How to Build a Sprint Car

Sprint cars are often treated as stepping stones by aspiring race-car drivers before they participate in NASCAR or Indycar races. Sprint cars are designed to run in smaller tracks. Sprint cars have powerful engines and comparatively light body weight. When a body part isn't contributing to the performance, you just remove it. To build a sprint car out of your drive-to-work vehicle, follow these steps.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Car
• Chassis
• Aluminum tube
• Butane solder
• Roll bars, cage, interior sheet metal, brakes
• CAD software (optional)
• Special piston
• Solar cells (optional)

1. Acquire an old or used chassis. Ensure that it's built out of aluminum and brass rod. If not, you may have to transform your garage into a workshop and build one yourself.

2. Fit an 8mm to 10mm aluminum tube to the chassis using butane solder. Don't make any changes to the bottom of the chassis. You'll need to make some changes in the frame.

3. Attach suspension components onto the chassis.

4. Connect the roll bars, cage, interior sheet metal and brakes for the steering. Use specialized sprint-car chassis software, if possible, during this build stage.

5. Install the right piston in your car engine. As sprint cars' engines require compression ratios between 15:1 and 16.5:1, the piston you're installing must be capable of withstanding that amount of pressure.

6. Attach the fuel connection or solar cells as per your fuel requirement. Solar cells can help reduce the expenditure of fuel.

Tips & Warnings

• While turning your old car chassis into a sprint car, heed the advice of professionals in the automotive industry. Their suggestions will make your transformation process less painful.

Resources

• Leading manufacturer and distributor of race car components