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Re: Electrical shut off

To: Keith Turk <kturk@ala.net>
Subject: Re: Electrical shut off
From: "Thomas E. Bryant" <saltracer@awwwsome.com>
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 08:28:19 -0800
Keith,
Better spend the extra money for the 300 Amp switch. A good cranking 
system will pull 180 Amps. Just a thought.

I like your reasoning concerning ballast & spoilers, but wouldn't it be 
better to build the car so that you don't need to add either. In the 
beginning, we ran no ballast and had no spoiler and on a decent course 
we had no trouble. The problems we have had have been primarily lack of 
driving experience. The ballast that we have added has been to the front 
of the car for balance. (We plan to move the engine forward to relieve 
that problem).

I have added a spoiler to the car (its effectiveness is questionable) We 
ran almost 200 MPH at the lakes in November carrying no ballast and 
traction was acceptable. The problem I have with ballast is in many 
cases it is not properly secured. I lost a good friend at the lakes a 
few years back because the ballast came loose during a crash. Another, 
during my tenure as president of the association, had a fire bottle come 
loose which may have attributed to his demise. I guess my point is...if 
you use ballast, and I believe that the extra weight should be built 
into the
car, over engineer its attachment.

Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/GCC

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