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

Triple X Race Components is proud to announce that we will unveil our new CH-X driveline restraint system at the 2013 PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis, IN held December 12-14. The CH-X system will be prominently displayed at the XXX booth with our staff and design team on hand, ready to answer questions and show off what we believe to be the best method of driveline restraint available today.

 “When we set out to build a driveline restraint, we knew we needed to accomplish two things: stopping the torque tube from coming out of the torque ball and stopping the lateral movement of the torque tube in the cockpit” said XXX Head Tech Colton Heath. “It’s impossible to completely keep the driveline assembly from moving laterally at all, but what we’ve done with the CH-X is restrict the side to side movement of the torque tube by about 75% and completely stop the tube from falling out of the ball, while also leaving plenty of room for maintenance. It has no interference with chassis flex and stays completely clear of the rear brake assembly.”

 “One of the most important goals when Triple X was started was to make the safest race cars on the market.  I had been injured numerous times in a Sprint Car and witnessed too many crashes of friends and competitors on Saturday nights that prevented them from going to work on Monday.  We continuously refine what we believe are the safest chassis on the market, providing no cost options to improve safety like halos and safety cages.  Now we’re taking the next step by innovating a driveline system that should prevent many lower leg injuries from here forward.  It's light, inexpensive, easily installed, does not interfere with maintenance and does not affect chassis performance ... when designing it we covered everything so racers have no excuse not to utilize it” said company co-owner Mark Badock.

 XXX GM Shawna Tompkins - “When Mark and Colton brought me their idea of the CH-X, I thought they’d hit on something that would be a homerun, provided that we could make it readily available and easy to install for everyone, including non XXX chassis teams. The design is spot on, and is going to work for everybody…and will be at a price that everyone can afford, from teams with Outlaw budgets down to weekly racers.”

 The CH-X will be at the PRI Trade Show in the XXX Booth, #3721. Preview pictures will be available at http://www.triplexraceparts.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=TXRC%2DSC%2DCH%2D3000 and the system will be available for purchase in late December for $184.99. All 2014 XXX Sprint Car chassis will have spuds standard for the CH-X system.

Good Stuff!

I do have a question, the clamp holding the teathers on the torque tube, i know alot of drivers have the minimum clearance between the seat and torque tube to get as low as possible in the cockpit for center of gravity purposes, will the clamp impede the clearance much if any at all?

Although not apparent due to the angle of the picture, the OD of the clamp is "egg" shaped (for lack of a better term).  The thickness of the clamp is less at the top and bottom than on the sides as the load exerted on the clamp is less on the top and bottom given the relative distance from the cable pick up points.  The clamp on the top surface is 5/8".  On the seats we tested with during design, it is very close as to which contacts the seat first between the torque tube collar and the restraint clamp.  Some seats it was the clamp (as per your observation), and on some seats it was the torque tube collar.  A lot of variables are at work in that area; seat angle, seat shape, mounting position, seat bar height, torque tube angle, torque tube collar length and thickness (between the various torque tube manufacturers), etc.  Overall, we found that the contact points of the clamp and torque tube collar were very similar, and when the clamp contacted first, it was a relatively insignificant amount (ie: the torque tube collar was not far contacting as well).

Thanks for the reply, and good to know people are thinking ahead and not just bolting something on and not forseeing problems after its been manufatured and on the market!!! Looks like a good product!!

Also have one more questing not pertaining to the restraint system. I noticed in the picture there are angled bars from the side to the back under where the A-frame is, is that for structual purposes or to mount seatbelts?

The short tubes that run from the butt bar to the frame sides are solely for mounting the seat belts.  They have several advantages over mounting the seat belt to the angled tubes in the frame sides:

1) They align the belts better with the hips (less twist in the belt as it goes through the seat and over the hips).

2) They prevent the belts from "slipping" up and down on the angled tube on the frame side ... which can cause unwanted loosening and tightening of the belts.

3) When stressed (as in a crash), the load of the belt is spread over the entire width of the belt.

Nice work guys

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

this looks very good.  With the front tethers, safer seats and ideas like this, the WOO needs to add 25 lbs more to min. weight of car and put things like this or similar items in rule book.  All other sprint groups will follow WOO rules.

Seems this could prevent a lot of injuries.  Good thing for all racers to look at.