This is Nate. He's my cousin's grandson, and is racing the car his grand father used to race. The type of car is called Legends Car. They are small, relatively simple and powered by a 150 hp Yamaha engine. They ate the smallest class racing here.
Nate is going to race in an event memorializing fallen police officers, and will carry my late brother's name on his car. This week marks the 25th anniversary of my brother's death.
More later!
35 comments:
I have seen them run over at the Charlotte Motor Speedway - cool little cars.
They also show up at the local Stock Car show - it's amazing just how small they are.
Talk to us about the specific camber set up you are using relative to the surface you are running on - I like that kind of talk.
The car looks a lot like an old Ford my older brother found and restored in Dad's garage for a very long time. Except this one is a lot smaller. That was a neat car too.
I'm guessing you don't use a creeper to get under that thing.
Sixty - the right front wheel gets most of the camber change. The toe is set about 5 degrees out.
The gears are a crap shoot today. This is a half mile track; the car usually runs on a one-third mile track. The debate is whether to keep the differential ratio where it is, or put in a taller gear. I think we'll keep it where it is, giving the car a faster exit out of the corners at the expense of less top speed.
Right now all the cars are lined up to be run on a dynamometer so everyone can see the max hp and top speed numbers. I think we'll be mid-pack, which is okay.
Thanks - my memory, from years ago, was that there is toe out when running on dirt tracks - which kind of freaks me out, but hey, it's mainly slippin' sideways, anyway, so why not just build a bit of that into the setup. I assume the camber is not symmetrical, also.
Cool stuff - hope you chose wisely on the diff, and that your weekend of racing is a safe and profitable one.
And don't let Troop know you are messing around with trannies - he might see a business opportunity there.
Way cool.
I've done surveillance in the pits @ Sun Prairie, Jefferson and Wi. Dells. Sun Prairie I just got a good seat in the stands because the pits are in the infield.
Any wagering?
The car dynoed 107 hp. That puts it mid-pack. The range was 99-121 hp. The high number was set by Nelson Stewart, Tony Stewart's dad. Nelson is a very nice man, and a big supporter of Legends Car racing. On the negative side, he can afford a new engine a couple of times during the season. On the plus side, our car has beat him in the past on our car's home track, so we'll see what happens.
Our scouts report the track is highly muddy, and a wet track turns the race into more of a skill event and less of a power event.
So the car needs to be a good mudder.
Moving right along, any sport started by a guy named "Humpy" has to be good, right.
The SF Giants have the fattest bullpen I've ever seen. They look like beer leaguers from Wi.
Brewers are winning 3-1 in the 7th, Haz.
@Haz: What about methanol? Has it won the day?
Curious about its practical properties in view of its physical ones.
This series uses methonal because in the event of fire water will disperse and extinguish it, unlike gasoline. It has less latent energy than gasoline, however, which requires a much higher fuel flow into the cylinders.
Okay, my guy is on the track.
Starting P9.
Crap. Hot laps only. Order of events changed. We race later tonight.
This series uses methonal because in the event of fire water will disperse and extinguish it, unlike gasoline. It has less latent energy than gasoline, however, which requires a much higher fuel flow into the cylinders.
Methanol, CH3OH, is a chimerical gasoline-water hybrid molecule:
CH3--------OH
I've extended the carbon oxygen bond to emphasize how the "left side" is a gasoline-like (a hydrocarbon) while the "right side" is water like.
Ethanol, CH3CH2-----OH, would be more like gasoline.
Why on earth wouldn't Iowa of all places use ethanol as a high performance fuel?
Why on earth wouldn't Iowa of all places use ethanol as a high performance fuel?
I have a practical reason against ethanol, but I wonder what the "man-on-the street" thinks.
I don't know. Isn't ethanol more hydrophilic? Bad results when water is attracted to fuel.
My guy on the track.
Michael Haz said...
I don't know. Isn't ethanol more hydrophilic? Bad results when water is attracted to fuel.
Bingo!
It's counterintuitive, but ethanol (more hydrocarbon than methanol) more greatly attracts water than methanol. This why we cannot have normal booze greater than 190 proof.
Alcohol fuels are not intrinsically bad for motors, but ones which drag in water are. But because enzymes ferment corn to ethanol and not methanol, we're stuck. :(
Annndd we're done. Driver moved up to P4 before being pushed into wall by another car that lost control. Left fenders torn off, rear suspension damage.
In other words, anhydrous ethanol (sans water) would beat methanol as a fuel, but for its water affinity. But it absorbs water like a sponge (unlike methanol).
Michael Haz said...
Annndd we're done. Driver moved up to P4 before being pushed into wall by another car that lost control. Left fenders torn off, rear suspension damage.
Hopefully w/o damage to life or limb.
Driver fine. Driver's grandfather and car owner may be happy.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
The problem with methanol is that it is an oil solvent. Any meth that bypasses the piston rings washes ol off the cylinder walls. And if it gets into the crankcase the engine becomes a. $50,000 grenade.
The problem with methanol is that it is an oil solvent. Any meth that bypasses the piston rings washes ol off the cylinder walls. And if it gets into the crankcase the engine becomes a. $50,000 grenade.
Size is important! Methanol is relatively tiny molecule (compared to octane).
Any meth that bypasses the piston rings
I had a 1963 T-Bird with blow-by so bad you could see it: link
Final review: Car has body damage which is easily repaired. Frame okay. Rear suspension okay. Rear axel okay. Car was not allowed to re-enter the race because track rules specify that if driver leaves car after an accident, car is automatically disqualified. Our driver got out of the car to check damage. We didn't know bout this rule.
We raised $5,000 for an organization that supports the families of fallen police officers, and a nice young man heads to freshman year of college next month able to say that he raced at Knoxville.
Pretty good day.
Excellent results, congrats to all, Haz.
Long night, Haz. Are there motels in that backwater town or is it RV city?
Haz:
"The problem with methanol is that it is an oil solvent."
Interesting.
Chick, it seems counterintuitive that ethanol would be less of an oil solvent than hydrophilic methanol. What is the chemistry behind that?
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