Hello all,
Sorry to add another email to this but ...
A few days ago I contacted Dave Weitzenhof about the FC vs FF
performance issue. As you probably all know, Dave is a many time
Runoffs Champion and understands vehicle dynamics through his
engineering experience and his immense skills as a race car driver. He
has won National Championships behind the wheel of FFs and FCs. I felt
we could use his input. He agreed to allow me to forward his email to
all of you.
Weitzenhof, David wrote:
My opinion is that an FC will out-perform an equivalently-prepared FF on
most tracks, especially autocross. The only exception might be a very
high-speed track or straight with little cornering and acceleration, where
the clean aero of the FF may give it a higher terminal velocity than the FC.
Since an FF has ~120 HP vs ~150 for an FC, plus the FC has bigger tires, the
FC would probably have to weigh ~25% more than the FF to be equal, even
without downforce.
Hope this helps.
Dave Weitzenhof
Bridgestone / Firestone Research, LLC
E-mail: weitzenhofdavid@bfusa.com
Phone: 330-379-7536, Fax: 330-379-7530
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim and Rose Ann [mailto:garryj@localnet.com]
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2003 10:10 PM
To: weitzenhofdavid@bfusa.com
Subject: FF1600 / FF2000
Hi Dave,
Jim Garry here. I have a question for you. In the Solo II world, there is a
small group of
people who want to combine the FF1600 and FF2000 into the same class. They
are talking about requiring take the wings off the FF2000 and adding weight.
In an email discussion on this matter, I wrote that with its extra HP and
torque, the 2000 will still beat the 1600, even with the extra weight. Then
someone responded with the following:
> I have a 95 Citation SF with a Williams engine. Last year a MAM, two race
> groups were combined and I ran against two very good FFs. The Fords have
> top-of-the-line engines and mine had about 6 weekends on it. I had the
> wings at a shallow attack angle. Also, thanks to the drivers dimensions, my
> car is about 40 lbs heavy.
>
> Going onto the main straight about 20 feet behind the Fords, and drafting
> the entire straight (about 2,222 ft.), I was able to pick up 10 to 15 feet
> if I entered the main straight correctly. The fast FC at the event lapped
> about 4-5 seconds faster than me, but he pulled away from me in the corners
> but did not pull away noticeably on the straights.
>
> Road racing, it does not appear that FCs "gets up and goes a lot faster than
> a 1600".
>
Dave, what's your opinion? Is this person's experience of not being able to
pull
FFs accurate? I must warn you, anything you write to me may be quoted in
the email discussion on this topic.
Thanks for any information you can lend to me. I will be glad for your
opinion either way as it relates to my view on the matter.
Sincerely,
Jim
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/autox-cm
|