[Land-speed] HP/DRAG/Traction...

[Keith Turk]

Yes our problems were created by DRAG....  with a given weight... you have X 
amount of Traction,  If you have the HP available it will overcome that 
traction and the tires spin,  Bout that simple.

So the choices are to decrease the HP to a level that doesn't spin the 
tires,  to decrease the overall drag of the car, or add more downforce ( 
think Ballast or aerodynamic aids/Band-Aids ).

By doing all three of these things we increased our speed on a deteriorating 
race track.

We could have decreased the HP simply by lifting our fat feet off the 
throttle a bit... but we had a really hinkey throttle set up... and it 
wasn't as polite as it should have been.... Throttle pedals need lots of 
travel and to be extremely smooth... this one had neither of those things... 
( but it was Morse cable actuated which we felt was a requirement with the 
blower, allows you to manually close the throttle blades )  By taking the 
Blower off and running an 8-1 motor on a single 4 and nitrous we decreased 
the Hp from 1200 down to around 900hp.

We increased the downforce by adding some spoiler angle.  Even thou it adds 
drag we felt the increase in pressure on the tires was worth the increase in 
drag.

Last but not least significant,  we took off that Barn door on the motor and 
put on our Aerodynamically friendly, wind tunnel approved Hood scoop. 
Radically decreasing the overall drag on the car and freeing up the traction 
we had to build speed instead of spinning the tires...

Hmmm that's about it.

Keith... ( see it wasn't even rocket science... just plain logic. )