Rear wing

[BaldyLochs]

This is Gary Ormsby loosing the wing. Pretty scary.....

Something very similar happened during qualifying to Mr. Kalitta at HRP, I think it was ‘90 or ‘91. We were there. The frame was ALL goofed up; looked like a piece of roller coaster track from Six Flags. But Connie was even more goofed up. He was hospitalized for quite some time. Strut broke ....

 

[Rat]

This is Gary Ormsby loosing the wing. Pretty scary.....

I am looking at the Brainerd track. That wall that was left open to the track....Whose idea was it that that was ok and that no racer may ever hit it. I am too young to know, but didnt we lost Blaine because of that?

 

[TK]

^ Yes we did but it was past the finish line, and at a much higher speed. I believe Kenny Bernstein also had a high speed impact similar to Blaine's.

 

[TooTall999]

I am looking at the Brainerd track. That wall that was left open to the track....Whose idea was it that that was ok and that no racer may ever hit it. I am too young to know, but didnt we lost Blaine because of that?

Are you talking about the shut down area at BIR where the cars can actually go onto the road course at the end? If so that's way better than a sand trap- catch net used at most of the tracks.

 

[Z28LT1]

He did; his sentence before had to do with a nitro engine's 10,000 horsepower and he accidentally said "horsepower" again. It was comical, though.

Words are hard.

 

[mick]

BIR was never the same after gary's 1989 incident, and i think all other nat. event tracks followed suit too. gone were armco walls and nat. event tracks started to look like
what we see today.........BIR is great though. 1st turn at shut down speed is always there for anyone without chutes/brakes......back to title of thread. i wish someone would
experiment with alternative downforce methods for TF'rs (if it's allowed?)......can remember amato and head using various alternative methods in 90's.......and then of course
big's mono wing, which i think has been proven to be not as efficient as the present day configuration?

 

[FABMAN]

BIR was never the same after gary's 1989 incident, and i think all other nat. event tracks followed suit too. gone were armco walls and nat. event tracks started to look like
what we see today.........BIR is great though. 1st turn at shut down speed is always there for anyone without chutes/brakes......back to title of thread. i wish someone would
experiment with alternative downforce methods for TF'rs (if it's allowed?)......can remember amato and head using various alternative methods in 90's.......and then of course
big's mono wing, which i think has been proven to be not as efficient as the present day configuration?

I would say that ongoing as we speak.

 

[ironpony]

After all the parameters are determined the next step is to determine the equations of motion for the dragster. The equations of motion are derived by summing the forces on the dragster. There are two regions that determine which equation is going to be used which can be seen in Figure 3-1. The first region is the traction limited acceleration portion of the track. This is where the acceleration power is so great that the wheels would slip if the throttle was held wide open. There is not enough down force to grip the wheels to the ground therefore this is the area where they slip the clutch until they reach a point

at which this is no longer a scenario where the wheels can spin. This point is called the critical velocity of the vehicle.
Figure 3-1: Dragster Run Schematic Showing Two Areas
This critical velocity point is the transition between the traction limited acceleration and the power limited acceleration. In the power limited acceleration region there is so much down force that the power used to accelerate the vehicle is not large enough to spin the wheels. In other words, the normal force from the wheels to the ground multiplied by the friction factor of the tires is greater than the force generated by the torque from the engine.

there is a point where the downforce creates more drag than the horsepower can overcome and will slow the car down.

 

[mick]

it would add cost, and i don't think we need more of that, but what if the top element on the rear wing could move? much the same as the DRS system on F1 wings?
i know it's only 3.75 seconds, but would lessening the angle of attack for the first 1/8 mile, then increasing it in the last 1/8 make a difference?

 

[ironpony]

IMO the gain would be minimal based on the modeling above. The wing is not usable until the power limited phase and too much wing will result in too much drag and slow the car down.

 

[Dragracer]

Both T/F and F/C spin the tires all the way down the track, they have to. It's obvious when they do not have enough wheel speel, it's called tire shake. If you have too much wheel speed you are going to smoke the tires. The power limited acceleration as modeled above is not accurate as the cars in both fuel classes have more than enough power to spin the tires regardless of the down force provided by the wing. It is controlled by the tuneup by programming the timing, fuel flow, clutch setup and other settings that can each be set to change numerous times during the run. It's all a matter of programming the car systems to make the maximum amount of horsepower needed to get the car down the track with the maximum tire spin but not smoking the tires. It's rare if they are producing the maximum horsepower the engine can produce all the way down the track. Listen to numerous tuners at the racers and there are times they have a very difficult time backing the car down enough to get down the track. Never have heard a tuner say they didn't have enough power, it's the tuneup settings that determine how the power is used and how much is needed and when. It's the clutch slipping- how much and when, timing change and fuel changes all the way down the track. In Denver which is the high altitude track the fuel cars are allowed more blower overdrive, wing angle and a higher nitro percent as there is less air resulting in less horsepower thereby screwing up their normal tuneup. With the above changes they can run much of the same tuneup as they do at sea level.