"Phil Kangas" wrote in news:menj16$44l$1@dont- email.me:
Could be. I'm a bit at a loss as to why aero would cause it to always be a turn to the left.
John
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9 years ago
Lexus Drag Race
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9 years ago
John take a half filled ballon with air, squeeze it in your hand about a half a dozen times. I will bet you will never get the same shape twice. Flip that car six times and you probably won't get the same crash.
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9 years ago
Especially since it will be shaped differently after each crash. ;-)
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9 years ago
My old '66 442 would try to turn left and the left side would lift when I got on it.
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9 years ago
Doug Winterburn wrote in news:5510637d$0$58050 $b1db1813$ snipped-for-privacy@news.astraweb.com:
Yeah, that's the torque reaction Phil was talking about several posts upthread.
John
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9 years ago
Markem wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Except that, as I noted many posts back, when race cars fly they almost always turn to the left. If it was random, as you suggest, it should be close to 50-50 either side.
John
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9 years ago
Could it be the extra weight of the driver, steering wheel and other apparatus on that side of the car?
When we used to race Soap Box Derby cars (where the driver is centered in the car) we weren't just concerned with front-to-rear weight distribution, we also worked hard to balance the car side-to-side and eliminate cross-bind.
A 255 lb car that weighs in with 60 lbs on each front wheel and 67.5 on each rear wheel is OK. One that weighs in at 62L-58R in the front and 65.5L-69.5R in the rear is balanced side-to-side, but it's seriously twisted (AKA cross-bind). That's never good.
I don't know if drag car or track car teams get involved with side-to-side weight distribution or cross-bind. Do they? (I think they must.)
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9 years ago
DerbyDad03 wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:
Well, that's a good point.
I think drag cars are probably set up balanced right-left. Oval track cars are setup with extra left side weight (*). Road course cars, like the Le Mans cars are definately set up with an even right-left weight.
(* on pavement, at least. Dirt cars are often set up heavy on the right side).
John
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9 years ago
Ever notice in the old days, the right rear tire wore out first? Put the car in drive, put left foot on brake. Push gas pedal to the floor. Release brake when light turns green. We learned that cars went to the left back in high school when we first started to drive and street race.
Non-car guys used to think the right rear was the drive wheel because they knew nothing of torque and how it twists the car and the drive train gets power.
Traction control and ESC took the fun out of street racing.
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9 years ago
That would be when you squeeze da balloon. But they should have invested in some wheel bars. The blow over was predicatable.
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9 years ago
Markem wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Yeah, I'm surprised their class rules didn't require them. Had that been an NHRA-sanctioned track they would have been.
John
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9 years ago
would guess that didn't turn out well for the driver and that fence wasn't improving safety much
did the driver survive, that's a frightening crash
need to put an gyro in there and when we start toward vertical shut off the gas
if it had wings it'd be called an STOL* well at least STO
*short take off & landing