The issue with cooling on Formula Fords is not weight. An electric fan only
weighs a few pounds. The real issue is that the fans have to run off of the
battery as there is no alternator. Run the fan too much, and you are done
for the day, not enough juice to fire the plugs.
As far as the idling thing, why do you think so many Mod guys push their
cars in grid?
Paul Zahornasky
27 CM
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-autox@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-autox@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Mark J. Andy
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 1:04 PM
To: 'Team.Net'
Subject: Re: prosolo
Howdy,
On Thu, 28 Dec 2000, Jay Mitchell wrote:
> > Perhaps
> > they were never properly engineered or built to begin with.
>
> Possibly. Or possibly, they were _perfectly_ engineered and built
> for runs of a minute or less separated by a five minute or
> greater cooldown, which is what you can expect to encounter in
> Solo II competition. It's speculation either way.
Yeah, I used to race a motorcycle that would overheat and melt the engine
unless it was moving, generating airflow over the rad. You engineer to a
target.
I _would_ say however that not assuming you'll be idling your car for
significant periods of time with no movement at an autox is a bad idea.
Even for regular solo2, you have to idle from grid to the line, waiting
for cars to run before you, etc. Not to mention some clubs where they
don't have a grid at all, just a line of cars that inch forward toward the
start.
Myself, I'll take a little more weight penalty and ensure that the car has
enough cooling to not require movement or running time limits. Its one
less thing to worry about. :-)
Mark
|