Malcolm and List
The system you describe regarding the air system used by Mickey Thompson was
the original concept of the Late John Bowen. John was a partner of mine for
many years on several cars.
He was always looking for new ways to do things. It's funny this comes up
now as I have been going through my old files and found a bunch of the
original sketches we used during the early development of the air system.
John and I built the 1st. system for a small block Chevy. We machined and
hand fabricated all of the parts except for a couple of the pressure
regulators and valves.
We tested it for about a year on an engine stand, no dyno at that time. John
got a commercial company involved and due to other racing and raising a
family I had to drop out of the project.
Danny Ongias had a hand full when the system came on, sorta like a bunch of
turbo boost, like big time. He had a heck of a ride. The project was
workable but the hauling around a bunch of scuba bottles and having a lot of
private time to test and develop it just didn't happen.
It also required a lot of plumbing and caution as the high pressure stored
is dangerous under any conditions. At one time at Lyons Drag Strip a car
with I believe Air Research turbos connected to the rear wheels and two
K-bottles of air strapped to the chassis and some how a neck got broke off
the bottle.
The bottle stayed attached to the car, however it spun the car around in the
pit area and caused some damage. I don't recall if anyone was hurt or not
but they were banned from ever coming back. Never heard any more on the car.
Glen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Malcolm Pittwood" <MPittwood@compuserve.com>
To: "LSR List" <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 9:00 AM
Subject: Under Pressure
> The use of compressed air as a substitute for atmospheric air (thats all
> around us) has been tried on the 1/4 mile, as others have indicated. The
> top fuel dragster in the Garlits Museum was owned by Art Malone - it is
> interesting in that the motor is a 'sidewinder' with the axle running
> through the engine 'V'. The tank was the full length of the chassis in
> front of the cockpit. Called the "Air Car" I guess it was set to last say
> 8 seconds (I do recall it was charged to a pressure of 600psi). Car was
> not a success on the tracks - but it could have been the sidewinder
concept
> not the air.
> So a Bonneville racer may have to be fitted either a large tank or one
that
> is under much higher storage pressure. If at higher pressure the single
> tank wall thickness could be very thick - up to 1/2 inch is my guess. (I
> used to be able to do the maths, but it would take some more thinking
> about).
> Hot Rod magazine (December 1971) ran an article on Mickey Thompsons trials
> with a compressed air system on his Funny Car dragster. The engine is
said
> to have dynoed at 2800hp on alcohol. Diving SCUBA tanks at 2000psi were
> used. Start up and burnouts would have been made as 'normally aspirated'
> before activating the "Thermocharger" system for a sub six second run. No
> news on how far this experiment went forward on to the race tracks.
> With the modern control techniques and EFI etc... this could be a good
idea
> for a small capacity engine at Bonneville where it would overcome altitude
> and reduce charge air temperatures (the expanding air will bring down the
> temperature). I guess though that the rule makers will call it a
> 'supercharger' or blower. And would the lectronics be allowed on the
> 'blower' system?
> We need someone like Mayf to run the numbers, before it can be said that
> this idea is of zero merit.
> Malcolm.
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