WELD® Racing Funny Car wheels

WELD® Wheels had a massive exhibit at the 2019 SEMA show, and the author took a close look at the WELD® wheels fitted to the John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS NHRA Funny Car on display. 

The rear wheels are WELD® Delta-1 black anodized 1-piece forged aluminum wheels with titanium bead lock hardware which weigh less than 19 pounds each. WELD® advertises that these are the lightest, strongest, and stiffest 16-inch x 16-inch double beadlock SFI Foundation standard 15.4 Certified (Top Fuel and Funny Car Drag Race Drive Beadlock Wheels) drag wheels available and sell for approximately $2800 each.  There is only one other SFI 15.4 Certified manufacturer, Sander Engineering.

  

The Delta-1 wheels are fitted with Goodyear 36.0x17.5-16  D-2H compound tires with 115-inch circumference that weigh 48 pounds each. In competition, these tires carry 7 PSI pressure which is the minimum allowed by Goodyear engineers.

The front wheels on the John Force NHRA Funny Car Camaro SS are 17-inch SFI Foundation standard 15.2 Certified (Drag Race Front Wheels) black-anodized WELD® Magnum Frontrunner one-piece forged 6061 aluminum wheels mounted directly to the Strange® spindles and retail for approximately $850 each.   

The WELD® Racing Magnum Frontrunner wheels are mounted with Goodyear Frontrunner 22.0x4.0-17 hard compound tires that are typically inflated to 40 PSI in competition.   

All photos by the author 

The eCOPO Chevrolet Camaro

One of the most eagerly anticipated vehicle debuts at the 2018 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show was the unveiling of the  “eCOPO” Camaro, an electric-powered Central Office Production Order concept car built by a partnership of Chevrolet and  the pioneering electric drag racing team Hancock & Lane Racing.

The car’s usual gasoline engine was replaced by electric motor based on a pair of BorgWarner HVH 250-150 motor assemblies, each generating 300 foot-pounds of torque. The motor is connected to the conventional racing-prepared TH400 three-speed automatic transmission that transmits the motor’s torque to the same solid rear axle used in the production COPO Camaro race cars.

The 700-horsepower motor is powered by an 800-volt 32-kilowatt per hour battery pack comprised of four 200-volt modules, each module weighs approximately 175 pounds.  Two packs are mounted in the rear seat area and the other two are mounted in the trunk - one in the spare tire well and the other in the area over the rear axle.

In testing, the eCOPO Camaro’s best quarter-mile run was an elapsed time 9.837 seconds from a standing start with a trap speed of 134.07 miles per hour.

All photos by the author

A pair of Willys Coupe hot rods

In 1937 Willys-Overland Motors (correctly pronounced "Will-is") introduced the model 440, an economy car powered by a 4-cylinder 148 cubic inch 65-horsepower "Red Devil" engine. Although sedan, pickup and very rare station wagon body styles were also produced, the 2-door coupe body style has always been a favorite choice of hot rodders, as they wedge V-8 engines under the hood in place of the original anemic 4-cylinder engine.

The author found a pair of beautiful Willys coupe hot rods at the Moraga (California) Community Faire car show held on May 13 at the Rheem Valley Shopping Center

This all-steel 1941 Willys ‘Americar’ coupe owned by Mick and Elaine Coyne was built in the drag racing gasser style, nose-high, with a huge supercharged big-block Chevrolet engine and fenderwell exhaust headers.

Wayne Baker’s 1940 Willys 440 coupe  hot rod was parked directly across the parking lot. Baker built  his Willys in a different style, low and smooth and in a unique fitted with the original style chrome bumpers.
 

All photographs by the author