Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Just wondering what you drivers/owners out there recommend running for gears and torsion bars at Knoxville in a 360. I have a buddy of mine who only makes a couple trips a year there and is struggling a bit with set-up. Thanks in advance.

I have been told 5:35-5:45 for gear ratios-I have never driven there myself but I'm sure someone else on here could confirm gear ratio and tell you what bars to try-come on and help a brother out!

For gears you want to be in the 560 to 580 range. It just depends on your motor. Most of them like to turn them around 8000 to 8400 rpm. Years ago you would run a 535 to 545 but it wont even put you in the ball park now. I hate to turn a motor that hard but it seems to be the deal at Knoxville the last couple of years. As for setup you'll have to find someone smarter than me to help you there. I always struggle at Knoxville. I know a lot of guys run inches on the left and quarters on the right side. Some of them run reverse bar split in the back so I guess it just depends on what you feel comfortable with.

Thanks for the input. The team is somewhat lower budget and doesn't like to turn the rpms up much more than 7500-7800 to get as much life out of it before rebuild as they can and still be competative.

be carefull there , although I undestand the budget thing all too well, were rookie Knox attendies ,with a 410, we tried a 5.42 and it kinda made the car enter too quickly, yes the RPM was down proubly 200 points or better where we wanted to be , Im a green driver and I found myself standing on the brake way too much ? proubly not the hot settup! ,proubly a sissy driver too? I have noticed, the fast 360 cars there sound like thier "humming along" if ya know what I mean.

we didnt get much chance to tinker around more with the car and see what works well, but keep in mind if your driver is paying attention he will know if youve been over geared , we tried quartes on all three corners , the LF was a thou, thats just where we started and we didnt get much time to play around, Ill tell you this , its a tuff place, if you dont get on a 1/2 mile very often. its tricky, and the huge sweeping flat turns are none to resembel here locally, watch out (plan) for the sun on the backstreatch earlie (you proubly allready know)and the competition there is among the best of the best on a weekly event.

I know what you mean. There is a fine line there when you don't have a whole lot invested in your motor. Get it screaming to much and you will blow a hole right threw the oil pan after ten laps. Don't get it screaming enough and you will still be accelerating fairly quickly going into the corners and having to get on the brakes to much entering, then ur bogged down a bit coming out. Bottom line is, it's tough to be on a real tight budget in any type of racing and keep up with better funded teams. 360 isn't near as bad as a 410 though when it comes to having big backing to consistently run up front.

Running Knox weekly on a limited budget would be hard to do, I hope you can run some tracks that arnt so hard on the mill ,and reserve the time needed to run Knox, just racing there is something special, one, two, ten, or a hunderd nights its still awesome place , keeping the oil in the pan , or just four tires holding air at the end of a night is a effort for us lil guys, id say 33s #s are prety close to what we heard, were not regulars and we just wanted to get in the ball park also, Its funney, the different stroke combinations that like different gearing, (every dimension in the engine for that matter), Id try find somebody that has a mill that closely resembels yours if possible, that is, without them letting the cat outa the bag?

you'd be suprised what can get away with at knox with a good shoe as far as budget.I will confirm that thre quaters an inch will win at k-ville. as far as gear my opinion is that each night is indivdual i say from 5.48 to 5.70 u be the judge what u like in in what conditions tacky vs slick. remember each night is individual pay attn. to where u are getting beat off corner end of shoot or through corner . GOOD LUCK TO ALL AT THE BIG TRACK

I've worked on cars at k-ville for about 5 years or so...I would agree with the inch in the left front and quarters the rest of the way around to start....but you may wanna rebar the back when it gets dry slickie for the featch. With a 360 recently we've been running around a 5.72 gear...good enough for top 5 in the Brodix TOC. We usually qualify in the 410 weekly (different race team) with a 5.18 and race with a 5.26 to a 5.34 with the same starting bars changing the back for the A. I'm always open to helping new teams...if anyone would like assistance feel free to message me... been workin' on these things for the better part of a decade, so i have plenty of experience with 410s and 360s on big tracks and bullrings.

"There is no statute of limitations on being a 
jackass!!"

If you can't/won't turn your motor 8200 to 8400 and more you'll get left behind. The guys with the 72, 76, 80 or more gears will just leave you behind on the start and keep pulling away. Not that long ago, when the 5.48 I was running was considered entirely too much gear by guys who swore by the 5.35. But when you use one of those slide rules that BR sells, if you go from a 101" tire like we had, to a 104-1/2" as now, you need to go from a 48 to a 66 gear. The engine liked 7800 then, they like 8200 now, put that into the slide rule and it puts you in the 5.70s. Wasted one season running a 5.55 and going all the way up to a 5.60 and went backwards. Just get some great rods and rod bolts, light pistons, a light crank and throw the gear to her. Oh yeah, replace those $400 Isky Gold springs every 4 or 5 nights too. We won a heat race at Bloomfield, just before a rainout, turning 8900! motor builder said it was okay, "just eats valve springs". Are we having fun yet?

eww boy? $400 in springs (granted a few nights) chewing up a couple RR and LR, pit passes, fuel to and from the track,ect , ect maybe it cost you only $ 400 to win and not $700 to loose, ya, are we having fun yet ? , never hurts to win, it just puts less hurt in your wallet , if you fund the deal off your own back pocket it isnt for the money thats for sure, I sat at a Black Jack table the other night and thought us racers do not, have a problem! these people are insane! " racing is a poor mans sport, because we'll all be poor when were done" but ,at least we can enjoy the ride!