Trailing streamlining is very critical. Look at any airplane. After many
years in the timing stand and watching chute deployment, it's very
interesting to see how chutes works on different cars. This is a big issue
with the fast liners as in some cases the air is dirty or has a vortex the
causes the chutes to spin and occilate and in some other cases the lo spped
chute gets wraped around the hi speed chute that has a longer tow line and
creates other problems.
The Teague, Vesco, Danny Boy, Nish all have clan air behind them and the
chutes are out quick and straight. Very little whipping if any.
The Burkland car has air brakes that scrub off some speed and is used with
the high speed chute. The chute flies high and spins. I was to far away to
see the low speed chutes when they deployed.
I think on the Burkland car they have a different vortex effect then cars
without the air brakes. Marlo's new car has a different design airbrake that
is not tied into the chute area like the Burkland car.
Watching cars at el Mirage it's a lot easier to see haw clean or dirty the
areo is behind the cars. It's an interesting thing to watch. In many cases I
have talked to the owner / drivers on what their car is doing at chute
deployment.
Adding or shortning the tow lines can help depending on the car. In some
cases the back opf the car is pulled off the ground, others whip and spin
and pull the car side ways.
Each one is different and it's been a personal thing with me to help out
when I see a problem. Other chute related things are keeping them clean,
making sure the release system is free and clears the pilot chute loop so
the pack flaps will pull away and let the chute deploy.
A good visual inspection of the tow line loop at the attachment point is
where we see problems. Any thing under 1 1/4 " dia. for the loop to pull on
can shorten the attach point loop. We see them in inspection with 1/2"
bolts and that becomes a knife edge. I guess I got a little off subject with
this, but it's all part of streamlining.
Glen
|