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

The reason the short bar is more likely to break is that to get the same amount of twist out of a shorter bar, the metal must undergo more deformation, therefore shortening the life of that bar. For example, if you have a bar with 20 inches of effective length and you want to twist the end of it 10 degrees, then you have 0.5 degrees of twist per inch of bar. For a 10 inch bar to deflect 10 degrees you have 1 degree of twist per inch of bar. This gives the bar a much more aggressive workout, an when the bar gives up it rapidly goes from a fade condition to a broken condition.

Unfortunately KISS doesn't apply to my explanations. To visualize what I just said, get two straws and cut one in half. Twist them between the thumb and forefinger one after the other, twisting the same amount each time. You will see that the shorter straw will be more wrapped up than the longer straw.

I understand exactly what you are saying, I was just curious if teams with a split bar car experiance a actual bar (breaking) from time to time? , like posted earlier, I dont believe the split bar is all that common, but still utilezed, obviously, I simply would hate the feeling of a bar breaking while anytime in race trim , like I said 'I only witnessed a bar breaking on the shorter split car once , Needless to say in my experiance a RF bar going soft was hairy enuff , but at least it would hold the car up without dropping the rail on the track immediatley, I simply pulled off the throttle backed up a few positions, (I knew something wasnt right) I entered the corner again loading the RF softer , and still witnessed the LR comeing off the ground, man what a terrible helpless feeling !, our night was over. I saved the equipment and finished with a DNF