This is why I love America

 

Yes, LS1 twin turbo dune cars ... go fast.

 

Yea, never in person but they are really badass!!

 

typical murica... straight line only

I'd prefer something along the lines of this for offroad fun

 

reminds me of tyco RC badass cars when I was a kid... of course now there is much cooler ones.

 

add some down-force, and it would accelerate faster.

 

Not really. Rear engine, 1500+whp and 35" tall paddle tires make for wheelies at 120+ lol. I've driven a few of those kinds of cars. Absolutely out of control.

 

I used to want a sand rail so badly...ugh this is making me think bad thoughts about selling my house and moving to the desert and buying one. Looks like so much fun although mine will take turns as well.

Yeah any reason you cant put a wing on the front? Splitter kills GC so thats out of the question but why cant a wing work aside from the tackiness factor and the fact that wheelies are badass?

What does one of those things weigh? Gotta love the LS motors...

 

The two that I drove were closer to offroad race cars, so they weighed closed to 4k lbs. But, it you wadded one up, it wouldn't kill you. Sand cars built for sand dune are usually around 3k, vut they're super safe, and you'll break them if you take them out in real desert.


A wing really wouldn't work, especially since your dealing with ~20" of fairly mushy wheel travel in the front suspension. And, even the mid engine cars that have a close to 50/50 weight bias still do wheelies pretty easily.

 

Im surprised they weigh so much but your comment about some being built like an offroad truck makes sense so I guess I can see that.

Why does the suspension travel affect the ability to create downforce on the front? Guessing something about angle of attack changing all the time making it unpredictable?

And what makes them so wheelie prone? Of course wheeling is awesome but not ideal when youre trying to go fast. Is it the lack of ability to leverage something like a wheelie bar or is it just the ability of these machines to put power down being that when you spin the tires they keep digging and making progress vs spinning on asphalt means the power isnt going anywhere?

 

They wheelie because as you said, the paddle tires just make grip. Even if they're spinning (to an extent), they are propelling the car forward very effectively. The design of the scoops, number of scoops, and tire height are built around the weight of the car, and how much power it makes. Also, the suspension helps them wheelie. Having a relatively (to a street car) high ride height puts the COG higher, making wheelies easier. And the power, traction, and weight bias as well (especially the rear engine cars). When is the last time you saw street car that wasn't on full wrinkle wall drag slicks put power down at 80mph vs just blowing the tires off...lol

 

Interesting...never though about COG but that makes perfect sense as well. So I guess just make the bodies longer if all you care about is straight line speed? There still has to be a way to incorporate aero to keep the front end down. Active aero I suppose...It wont be cheap but and then again neither is building one of these 1500+HP machines.

 

They drive better than the video makes it seem. It's pretty easy to control the front end. A lot of them have multiple maps too, so you dial down to "only" 900-1000hp so you can go dune carving and make it easier to drive...lol

 

I don't think these guys have any interest in keeping the front end down... they're not racing anyone, I mean once in a while they'll line up and race each other, but it seams like wheelies is the main point of these

 

Lol dial it back to only 1000hp in a 3-4k# vehicle that doesnt have traction issues. Sign me up

And I think thats the crux of it all. Wheeling is sweet. Everyone knows that and its been the case ever since we were growing up. I want one. Ugh this sucks I need to get out of Massachusetts