Four Wheel Drive Drag Race Cars

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Jan 20, 08 11:21 am

I think you have your winter project

latil · Post by **latil** » Sun Jan 20, 08 11:22 am

FWD Formula 1 cars were banned because of their advantage over RWD. Better traction/acceleration and,irrelevant here,cornering. There couldn't have been many concerns over the extra weight and power losses.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Jan 20, 08 11:27 am

.................or work on the basis that if the idea had practical merit someone would have already done it

I gues Brunel didn't work on that basis then!

That would be interesting Jon.

Jon Benn · Post by **Jon Benn** » Sun Jan 20, 08 11:29 am

Martin, as Steve says you have to compensate for extra drive lines and loss of power through gears, somewhere I have a write up on Don Garlits Sidewinder, they took a known combination, turned the Hemi through 90 degrees and lost HUGE amounts of power through the extra gears needed to drive the wheels. I'll see if I can find it for you.

Post by **TyreFryer** » Sun Jan 20, 08 11:32 am

Pete wrote:.................or work on the basis that if the idea had practical merit someone would have already done it

I guess Brunel didn't work on that basis then!

That would be interesting Jon.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Jan 20, 08 11:58 am

TyreFryer wrote:
Pete wrote:.................or work on the basis that if the idea had practical merit someone would have already done it
I guess Brunel didn't work on that basis then!

I would think Brunel's R&D budget was a bit bigger than yours

I am all for trying new things, other than Line dancing, voting tory and homosexuality; but you have to be realistic on what you can achieve (or in my case under-achieve)

Post by **TyreFryer** » Sun Jan 20, 08 12:11 pm

Pete wrote:I would think Brunel's R&D budget was a bit bigger than yours

Absolutely, talking theory here though Pete, that doesn't cost anything.

Just wonder WHY nobody has tried it, even back in the earlier days of drag racing.

Thanks Julian, that's interesting.

AllKiller · Post by **AllKiller** » Sun Jan 20, 08 12:44 pm

This makes very good reading on power and loss through drive trains

http://www.superstang.com/horsepower.htm

And did anyone else notice that HP and TQ figures always cross @ 5,252 RPM ?

Kev · Post by **Kev** » Sun Jan 20, 08 1:06 pm

Pete wrote:[ I am all for trying new things, other than Line dancing, voting tory and homosexuality; )

Glad to see you would consider Morris Dancing, Pete

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Jan 20, 08 1:50 pm

I'd be up for that if I could slap Barrymore around (in a non sexual manner)....

Holly · Post by **Holly** » Sun Jan 20, 08 9:55 pm

lol, got gay on the brain, Pete?

Martin - on the traction side of this coin its worth noting that FWD drag cars run faster than AWD cars with the same amount of HP at the engine