I seem to remember that when they first started using the high quality slo-mo cameras, some of the crew chiefs were a bit taken aback by how much the bodies were flexing at the top end.

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AKA DrRocket

Whew! Glad nobody caught , or even paid attention, to my post last nite re: wing specs.
For a guy who's first dragster went down a drag strip in 1963 (8.68 ET, by the way), I shoulda done my homework.
The TF wings ARE controlled by the 49.1 spec- the wing TREE is part of the N spec. SORRY for the miss-lead.

On the subject of the FC bodies waving in the wind, yrs truly has been told that even though someone as prestigeous as ROUSH builds most- they don't SEEM to consider where the aero loads are and what needs to be done to strengthen specific heavily -loaded places

Comment from the very respected ROO on this?

I'm sure Roush's fab operation would be happy to build a carbon fiber body reinforced in the right places. Unfortunately, no one knows what those places are. Roush could certainly assist with real time or wind tunnel testing. After their help, you would have a body that cost more than everything else you have invested in your team. Unobtanium!

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"The Counterfeiter"

Don't want to start a debate that could deteriorate in -to BOREDOM, but one thing NHRA seems to be doing WELL is keeping the aerodynamics of the FC bodies on a fairly level playing field. I understand that wind tunnel tests ARE done on them.

It's a pretty simple matter with nothing more than old technology manometer tubes (ever leveled a mobile home?) stategically placed to determine the pressures on the body will provide some pressure relationships that MIGHT give body-mounters a clue or two. There's gotta be way more sophistacated stuff cheaply available 2-day

No flex in an aerodynamically loaded large surface = breakage.

I thought it was a 747.

Thanks folks, i'll be here all night!
-insert rimshot

Jim, You don't give some engineers enough credit. I have heard that Dodge Motorsports knows very well where those loads are on the Charger bodies through a combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and analysis of the CFD loads with Finite Element Analysis (FEA), as well as numerous shifts in their wind tunnel in Auburn Hills, MI. Dodge works with the body manufacturer, Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters, and all their teams, to continually monitor and improve the body materials, process, and layup schedule. and with the body mounters (DSR, Metalcrafters LLC, and McKinney Corp) to improve the mounting trees, firewall, etc. Charger bodies require very little maintenance over the race weekend and several have well over 150 runs on them where some of the competitor's bodies are retired after 40-50 runs and require work between every round. Many teams have taken notice of this and the performance of the Chargers (7 poles, 12 wins, & 15 top speeds in 2007) as evidenced by the large number of Dodge Funny Cars out there (7) compared to just a few years ago.


Terry