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1:12 Supermodified - Jim Shampine's 8-Ball (scratchbuilt)


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Hi mates,

 

Bear with me a bit here. Most of you fine folk are unfamiliar with American short track oval racing. That's OK, I have no clue about all of the motorsports in Europe other than F1. Let me introduce you to something we Yanks call a "Supermodified" or "Super" for short.

 

When I was growing up, I went to the races with my Dad every Saturday night, and I continued going with him even after I got married and moved out. From 1962 until the late 80s, we didn't miss a race. We went to the Oswego Speedway in Oswego, New York which was about an hour and a half drive.

 

The best way to describe most supermodifieds is that they are what Indy roadsters would have become if they were still running them today. My favourite driver at the time was Jim Shampine from the Syracuse, New York area. He built his cars himself, and he was the most innovative guy out there. In 1976, he introduced what became known as a "radical offset roadster" which featured a tube frame where the engine was bolted to the frame. What was unique about Shampine's car was that the engine was also outside of the tube frame. Here's the car at Oswego back in 1976:

 

Os_02-s

 

And a few years later with a large wing, allowed at some tracks but not all:

 

with wing

 

Oswego Speedway is a 5/8 mile paved oval, and back then the top cars were running 18 second lap times. Today, it's more like 15.5 to 16 second lap times. These cars may look "run what you brung" but they were, and are, mean fast. The engines are typical Americana - big block fuel injected pushrod Chevy engines. There is no gearbox, per se. They have what is known as a dog clutch, and they are either in gear or out of gear. No on-board starters - they must be pushed to be started. Changing gear ratios for different tracks requires changing the actual gears in the rear "quick change" differential. The suspension during this time period was typical solid axle torsion bar, borrowed from the famous Kurtis and Watson roadsters at Indy in the early 60s.

 

When I decided to build a model of Shampine's radical offset roadster (his cars were always numbered 8-Ball) I knew right away that it would be mostly scratchbuilt. However, I did have an old 1:12 scale model of a Formula 5000 car which had a small block fuel injected Chevy engine, and a lot of nice Goodyear tires, sorry, tyres, that I think would work great. I figured with the right window dressing, I could make that small block look like a big block.

 

Luckily, today Shampine's supermodified is in a museum in Syracuse. I spent the better part of a day taking detail photographs so I have a good idea of how the tube frame was constructed. Here are some photos of the restored car at the museum, with its current owner:

 

 

Shampine-3

 

Shampine_supermodified441web

 

Shampine_supermodified444web

 

Shampine_supermodified438web

 

Shampine_supermodified443web

 

The first step was to prepare drawings for the tube frame, buy some styrene tubing and build the thing. Although this seems like a big part of the work, it's not. I had no other references than photographs, so I had to make measurements from them. (I didn't do any measuring of the real car - dumb!)

 

The frame took about three days to build and paint Shampine's favourite colour of 1959 Ford pickup truck turquoise. For scale, one of the shots has half a crown in it.

 

IMG_0609

 

IMG_0610

 

IMG_0617

 

IMG_0615

 

IMG_0616

 

Shampine ran this car from 1976 through 1979, winning tons of races and championships. Needless to say, the other competitors copied the design. So in 1979, in order to stay one step ahead of the competition, he introduced what could only be described as a "radical offset rear engine car." Here is Jim posing with the new car and the roadster:

 

2014-02-27-sprint2

 

And I do mean offset - remember, these cars only turn left so it's good to have all the weight on the left side.

 

Rear_02-s

 

Shampine managed to get the rear engine car into victory lane in mid 79, but it was plagued with reliability issues. So, the rear engine car was driven at the 1979 season finale 200 lap race by Canadian Warren Coniam while Shampine drove the dependable roadster. Coniam pitted early and lost several laps. However, due to the amazing handling of the car he made up those laps and was on his way to the win when he developed an oil leak and was black flagged just a few laps from the end. He was passing cars three wide in the corners - I've never seen anything like it before or since. Here's Coniam prior to the start of the big race, with the car now re-numbered as the "6-Ball":

 

Coniam_in_Shampine_RE-C

 

The overwhelming dominance of the car caused the Oswego track management to ban rear engine cars! (Very dumb move in my opinion.) This in turn caused Shampine to sit out the 1980 Oswego season in protest, but he came back for the 200 lap finale with the roadster and led every lap, thoroughly destroying the competition. Jim was a gentleman, and did not flip off the management as he took the checkered flag.

 

Tragically, Jim Shampine was fatally injured in a NASCAR modified race at Oswego in 1982. I felt like my heart had been ripped out. :weep:

 

In tribute to him, I'm building this model. I imagine that this will take a long, long time - many of the parts are going to require 3-D printing I think. That means I have to figure out how to use CAD software (after I find some) and then find a vendor who can print the parts. So like I said in the beginning, bear with me. We'll get there eventually.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I may build it with the wing. Looks mad cool. By the way, these wings flattened out on the straights, and popped back up in the corners (linked to the throttle). Kind of like a poor man's DRS.

Edited by Navy Bird
Photobucket Eradication
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A fascinating introduction to your progress Bill and a great start to progress with that scratch-built frame :goodjob:

Sounds as if this one will be a labour of love.

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Thanks, guys. I guess you're right, Col., it is a labour of love. And a link to my long-ago youth! :)

 

The car went through several paint schemes, and even sheet metal changes. I like this one the best, it's from 1981 which was Shampine's last year with the car before he sold it.

 

1981 Roadster

 

I wouldn't mind doing this scheme, but I have no other photos of it so I don't know what the rear bodywork looks like, or how it was painted. I could, of course, model the car so that the different body work could be taken on and off, representing different years. The original body work is all flat sheet metal, so making these panels out of sheet styrene will be very easy. What I think will need 3-D printing are the wheels, the quick change differential, maybe the brake cylinders. A lot of the suspension parts, like the torsion bars, radius rods, axles, etc., and the exhaust headers can be made from styrene rod and tube.

 

Anybody know of a good open source (read: free) CAD program that an old geek like me can learn to use in something less than a decade?

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Sounds like a great project Bill.

Ref: CAD software. There's few free options out there.

FreeCAD: pretty good but relies on you already having a pretty solid knowledge of Parametric Modelling as it's still very much in beta.

Fusion 360: (made by the AutoCAD people at Autodesk) is more user friendly and just as powerful, with a wealth of tutorials in-built and through their YT channel. Also it looks prettier and has a built in 3D printing STL functionality.

Hope that helps.

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On 8/19/2016 at 12:13, Blastvader said:

Sounds like a great project Bill.

Ref: CAD software. There's few free options out there.

FreeCAD: pretty good but relies on you already having a pretty solid knowledge of Parametric Modelling as it's still very much in beta.

Fusion 360: (made by the AutoCAD people at Autodesk) is more user friendly and just as powerful, with a wealth of tutorials in-built and through their YT channel. Also it looks prettier and has a built in 3D printing STL functionality.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks! I'll have a look at those two and see if I'm smart enough to use either one. Since I have no immediate knowledge of parametric modelling (although I do know what it means) perhaps Fusion 360 may be a better fit. Before I retired, my companies use both AutoCAD and SolidWorks. The mechanical engineers preferred SolidWorks, but that may have been because it was the latest version, and our AutoCAD was a few years behind.

 

If anyone is curious about the current state of the Supermodified class, they are lower and wider, with more emphasis on aerodynamics and even more offset to the weight. Have a look at where the engine is in this photo:

 

91

 

In addition to the offset, this car has the engine tilted to the left (those are the injector stacks that we see). Many of the cars run reverse rotation engines, so that the natural torque when the engine is turning is to the left. The radiator, fuel cell and oil reservoir are usually to the left of the driver - even the right side exhaust header routes around the front of the engine block to exit on the left side. Front suspension is independent and has taken a few cues from F1 and IndyCar. And not much taller than a competition kart!

 

Back in 2002 my company was an equipment supplier to Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and the head of the engine shop said this about Supermodifieds - "That's real racing. Not motorsports entertainment like we do."

 

Cheers,

Bill

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No worries Bill.

I use solidworks and AutoCAD mostly. I'm not massively clued up on Fusion 360 but if I can be of any help I will be.

If all else fails and you have some half decent drawings I can always try and knock them up in SW for you.

Toodles,

Paul

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On 8/21/2016 at 3:04 AM, caterhamnut said:

Great post on a subject I didn't know about - the 'modern' cars look crazy, and obviously heavily influenced by your innovative hero!

Try OnShape - free, developed by ex-Solidworks guys.

 

Thanks, I'll have a look at OnShape as well. I did some quick searching for open source CAD software and was surprised at how many there are. Wow.

 

You're absolutely right about the influence that Shampine's innovation back in the 1970s still has in today's cars. If I figured it out correctly, the current lap time of 15.5 sec works out to an average speed of 145 mph, which in my book is mighty quick for a 5/8 mile oval. Fasten the harness, unplug your brain and step on the gas!

 

On 8/21/2016 at 5:57 AM, Blastvader said:

No worries Bill.

I use solidworks and AutoCAD mostly. I'm not massively clued up on Fusion 360 but if I can be of any help I will be.

If all else fails and you have some half decent drawings I can always try and knock them up in SW for you.

Toodles,

Paul

 

That's a very generous offer! Thank you so much - hopefully I'll be able to figure out one of the software packages, but it's nice to know that I have a backup.

 

On 8/21/2016 at 7:47 AM, richellis said:

Very cool build!

 

Thanks, and I like your signature. I'm currently going through my second round of lymphoma (first time was back in 2002) so I've met a lot of people like myself who are fighting blood cancers. Bloody miserable bunch of diseases. The sooner we have a cure for these things the better.

 

Another thing I've started researching is 3-D printing (additive manufacturing). I found that there is are open source designs for a 3-D printer than can print itself. Amazing. Self-replicating machines...reminds me of some sci-fi movies...

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Great project.

I'm looking into a move into 3D printing, for much the same reasons as you. After a general look around and trying out of several pieces of software I decided to settle with FreeCAD. It has STL output capability and seems a relatively straightforward transition for the 3D modeller 'Moray' that I'm used to, whilst having the added advantage of also being able to use the 'sketch and extrude' method of constructing objects. As a bonus it also interfaces nicely with my favourite raytracer POV-Ray.

I've also got my eyes on acquiring the Velleman K8200 3D printer, which is available from Rapid Electronics as a kit at around £360. 1Kg reels in various colours at under £25 also available. Too tempting for me not to go for it, basically. :-)

Look forward to seeing your project progress.

Kev

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Anyone know what is a good resolution for 3-D printing of scale model parts? I think this is the thickness of the layer that is deposited. Is 50 microns good enough?

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Another thing I've started researching is 3-D printing (additive manufacturing). I found that there is are open source designs for a 3-D printer than can print itself. Amazing. Self-replicating machines...reminds me of some sci-fi movies...

You won't really get acceptable resolution from an FDM printer for most modelling purposes - both their layer heights and X/Y resolution are poor. They'd be okay if you want to make a large, simple shape like a submarine, but for more complex or delicate shapes, they are a bad choice.

You would be much better off going with SLS/DLP or MJM. They will print significantly thinner layers (16 μm - 30 μm; you probably want to stay at 30 or less), with significantly finer X/Y resolution (something like a RepRap extrudes about a .4mm line - 400 μm, while most SLS/DLP and MJM printers will do 10 μm).

You might get away with using an FDM printer for a simple vac forming buck for the body of your car, but you probably won't be satisfied with it for finished or detailed parts.

https://www.3dhubs.com/what-is-3d-printingis a fantastic overview of the field, and different technologies. Very much worth reading.

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On 8/26/2016 at 11:01, Tzulscha said:

I have a friend who used to race these things here in Michigan at the Berlin speedway out in Marne.

I am definitely gonna have to show him your build.

Looks terrific!

 

There were quite a few Mid-westerners who ran at Oswego in the 60s and 70s. Todd Gibson, Bob Smith, Gordon Dukes, Baldy Baker, and Tom York from Ohio; Gordon Johncock (future 2-time Indy 500 winner), his cousin Nolan Johncock, Wayne Landon, Leon Weiske, and Jim Gresley from Michigan - and of course many others. I can't imagine hauling in to Oswego NY (east end of Lake Ontario) every week from Michigan, but these guys did.

 

What's your friend's name? I may know it. :)

 

I went to Berlin Speedway once in 1969 or 1970 - can't remember which. It was for a USAC Sprint Car race.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Hey Bill.

His name is Jim Gast but I couldn't tell much more about his racing career.
I met him because he was building models of these things.

Still haven't had a chance to show your pix but he wanders by from time to time...

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Saw Jim today and he spent about half an hour talking my ear off about these cars.

He was quite impressed at what you've done so far so I'll make sure to keep him up on your progress.

He mentioned that he had plans or prints for the car you're working on too.

He also suggested a couple of websites you might find interesting.

http://www.retrorockets.org/

http://waterwinterwonderland.com/

The last should have a link to the Grand Rapids Speedrome Historical Society but I think their website may be down...

If you are interested I'll hook you guys up.

I suspect you'd have a lot to talk about.

Let me know and I'll PM you a phone number.

In the meantime, more PIX! :poke:

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On 9/9/2016 at 5:46 PM, Tzulscha said:

Saw Jim today and he spent about half an hour talking my ear off about these cars.

He was quite impressed at what you've done so far so I'll make sure to keep him up on your progress.

He mentioned that he had plans or prints for the car you're working on too.

He also suggested a couple of websites you might find interesting.

http://www.retrorockets.org/

http://waterwinterwonderland.com/

The last should have a link to the Grand Rapids Speedrome Historical Society but I think their website may be down...

If you are interested I'll hook you guys up.

I suspect you'd have a lot to talk about.

Let me know and I'll PM you a phone number.

In the meantime, more PIX! :poke:

 

Thanks for the links - I've contributed to the Retrorockets site in the past, but the other is new to me. I found the Berlin Raceway site through it. :)

 

Sure, please send a PM with your friend's email or phone number. If he has any plans for the car I'm building, they might come in really handy and it would be great to exchange information. For example, I'm not completely sure how the front torsion suspension works, and it's kind of difficult to try and figure it out by looking at photos of the car with its body panels in place. Thanks for the offer.

 

As far as more pix go, I haven't done any more work on it yet, as I'm trying to finish a build of a Blackburn Buccaneer for my friend at CMR. I really have to get that finished first. :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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