The use of compressed air as a substitute for atmospheric air (thats all
around us) has been tried on the 1/4 mile, as others have indicated. The
top fuel dragster in the Garlits Museum was owned by Art Malone - it is
interesting in that the motor is a 'sidewinder' with the axle running
through the engine 'V'. The tank was the full length of the chassis in
front of the cockpit. Called the "Air Car" I guess it was set to last say
8 seconds (I do recall it was charged to a pressure of 600psi). Car was
not a success on the tracks - but it could have been the sidewinder concept
not the air.
So a Bonneville racer may have to be fitted either a large tank or one that
is under much higher storage pressure. If at higher pressure the single
tank wall thickness could be very thick - up to 1/2 inch is my guess. (I
used to be able to do the maths, but it would take some more thinking
about).
Hot Rod magazine (December 1971) ran an article on Mickey Thompsons trials
with a compressed air system on his Funny Car dragster. The engine is said
to have dynoed at 2800hp on alcohol. Diving SCUBA tanks at 2000psi were
used. Start up and burnouts would have been made as 'normally aspirated'
before activating the "Thermocharger" system for a sub six second run. No
news on how far this experiment went forward on to the race tracks.
With the modern control techniques and EFI etc... this could be a good idea
for a small capacity engine at Bonneville where it would overcome altitude
and reduce charge air temperatures (the expanding air will bring down the
temperature). I guess though that the rule makers will call it a
'supercharger' or blower. And would the lectronics be allowed on the
'blower' system?
We need someone like Mayf to run the numbers, before it can be said that
this idea is of zero merit.
Malcolm.
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