Bryan,
just to let you know, that I told this the guys, before they done first move
with the racer.....
Second, the perforation underside, was the real reason for the pulverzid playa
dirt, but Ron Ayers got the idea for a very special reason - but I don't like
to talk about.....
Third, the reason why the car handled so bad at supersonic, that the real
wheels stucked in the pulverzid playa dirt by about 3 inches, this was a
perfect wheel brake. You can see this also on the acceleration diagram from
the computer output, the car went from acceleration to nearly no increase of
the speed, when he reached the barrier - but not by the barriers fault.......
See ya
Pork Pie
"Bryan Savage" <mailto:b.a.savage@wildblue.net> schrieb:
> Pork Pie,
>
> ThrustSSC hit a performance wall at Mach 1.
>
> The supersonic shock wave pulverized the playa dirt to a depth of 4 to 6
inches.
> At this point the power required to go faster went straight up. The 205's
would
> have made less difference in speed than a positive change in density
altitude.
> The pulverized surface also had a negative effect on yaw stability as you
can see
> in the movies from the cockpit cameras, Andy had to go full lock once and
reduce
> power for a moment to get it back on track. Each time it went super sonic,
it was
> a nightmare to drive through the loose dirt.
>
> To criticize the design of the car after it set the record, I think is
pointless. The fact
> that the perforated underside helped adsorb the shock waves was a
significant plus
> in the design, but I was told that if they were to do it again, almost
everything would
> be changed based on what they learned from ThrustSSC.
>
>
> Bryan
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