Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Faul
I don't have a dog in this fight, but I've been curious about the replacement heads and how you figure the class.
Looking at Jimmy's car, it has a factor of 7.65 with hp rating of 395 with cast heads. Multiply those together to get the shipping weight of 3022, which makes it a natural D car.
With the aluminum replacements heads hp of 411, wouldn't you divide the shipping weight by 411 to give the NHRA factor of 7.35? Which would make it a natural C car and be able to move up to B....
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Mark, that was the exact question posed to an NHRA Tech official when the HP factor on the replacement head combination went to 411. The answer Jimmy was given was "Yes". The reason given was that the aluminum head version of the combination had been hit with HP repeatedly, while the cast iron head combination remained the same, since no one was running it. So, rather than JUST the 10HP penalty for replacement heads, the replacement heads were now carrying 26 more HP.
However, that official's answer was apparently incorrect. The ruling given was that, no matter how much penalty is put on the replacement heads, the base class remains the same as if no replacement head is used. Of course, this could lead to a replacement head combination becoming illegal, since it could require more ballast to be added than is legal.