All the details you'll ever need to know, giving you a bit of info on what makes these winged little machines motor around these oval track speedways.

Engine:

1560cc 4cyl KB Laser engine, Hilborn mechanical fuel injection, crank triggered ignition. Uses methanol racing fuel.



Chassis:

Spike Chassis, an American chassis, made from 4130 Chrome Moly tubing. With a minimum of 2" clearance from top of roll cage to top of driver's helmet.

Seat:

Most current cars are using a Kirkey style seat.

Wheels & Tyres:

Front Wheels 13" x 7" with no wheel centres they mount directly to the hubs. Inside Rear Wheel 13" x 8" with tyre bead locks on sides of the rim, so you can run tyre pressures as low as 4psi without the tyre peeling off the rim. Outside Rear 13" x 10" with a bead lock on the outside edge of rim, so you can run tyre pressures of 8-15psi, also has a removable centre cover to prevent the rim filling up with mud when racing. Tyres are Hoosier with various diameters and compounds to alter the car for changing track conditions.

Steering:

KSE Gen II Power steering box that is fed by a KSE high pressure pump. We top all of this off with a light weight aluminium steering wheel and a quick release hub to remove the steering wheel when required.



Diff:

A Winters 36 Spline Quickchange diff is used. It has an alloy centre with a removable cover at the rear to make it easy to change the two gears inside. You can alter dif ratios in just a couple of minutes. Also an aluminium hollow axle with splines on each end to enable wheel offsets to be changed by spacing the rear wheels in and out as required.



Drive Line:

Lightning Sprints don't use a gear box; they have a Uni Joint that bolts directly to the crankshaft with a splined Drive Shaft that runs between the driver's legs straight into the diff. It is covered by an aluminium Torque Tube and Torque Bell covering the uni to protect the legs. An in/out cable puts the car into gear and we have to push start the race car to get the engine fired.

Brakes:

The rear uses a single 4 spot calliper bolted to the diff with a floating disc attached to the axle. On the front only one calliper is used that works on the inside (left) front wheel. The brake on the inside front wheel can sometimes help you get the car into the corner.

Suspension:

The front uses adjustable coil suspension with the coils mounted on threaded body shocks, and the rear uses torsion bar type suspension. The rear shocks are normally adjustable on compression and rebound and in some cases are adjustable by the driver from within the cockpit.



Fuel System:

Lightning Sprints use Alcohol fuel which is housed in a special plastic Tail Tank mounted to the rear of the race car. The fuel is fed to a mechanical fuel injection system by a Hilborn mechanical pump that is bolted to the Power Steering Pump. We clean the fuel with two stainless steel element filters and have two shut off taps, one for the driver and one for the crash crew in case of emergency.



Wings:

The centre of the top wing provides down force to provide traction for the rear wheels, the side boards on the top wing provide stability when cornering. The top wing can be moved backwards when racing to apply more down force onto the rear wheels by using a hydraulic valve in the cockpit. The front wing provides a bit of down force for the front wheels but mostly directs air flow from the front of the car up on to the centre of the top wing.





A Lightning Sprint can be quite a wild little race car, all the above combined into a car that has approximately 180hp and a minimum weight of 355kg flying around a dirt oval track, sideways inches from other cars, you know you’re alive when she's hooked up, it doesn't get much better than that.

LET’S GO RACING!