Growing up around a frame jig
Stock Car Racing History
As I grew up in the shop my dad had his business at he also had fabricated a twin I beam rack that the car was set on each fri before it was ready to go to the race.
As best as I can remember Bob Brown would always tie the car to the frame and they went around it measuring and sometimes a chain or a porta power would be used to straighten or bend a piece of something back in place. This was a ritual I saw almost every week before the two cars were loaded up to go to the tracks.
As I got older I was using this same jig on the midget to set it up, but it was always Bob who done the actual measuring.
Then the fun began,when I built my first car I was taught the importance of that steel frame that was so carefully moved in the shop when space was needed.
Bob taught me the precise way to measure to get the most out of your set up without going over the limit.
He also taught me the fine line of motor measurements and how to just stay inbounds . And also how to camouflage what was not exactly right. In todays racing world that steel beam is replaced by a robot with more arms on it than a monster octopus and all this talks back to a computer. So the strings and plumb bobs and squares and steel rulers along with welded points on the steel have been replaced with a electric wire on a carbon fiber rod with a neat little probe that touches the body at predetermined spots on the body. This transmitts data back to a computer with a graph telling the measurement from point a to b to c and so on. these are added up at the angles the pointer touches and there you have it, the dimensions that the points show on body and frame are compared to the original pattern and any deviations are given a factor,and that factor is the tolerance you can be from original. Now I told you how it was done back in the day vs how its done today.
Here is what was done in Dads shop, No one but Bob Brown did the measuring and no one but he himself did the adjusting, That way it was always spot on,why ? Because Dad wouldnt have it any other way.
Now in RCR if you have ever been there they have dedicated crew that doe NOTHING B U T frames and body panels. they have this octopus there too so the lines are there in front of them to follow and of course nudge as far as possible. So if you have more than one set of eyes and brain nudging on this string you may just get 60,000 over the line but after you are up against the line 60,000 in wont show-----until someone else checks your work and then maybe you are caught and maybe you are warned. How I was brought up on tolerances vs the computer I was schooled on at college was always to double check your work even though you looked good always finds some minute fraction off from perfect. How far you ride that fraction from perfect determines the ending at the post check.
Thats my take on tolerances in racing, whats your feeler guage saying
updated by @johnny-mallonee: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
