a flywheel is calculated (weight wise) to keep the rotating mass "rotating"
against the drag of clutch engaugement during an initial start from standing
stop. lightening it like in our morgan race car to next to nothing makes it
somewhat tough to get going from a standing start without stalling it out.
but reducing the rotating mass decreases the amount of horse power it
consumes to get rotating putting more power to the rear as opposed to the
amount of energy consumed getting that mass into motion. that also
translates to a quicker revving engine too. and in a race car it is a
significant reduction in weight too!
remember that between the flywheel and the rear wheels an incredible amount
of horse power is consumed in friction between gears and weights of rotating
masses and the friction in bearings. so any way you can reduce that is a
gain to available power at the driven wheels. if you have a 100HP engine
you are not puting out 100HP atthe wheels, and if you dyno at 100HP at the
wheels on a chassis dyno you have more than 100HP being produced by that
motor. my race saab has 847cc's and chassis dynos at 39.1HP atthe wheels.
and on a long straight i can reach the 100mph point around 7500rpm on the 3
cylinder 2 stroke!
yes, and that is with a lightened flywheel too! :)
chuck.
-----Original Message-----
From Wm. Thompson <willy at thompsoncarpentry.com>
To: Timothy H. Collins <thcollin@mtu.edu>
Cc: Spridgets <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 9:00 PM
Subject: RE: Puzzler
>so with that in mind, why are lightened flywheels beneficial? quickness?
>rather, than top speed/sustained speed?
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