?
Can you get XR1/XR2 in chromoly?
It was my understanding that Docol was suppose to be more flexible than chromoly, is that not the case?
I myself have never been a fan of the chromoly in DLM because of the "Cracking, Snapping & Shearing" in crashes, like this GRT car below.
GRT3x.jpg GRT4x.jpg GRT1x.jpg GRT2x.jpg

[Henry Every]

I use to work for a guy who was a Rayburn dealer, but we also built a cleaned up in-house chassis(only sold a few), but he built his cars with chromoly main frame rails and a mild steel cage, we never had any cracking issues and the cars worked pretty well for the day(2002-2008).

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

Docol is very similar to chromoly. A little more ductility and a bit higher ultimate and yield strength. They claim it won't crack as bad because of the grain structure, but I don't see how that doesn't change when you weld it...

[Jking24]

So did Docol start with XR1 or were some BG cars Docol as well?
Can you get XR1/XR2 in chromoly?
It was my understanding that Docol was suppose to be more flexible than chromoly, is that not the case?
I myself have never been a fan of the chromoly in DLM because of the "Cracking, Snapping & Shearing" in crashes, like this GRT car below.
GRT3x.jpg GRT4x.jpg GRT1x.jpg GRT2x.jpg

Their were some b/g cars that were docol but from my understanding it was only a few of their key guys that ran them and it was primarily to test the tubing before fully comiting to it. From what i have seen docol is much more forgiving. I know if several docol cars that have been straightened and were still good cars. Every time i seen a chromoly car bent and attempted to straighten it the tubing tore our at least visibly showed stress marks. When the cars were cromoly rocket would remove anything that was bent. Now they will cut it and see if it springs back. If it does they may only do a partial clip. This may not all be attributed to just the tubing it could be several factors but these are some of the differences I've seen

[billetbirdcage]

Henry Every

99% of GRT's where DOM, they offered an option around 2010ish to have one in moly and Tig welded but was either 3500 or 4500 more. I don't think Beard ever had a moly car but wasn't around him that much in the later years of GRT. I know Clint Smith had one but other then that don't think there was many built to be honest.

All GRT's were prone to cracking especially round the motor mounts and upper control arm vertical bars

[Henry Every]

Henry Every

99% of GRT's where DOM, they offered an option around 2010ish to have one in moly and Tig welded but was either 3500 or 4500 more. I don't think Beard ever had a moly car but wasn't around him that much in the later years of GRT. I know Clint Smith had one but other then that don't think there was many built to be honest.

All GRT's were prone to cracking especially round the motor mounts and upper control arm vertical bars

This one was Moly, at least that was what was stated at the time of this incident. Back to my Rocket query, can you get any of the XR's in anything other than Docol or is that just it?

P.S. Sydney Sweeney has great jeans !!!
sydney-sweeney.jpg?crop=1410:870,smart&width=1410&disable=upscale&format=webp&quality=90&dpr=1.webp