Howard;
I agree with everything you said. By the way, did you see the perforated
dive brakes on the Douglas Dauntless SBD? It's on display in the
Southernmost building at the Pima Air Museum I'll bet a perforated air brake
would generate more drag and less lift than a solid plate.
In any case, these types of experiments should be tried at gradually
increasing speeds, not "go for broke" and hope for the best.
Someday I'd like to see your streamliner!
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: Nafzger [mailto:nafzger@vtc.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 7:00 PM
To: Pork Pie; answer landracing
Subject: Re: parachute and air brakes part 2
Pork Pie,
When I designed the latest streamliner, I was seriously considering air
brakes as the primary system from the start. I went to the Pima Air Museum
and took lot's of photographs of air brakes and spoilers on air planes. I
concluded that I did not know enough about them to experiment on something
my rearend was strapped in.
Putting a drag brake on a car is very risky. One on top will seriously
lighten the front as has been pointed out on the Mercedes car. If you put
one on each side, they MUST open at the same rate and should be operated by
the same mechanism so that they either both go out or none go out.
How much air will spill under the drag brakes and will that have a lifting
effect on the rear of the car? What will the trailing wake turbulence from
the drag brakes do to your chute deployment?
The forces must be tremendous based on Burkland's experience and Mayf's
math. Can you bet your life on the attachment points and hardware you will
be using?
I would still like to do it but I have to get a lot smarter. Some of my
friends doubt that will ever happen and the Grim Reaper will probably catch
me first anyway.
When I had the chute deployment failures in 2000, I was amazed at how the
car did not slow down. I was cussing all the effort I had put into the
design and construction to make it slippery. At least the scenery is pretty
in southern Idaho.
Good subject. Maybe we can come up with some workable solutions for it.
Howard Nafzger
448 Streamliner
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