Calder Drags?

[Dagabond]

1024x768 Wallpaper.

[Cobra]

good pic Daz ... lucky I'm on dialup

[cuspub]

A quick note on Calder and the Nizpro and APS runs.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate APS for continually raising the bar; they are doing a great job. It truly is great to see such fierce competition between the two protagonists, because at the end of the day the consumer is the ultimate winner.

APS - and please correct me if I am wrong with this - debuted their new 'log' style custom inlet plenum on Friday night. They also reduced some of the ridiculously heavy weight of the Ute be removing the stock tray and replacing it with fabricated flat alloy item - looked quite good too.

But alas, APS, like Nizpro suffered mechanical problems. Mind you, APS achieved a full 3 or 4 passes before dramas, Nizpro on the other hand destroyed the sedan’s transmission on the very first pass whereby it almost completely locked first and second gear together about 50 metres out of the 'hole'. Hence running a decent number was simply impossible.

It at least showed potential with the sticky Nitto tyres hazing smoke for a fair distance before the trans problem.

Prior to leaving the factory, Nizpro ran the sedan on their DynoLogic dyno where it delivered a very strong 470kW at the wheels, and in turn they were looking forward to running a stout number. Thing is, they are engine not transmission experts, so sorting the trans will take some time I imagine.

I am not sure exactly what the best time APS achieved with their revised Ute, however I think it was somewhere in the low 11.4's. Correct me if I am wrong.

Nizpro on the other hand virtually rolled across the finish line with the engine screaming at around 7500rpm in second gear (it slipped into 3rd then back to 2nd at half track). Unfortunately the end result was approximately 1.5 seconds slower than the power indicated with a 12.1 at a super low 105 mph.

By the way, just so that everyone is completely aware, I (Greg Brindley) am contracted to Nizpro for their PR duties.

[Turbo6man]

OK, so my memory is fooked ... Steve runs auto. BUT, he did say in his opinion the manual was good and strong. He has had plenty experience with putting pressure onto transmissions so I tend to accept his views.

[ms700]

Steve's HgAg sedan is a auto, and when I was chatting to him in the chat room a while ago (about 1 month) he said he hasnt done much to the auto to strengthen it up! I believe he may have done something to improve the shift or something like that but that's about it!

After going for a drive in BCL manual equipped animal, his transmission is certainly on the way out......... has this loverly whine to it! its still a absolute rocket though!

If you are not breaking bits, you arent trying hard enough!!!!

[dynosteve]

well guys I've been trying to stay out of the debates over this 10sec/or 11 sec pass between other workshops, but here it goes, mine is a auto and I never made any recommendation to either transmisson and my tranny is totally stock and un modified.However it is my belief that the auto is a quicker 1/4 vehicle.

The reason we haven't been racing of late is that we've been too busy with trying to get our show car ready for the summernats but from memory we still hold the highest mph over the quarter at 131mph however the et wasn't much to be yelled about 14.3(hence the traction problems)

[bloan]

It will be of great interest I am sure as to what actually let go in both cars & what can be done to make them more robust.

[aps]

G’day guys,

We did run on Friday night – four passes in total. On the final run the auto trans flared badly between 1st to 2nd gear, so we abandoned the pass. It was a disappointing night, though we did manage an 11.35 pass. To be honest the auto was shagged before we started the night (flaring between 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd). We thought “what the hell” – you guys are coming out to Calder so we won’t let you down.

The up side was three very consistent passes – before the auto failed big time.

(1) 11.40 @ 127.31 MPH

(2) 11.46 @ 125.75 MPH

(3) 11.35 @ 125.73 MPH

No doubt that a well sorted auto will be quicker over the quarter – therein lies the challenge to strengthen the auto so it will cope with the massive torque levels. Making the power should not be a problem – in fact, I am amazed at the power we have achieved with a totally stock engine tuning to a low 5800 rpm.

It was great to see the guys from Nizpro make Calder. Shame that the auto failed, as the gold sedan looked fast mid track before running into drivetrain problems. Ah well, there’s always next Friday night. – I’m sure both camps will be burning midnight oil to sort out the auto trans problem.

Greg, thanks for your kind words (is this the calm before the storm? :lol: ). You’re right in saying it has been enjoyable having Nizpro as a fierce competitor over the last four weeks. I’m sure we will have many more clashes before this issue is settled. It’s a shame that only one can be the fastest. We had both better keep an eye open for other fierce competition, as I know there is a very fast XR6T not far away from hitting the Sydney strip. In any event, well done to the guys at Nizpro as they are certainly a professional operation and I respect their product development.

As others will find out, it’s more difficult to run in the low 11’s, high 10’s (though easy if you say it quickly :lol: ). Not only from a power viewpoint, the drivetrain also needs to be up to the task.

Happy Xmas guys,

Peter

APS

[cuspub]

While we're all raving on about acheiving a 10 second pass, I reckon it's worth considering the following excerpt noting that it is a few months out of date now:

A lesson in acceleration:

------------------------------------

First, some useful info:

* One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

* Under full throttle, a Top Fuel dragster engine consumes 11/2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

* A stock Dodge 426 Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.

* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.

* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

* Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. Cutting the fuel flow can only shut down the engine.

* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.

* In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds dragsters must accelerate at an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.

* Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.

* Top Fuel Engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!

* Including the burnout the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.

* The redline is actually quite high at 9500 rpm.

* The Bottom Line; Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second. The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 333.00 mph (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).

Putting all of this into perspective:

You are riding the average US$250,000 Honda MotoGP bike. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the RC211V hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph (293 ft/sec). The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your wrist cranked hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you just passed him.

Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long race course.

That, folks, is acceleration.

[aps]

  cuspub said:

A lesson in acceleration:

------------------------------------

[...snip...]

That, folks, is acceleration.

Greg, I was waiting for the "boom boom" at the end but it never came. Now I feel cheated.

Was there supposed to be any relevance to the XR6 Turbo from this Ben Hur production. Come on Greg, get out and sell something and earn your pay.

;) <---- for the humour impaired.

Peter

APS