A68-1001 wrote:
From a distance away, and sitting in a hardened shelter behind bulletproof glass I would agree!
That article is fairly comical, and isn't really a serious look at the "plane", which is not really a serious plane in itself. The Gross Weight is "calculated" at 2,985 lbs with an empty weight of approximately 2,300. Remember the unproven engine, gearbox and propeller, along with the oxygen system, instrument panel, wiring, hoses, clips, oil, adi?, coolant, radios, fire suppression and all other parts seem to have not been installed and seem to be approximate guesses. That leaves a remainder of 685 lbs. for "The Fuel" 570 lbs if using avgas, and the pilot...115lbs including helmet and parachute. To begin, I think the girl may need to gain a little weight.
And all of this will be on a 17' wing that at high density altitude in a 20-25 knot gusting crosswind at Reno on Gold Race Day...
"David and the team have calculated Renegade’s flight performance and the results should make for an easy flier." Hmmm.
So is this DRCE Engine a "cheaper" or renewable source of engines vs. the proven Merlin Transport/-9 hybrid? Well that remains for the reader to decide, but these engines are good to 1,300 horsepower. For 6 to 7 seconds. In competition. Perhaps they need to work on the engines more. Read this from a Pro-Stock drag racing site....
"DETROIT, August 8, 2002 - There is an often heard yet undeniable maxim in NHRA Pro Stock racing that horsepower is king. Who could argue given that 40 cars separated by margins as razor thin as .025 of a second compete for 16 starting spots meaning that each one percent gain or loss in power can be the difference between racing on Sunday or going home Saturday night.
To the casual observer sitting in the stands at any one of the NHRA POWERade tour's 23 national events, it all looks so methodical and very simple. Like a well-choreographed dance, a pair of Pro Stock Pontiac SC/T Grand Ams, both powered by naturally-aspirated, GM DRCE powerplants, pull up to the starting line, do their tire-smoking burnout's, back up, gingerly move forward into their starting posture, launch, and in less than 6.8 seconds, rocket down the quarter-mile reaching speeds in excess of 200 mph. But things are not as simple as they appear. To get its 500 cubic-inch, 1,300 horsepower-producing powerplants race-ready for this fleeting moment on the racetrack, an engine shop must invest weeks of painstaking work, expend large amounts of capital, and pull together parts and commodities from numerous reliable resources in an effort to develop a winning piece.
"The first thing you need to do is assemble the right resources," said Mark Pawuk, driver of the Summit Racing Pontiac SC/T Grand Am. "That includes hiring the personnel that can build a winning, race-ready 500 cubic-inch GM DRCE Pro Stock engine, and purchasing the equipment to put all of the parts and pieces together.
"Excluding the cost of the race shop, you're still looking at an initial investment of approximately $750,000. In the dynamometer room alone you have about $250,000 invested and that includes expenditures for the dyno, the induction and exhaust units and the water tanks."
After the fundamental materials and personnel are in place, the fun begins. Pawuk's engine department starts with a GM DRCE 500-cubic inch block and a set of GM DRCE cylinder heads. The block and the cylinder heads come raw, so prep time is needed to make the block and the heads race-ready. That includes machining the raw block, boring the cylinders, line bore of main and cam bearings, lightening of block, installing lifter bushings, decking the block, drilling of all bolt holes, grinding for connecting rod clearance, installing screens in valley of block, and honing cylinder walls and lifter bushings.
"When we receive the GM DRCE cylinder head castings, we start with approximately 75 pounds of raw aluminum casting," explained Pawuk. "When the heads are complete, race-ready, they weigh approximately 53 pounds, so we're taking off approximately 20 pounds of aluminum per head."
Once the intake and exhaust ports, combustion chambers and all bolt holes including head, intake, exhaust and valve cover flanges, and rocker stands are installed, the head is then ready for the next phase of completion. That includes installing valve seats and valve guides, finishing the combustion chamber and intake and exhaust ports by hand, and the valve job.
"Depending on the deck height and bore-stroke combination, it takes about 16 weeks to get a new crankshaft," said Pawuk. "We also have to order connecting rods and pistons to meet our specifications, plus titanium intake and exhaust valves, camshafts, push rods and intake manifolds. Obviously you need a set of carburetors, an oil pan, starter, timing cover and timing belt along with the gears for the belt for the crankshaft and the camshaft, lifter, rocker arms, valve covers and basically a combination of all these different parts. By the time you put the whole program together with all of the parts coming in, you're looking at a minimum of a month, not including the crankshaft, and that's just for delivery of parts."
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
