fuel extreme race editor add other vehicles racers

#Fuel extreme race editor add other vehicles racers install
#Fuel extreme race editor add other vehicles racers drivers
#Fuel extreme race editor add other vehicles racers driver

Built from the belly tank of a P-38 Lightning and powered by a 156-cubic inch (396-cubic centimeter) V-8, the So-Cal Speed Shop belly racer ran at an average speed of 145 miles per hour (233 kilometers per hour) at Bonneville in 1951. One of the most famous belly tank racers is associated with Alex Xydias and his iconic So-Cal Speed shop. Record-setting engines for belly tank racers include Ford, Mercury and Chrysler V-8s. Classic belly tank racers had American-made engines because of their availability to hot rodders at the time. The type of engine varies, but for most belly racers, the bigger the engine, the better. When racers made the switch to larger 315-gallon (1,192-liter) tanks taken from P-38 Lightning planes, there was room to put the engine behind the driver, and that's how most belly tankers and lakesters were laid out from then on. They used this setup mainly because the first belly tanks they used were 165-gallon (625-liter) tanks from P-51 Mustangs. The first belly tank racers used a front engine design, where the engine sat in front of the driver. Lakesters also usually don't have windshields, so pack your racing goggles and be prepared to get a lot of sand in your teeth. Some belly tank racers have bubbles or cages that go over the driver's head, but many don't.

#Fuel extreme race editor add other vehicles racers drivers

Slight holes are cut in the tanks for drivers to poke their heads out.

#Fuel extreme race editor add other vehicles racers driver

In a belly tank racer, the driver sits in a tiny compartment about midway in the tank. If you're driving around in an old gas tank, you shouldn't expect a lot of creature comforts, which is good, because belly tank racers don't provide any. Given that hot rodders were already building and racing their own creations made from a hodgepodge of car parts, adding an airplane fuel tank wasn't that farfetched - especially when the surplus tanks could be bought for about $35.

#Fuel extreme race editor add other vehicles racers install

Beyond the belly tank's super-fast shape, car builders noticed that the rear of the belly tank was just wide enough to install a car engine block and rear end. Belly tanks look like giant bullets and are about as aerodynamic as they come.Īfter World War II ended, belly tanks ended up in surplus and scrap yards. In order to minimize wind resistance and maximize fuel economy, belly tanks had to be very aerodynamic. That is, you don't want to add so much wind resistance that you end up burning more fuel by carrying the belly tank than the tank itself can hold. If you're strapping something the to the belly of a plane to increase its flying range, the last thing you want to do is have a negative impact on how far the plane can fly. The original purpose of a belly tank helped make it ideally suited for use as a race car body.

Keep reading to see how fearless drivers, innovative mechanics and $35 worth of military steel raced into the history books. Feel like squeezing yourself into an old gas tank? Strap in and squeeze your lucky rabbit's foot - we're going belly tank racing. When you take some cast-off gas tanks, add in some big engines, plenty of spare time and a dry lake bed, you have the perfect recipe for weekend wrench warriors setting speed records in their belly tank racers.

Of course, today's lakester race cars are more technically advanced, safer and faster than the originals, but they don't have the appeal of being made from surplus military parts. Belly tank racers started in the 1940s (yes, your grandpa's generation invented it), and while the classic racers are now important historical artifacts that are too valuable to race anymore, the descendants of those original hot rodders and their belly tank cars still race across lake beds for speed records and bragging rights. Though it sounds like something that a 90s-kid-turned-marketing-executive dreamed up for the X Games, belly tank racing is an important part of hot rod culture and a pretty old activity.