I don't mean to belittle going 400+ mph in any way, but something has occurred
to me over the years. The progress in the unlimited cars has been very slow.
Does anyone have some insight why this is? It seems like cars were going 400+ in
'47 and to date the best improvement has been this year at just under 460 and
the piston record is only about 6 mph better than '47.. Is it lack of entries,
lack of technology, or have we reached the limit of adhesion to go much faster?
Certainly we have the power available. Does anyone know what the speeds were on
Vesco's 458 run on a by mile basis as well as the others that have run in this
range. It might be interesting to plot the acceleration rates for each mile and
see if there is something in common with all of them.. I am starting to think it
all comes down to where the rubber meets the salt as when I last got an e-mail
from Tom Burkland he mentioned running 450 at 53% throttle so it is not about
power available in my mind it might be about 'sticktion' though. May be we
sometimes have to just close the hood and see what is the real problem....
I would love to hear from those that have run in the 400 and over range what
they think is the next big hurdle to going faster if they would like to share
their thoughts with the rest of us...
Dave Dahlgren
Malcolm Pittwood wrote:
>
> Whilst correcting an error from the family press release (which is also
> published in many magazines and books), I would not want this list to think
> that I would wish to take away anything from MT's achievements in motor
> sport - be it on the salt, drag strip or dirt.
> I guess that this hot rodder and his Challenger 1 car did more to affect
> Donald Campbells speed record activities in the early '60's than anyone
> else.
> Its just a shame that one way speeds become described as 'one way records'
> over time.
> 406 mph if backed up would have affected every wheel driven team until the
> Vesco's and Burkland's got motoring.
> Malcolm Pittwood, Derby, England.
///
/// land-speed@autox.team.net mailing list
/// To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
/// with nothing in it but
///
/// unsubscribe land-speed
///
/// or go to http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
///
///
|