My first stop on my 500 mile road trip last weekend was at Wayne's garage in Salina to see and learn all about his belly tank racer that he's built and run at Bonneville the last two years hitting 137 mph in 2012 and just under 150 mph in 2013. He and a friend have fabricated a new fuel injected intake that they hope to hit a record (over 180 mph) with this year. Here's his car and what I learned about this most fascinating car and the man that's designed and built it.
Wayne and his car built out of a the belly tank from a WWII airplane. The front axle is from a 30 something Ford. The tires are dragster front tires. The windows were made by an aircraft manufacturer per Wayne's specifications. Entry is through the panel on the roof that opens up.
Here's from the rear:
Right behind the cockpit is the 15 gallon water tank that holds the water to "cool" the engine for it's short run without a radiator. It has standard Ford rear axle tubes shortened attached to a special differential that has quick change gears on the rear end. The silver tube is for the parachute released by the black cable on top of it. He's fabricated a real cool cover for the tube out of a Ford hub cap (forget which year). The engine is on the stand at the far wall and the transmission is under the plastic at the front end. The cable on this side of the parachute tube is an external shut off.
Looking into the cockpit from the left side:
The silver knob/lever on the far right releases the parachute by pushing it forward. The 8 ball is the transmission shifter. Above that is the starter button, then ignition, then fuel pump switches. Just ahead of that partially hidden by his knee is the inertia kill switch to shut off the engine in the event of a crash. The steering wheel is removable to get in and out of the cockpit and has a tachometer mounted to the middle of it. The gauge above that is air/fuel mixture. The net below it is to keep Wayne's feet and legs from leaving the vehicle if it crashes.
The cockpit from the right side:
The red tank above the net is the fire extinguisher for the front end that is activated by the black knob left of his left hand. The silver lever next to that activates the hydraulic brakes. The gauge above his left knee is water temperature. The yellow light above that is a shift indicator for the transmission.
Wayne reclining in the driving position:
There are pads on each side of his head that just barely clear his helmet to keep his head from getting knocked around if he crashes as well as pads on each side of his shoulders to keep them lined up with his head if he crashes. He looks between his knees out the front window and has some side view through the side ones.
He fabricated this apparatus to test the flow of various configurations of cylinder heads that's pretty cool. (When I first saw it I said it looked like the apparatus that the "Absent Minded Professor" produced
Flubber in. He said there was a little
Flubber in there along with the
flux capacitor from "Back to the Future".)
He has created a very nice comfortable home for himself out of this old school building that's pretty cool.
Once again, a very pleasant visit with a most ingenious and ambitious "car guy".
