Tafc AND tad counter weight

Why do dragsters run 100 grams and Tafc run 20 to 40 grams?

 

BAD's usually have a 10" clutch, a little more power and more hook at the hit.

TAFC usually has a 10.5 or 10.7" clutch with slightly different levers.

Also, the smaller the clutch, the slower the counterweight is moving, so the more you need to accomplish the same thing.

 

That's a lot of counterweight for a TA/FC.

 

counter weight

The the fact the clutch is smaller has nothing to do with the counter weight because
the post in a 10.7, 10.5 ,or 10 inch clutch is in the same spot some of the 10 inch clutches have the old lever and the counter weight and the shape of the lever is different so if effects how aggressive the lever is. You could put the lever in a funny car clutch and you would have to put a lot of counter weight on it too might not be a bad idea.

 

not with the less aggressive lever the one like santos used to run and norm liked

 

I didn't realize the posts were all at the same effective radius. Kind of defeats the purpose of a bigger/smaller clutch doesn't it? I will say though, the weight of the lever by itself has a lot more to do with it than counterweight position.

The Crower .187 lever weighs about 67.5g. Depending on the car, 28-42g.
The .225 is more like 75g if I remember right. 28g will kill it.

The more counterweight you have to hang, the more aggressive the plate load curve will be. The lever produces plate load with no counterweight, all counterweight does is amplify the lever's effect, and it is exponential, not linear unfortunately.

From what I've seen on the dyno, you can take any lever, change the counterweight position over a quarter inch in any direction and it can't come close to the same as a 5g change in lever weight either direction. The only thing you can really do with counterweight holes is try to change the leverage against the post.