Message text written by INTERNET:DANMAS@aol.com
>Whether or not you "free-up" horsepower depends on the driving conditions.
On
a hot day at the race track, driving flat out, I don't know if an electric
fan would turn on or not. Depends on a lot of factors, I guess. I would
assume a well prepared car would have sufficient cooling without the fan.
On
an autocross course, usually driven hard at a relatively low speed, I would
think the electric fan would be on if the weather is hot, so you would
probably actually lose power with an electric fan, compared to the
mechanical
fan.
<
Dan, Frank,
Consider the fact that the fan is sized to supply sufficient cooling air at
a fairly low engine speed and once above that speed it is oversized,
pulling more air than needed and drawing more power than necessary. The
electric fan is a constant speed device and draws the same amount of power
regardless of engine speed. So even on the race track, even if the fan
were running full time, the fact that it is not doing an overkill job at
high revs means power saved.
And remember, the pwer required to run a fan is proportional to the cube of
the speed of the fan.
Dave
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