Drag Cars Converted To Lhd

[FATGTS-R]

Flicking through a few mags looking at drag cars and noticed one or two had mentioned they had converted from right hand drive to left hand but none of the articles mentioned the reason for it.

Can someone that knows tell me the reason for it? I gather its a weight shifting exercise but why?

All I could think of was trying to keep the car straighter and more horizontal off the line. Whenever I see a pic of a drag car at launch, if its only going to pick up one wheel it always picks up the passenger side wheel which I guess is due to the rotational direction of the drivetrain?

[FIL]

Consider this.... John Zappia, holder of the world Doorslammer ET record at 5.922 seconds, sits on the right hand side of the car....

a lot of the lhd cars you see are US build cars with local bodies on them... or just straight out US cars..... some are converted and I'm sure everyone who does the conversion has a reason for it.... but if Zap can run 5's sitting on the right hand side of the car, i don't see it as essential...

[DoughBoy]

When cars initially launch the pinion in the diff actually tries to climb the ring gear. This action is in the reverse of engine rotation (counter-clockwise) and "lifts" the passenger side of the vehicle. Can be corrected alot of different ways (pre-loading suspension arms is common) but having more load on the passenger side can help.

Hence why cars will twist up and lift the passenger side wheel first.

[West]

When cars initially launch the pinion in the diff actually tries to climb the ring gear. This action is in the reverse of engine rotation (counter-clockwise) and "lifts" the passenger side of the vehicle. Can be corrected alot of different ways (pre-loading suspension arms is common) but having more load on the passenger side can help.

Hence why cars will twist up and lift the passenger side wheel first.

That explained.

Thanks for that, i've having the same question.

[Sydneykid]

I would add that rotors tend to be LHD, because the exhaust (turbo) and the inlet are on the RHS. Similarly for 1JZ's and 2JZ's where the turbo is on the RHS of the engine.

cheers