[DeTomaso] looking for 7/8" rear bar/skid pad day

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/1/10 12:24:24 AM, tborcich at msn.com writes:

> So then it brings back a thought I had a few years ago...a Pantera/POCA 
> skid pad day where we bring a few sets of 7/8", 1" or bigger for rear bars 
> and possibly a few different bars for the front if needed
> 
PCNC did this decades ago with a clone GT-5, but its certainly worth 
repeating to see if this one-shot test repeats. In this basic test attended by 
myself, Larry Stock, JIm Kuehne and Terry Aultman, we laid out a 100 ft dia 
circle in an industrial parking lot on Sunday, and with a stopwatch, we had 
Terry drive his GT-5 around the circle as fast as he could without sliding off 
the chalked circle. Then we changed his stock 3/4" rear swaybar for a 7/8" 
one, repeated, and changed to a 1" bar. The best times were with a 7/8" bar; 
the 1" bar was almost as bad as the stocker, which we attributed to the rear 
frame supports flexing with the too-stiff 1" bar. We did not compare 
urethane vs rubber, front vs rear bars, sphere-balls vs bushings or hollow vs 
solid bars, and we didn't adjust alignment or tire pressures and only the GT-5 
with its 10" & 13" wheels was run. Well, we did run Jim's VW-powered dune 
buggy, but that was scary-handling on pavement!
So there's certainly room to improve/expand our test results! A 200-ft 
circle will give slightly different results than ours but will be consistent 
with all the tests you run. The whole thing only took 2 hrs & could easily be 
done at any autocross event or- as mentioned- an industrial parking lot on a 
weekend, or even at the Fun Rally. 
Equipment needed = a chunk of gypsum wallboard to chalk a circle, a big 
tape measure, a stopwatch and a selection of bars etc. I suggest a fully 
baffled oil pan on the test Pantera, too. If you have a g-meter available, that 
will back up the subjective stopwatch results. Good luck- looking fwd to the 
results- J DeRyke