'Couldn't help but get back in, I agree, Diest or one of the safety
suppliers would have all the answers, but this is fun ain't it? The last
car we ran was an A/Fuel dragster, 200+ in 7 seconds, it had a crossform
Simpson 8' dia. it slowed the car from 200 to about 120 in just seconds. We
had 2 canard wings about 1 foot square in front of each rear wheel and a
wing on the front axle about the same size, the car weighed 1200 lbs. and
had about 1600 hp on straight nitromethane. The chute, as I said would lift
the front wheels and cause the frame to flex while stopping but it was
always a reassuring feeling that when it came out, you were okay.
I like the rocket idea, I wish I could have seen that! And, could we
possibly see the photo of the roadster facing the open chute? That is a
great photo of a scary ride!!!
John Backus 309A/F
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nafzger" <nafzger@vtc.net>
To: <land-speed-digest@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2000 9:34 PM
Subject: Re: Parachute
> Hello Wes,
> Again I'm no expert but I think the big difference is those dragsters
have
> probably several thousand puonds of downforce at 300+ and the chute
> deployment is unable to upset them like it does on of our cars. We can't
> stand that much downforce because of the drag and rolling resistance it
> creates. I'll bet if they took those wings off they would experience some
of
> the same frightening problems.
> Howard Nafzger
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wester S Potter" <wspotter@jps.net>
> To: "Keith Turk" <kturk@ala.net>; <land-speed@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2000 7:14 PM
> Subject: Re: Parachute
>
>
> > List,
> >
> > This braking parachute question always leaves me wondering why the drag
> > racers can slow from 300 mph passes with a parachute time after time
> without
> > very many incidents. What is the big difference in slowing from 300 at
a
> > drag strip and slowing from 380 or so on the salt? I'm sure I'm missing
> the
> > point here somewhere but something is at work on tethers and chute
design
> > for land-speed applications that is primarily solved in drag racing.
The
> > discussion early this year on how to find the optimum point for placing
a
> > tether connection made sense as I read it. The cars that have problems
on
> > the salt are primarily placing that connection in the wrong place and
> > disturbing the balance of the car at speed. I realize that drag cars
> differ
> > so little that once someone gets it right it's easy for everyone to do
the
> > same thing. Not so with land-speed cars. The basilc ability of getting
> the
> > parachute to deploy and do it's job seems to be the same however. The
> > tether straps are able to handle the same loads on dragsters, ribbon
> chutes
> > and the cross panel chutes hold up, what is so different on the salt?
The
> > Burkland's car certainly had enough thought in the design area for
> braking
> > but now Tom has gone back to the drawing board to see what he missed.
> > Obviously the deployment of the chutes was at speeds higher than he had
> > intended. What's the answer?
> >
> > Wes
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