Tether Car Racing- A Brief History

ABOUT TETHER CARS

Tether car racing began in the late 1930's when some people decided to put a model airplane engine on a board with four wheels. Within a year there was racing of beautifully built cars that resembled the oval track cars of the period.

Engines especially designed for cars soon pushed the speeds to over 100 miles per hour. By the early 1950's they were going over 150 mph using the legendary Dooling 61 engine in a car that had ceased to look like anything on a big car track. Today they are going over 200 mph with Italian made engines in cars that look more like a bullet with the wheels inside the slim body. International competition is held with cars in four different classes depending upon engine size. The classes are 1.5cc (.09 cu in), 2.5cc (.15 cu in), 5cc (.29 cu in), and 10cc (.61 cu in). Running on an alcohol-oil fuel and using tuned exhaust pipes the engines peak out at over 44,000 rpm in the smallest class.

The cars run on a special circular track held to the center post by a wire tether. The person running the car stays on the outside of the track and the helper in the center assists the car off the line and stabilizes it until it reaches about 80 mph and then steps onto a small platform on the center pole until the car is shut off at the end of the run.

The 1.5cc (.09) class is the smallest one that is recognized in international competition. The cars are the most difficult to run. The current record is 165+ MPH. These pictures show the development of the cars and engines over the years.

The first car is the Oliver "Bottoms Up" which was raced in the early 'fifties. The Diesel engine had an extra shaft on it so that both wheels could be driven. The 1.5cc version would run around 70 MPH.

The second car shows the development of custom built glow plug, open exhaust engines from the late '60's and early '70's. This car has front and rear suspension. The speed was 110-120 MPH.

The third car comes closer to the modern ones. It has a piped engine and the wheels are enclosed in the body. The speed is 130+ Mph. The fuel used is 80% alcohol, 20% castor oil. These cars were raced in the '70's and early '80's.

The fourth car is a further development and refinement of the car and engine. These cars ran 150 MPH in the late 80's and early '90's.

The last car is of the type that is used in current competition. There are more refinements and in the right hands will go over 160MPH. At this speed the engines turn over 45,000!!!

The cars and the engines are the most sophisticated of all the modeling hobbies. Because of the high speeds, the tracks are also sophisticated with a very flat running surface and extremely strong center post. There are three tracks in the US, Whittier Narrows in the Los Angeles area, Anderson Indiana (near Indianapolis) and the newest one at Wantagh in the New York City area. This net site will be devoted to building and racing tether cars and the technical aspects of very high performance engines. While this site is under construction, if you have an interest in tether cars, contact Nick Tucci at n.tucci@verizon.net or Ted Maciag at uncleted@cfl.rr.com. Pictures, drawings, articles, comments and arguments will be appearing at this site in the future.

Ted Maciag