HP needed to push Markley Bros tank to 280mph?

[Emil Shuffhausen]

Any known numbers on what kind power that blown hemi made? I'm really curious about what it takes to push that shape near 300mph.

Thanks.

[maguromic]

Which tank?  They had two different tanks, an early and late style. Tony

[Emil Shuffhausen]

This one.

[SPARKY]

Well,  they most likely had a QC rear on a bevel gear ford axle---fairly efficient -- most likely  direct drive,  blown smaller hemi,  pretty clean upper body around blower, fairly small tires---I would guess around 800 plus or minus 50

[Ron Gibson]

Way back, one of the announcers, I think Helash (sp) said. (paraphrazed) "You people at the starting line wondering about the weird smell when they fire this thing, It's the probably the 2% alcohol they left in the tank when they filled it with nitro."
Bones was telling us about running nitrous on top of fuel. Said it went like he!!, but sure was hard on parts. They sure were hard on Desoto parts.

Ron

[POPS]

Bob Dalton introduced me to Markley at the roadster show. What an honor to meet him. Still very sharp. He and his son are putting the roadster back together.
That lakester was very LOUD and fast. The Markley's figured out how to cool a high percentage nitro motor in early 60's. As did the Surfers. Wonder who was first? 800+ HP is a good estimate, around 2HP per cubic inch.
POPS

[Gary Perkinson]

Using the handy-dandy Wallace Racing calculator...

http://www.wallaceracing.com/top-speed-hp.php

...and the following guesstimates for that tank (based in part on info gotten from a couple of Google searches):

2,000 pounds
0.28 coefficent of drag
16 sq. ft. frontal area

...the HP required to go 280 is 679.02.

Of course, if the tank (with you and gas in it) is actually heavier than 2,000 pounds, or the CD is greater than 0.28, or the frontal area is greater than 16 sq. ft., the other guys' HP estimates in the 800s could be right on. So I guess to be safe you should figure you'll have to shoot for at least 700 HP...

Gary

[RichFox]

Bob Dalton introduced me to Markley at the roadster show. What an honor to meet him. Still very sharp. He and his son are putting the roadster back together.
That lakester was very LOUD and fast. The Markley's figured out how to cool a high percentage nitro motor in early 60's. As did the Surfers. Wonder who was first? 800+ HP is a good estimate, around 2HP per cubic inch.
POPS

That's OK. But the tanks ran with 260 and around 290 cubic inch motors. Long time ago, but I think it was 260 mph on 260 inches. Same deal with the 290inch motor 290 mph. They once told me that as young men they felt that not enough had been learned if they didn't blow the motor. In later years they rethought that.

[Sumner]

My guess 770 RWHP, but totally a guess as there are a lot of variables we/I was guessing at....



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/bvillecar/bville-spreadsheet-index.html#HP%20needed%20for%20A%20Lakester

Sum

[Freud]

Rich, I think it was 280 MPH with 260 CI.

Alan De Armond drove it.

I may have misspelled his name.

FREUD

[kiwi belly tank]

There's a pretty good chance they didn't know the HP #, they just knew how to make em survive. Same engine combo went 370something in Harry Hoffman Jnr's liner.
  Sid.

[7800ebs]

Soooo my first trip to the Salt was with Ernie Pereira who was running the old "big" Markley tank with a GMC, it is then I met the Markleys, 1977.

The word I heard .. is that at 280 mph it spun the tires.. don't know the weight on rear.. though..

check this out...

 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-markley-bros-belly-tank-%C2%96-a-pictorial-history.384897/page-3

bob

[desotoman]

I believe the first tank as pictured only ran an early Plymouth block, with Dodge Hemi' heads, and under 260 inches.

To my knowledge their Liner that hauled AZZ only ran DeSoto motors in C, D, and E engine classes. IMO now 20 years latter those records would have been much higher, with the use of computers and 5 less miles to travel.

For general information, back in 1990 I went up to see Ernie Pereira about buying the early tank as I wanted to buy and restore it as it ran in the 60's for everyone to see. Ernie's price at the time was $10,000, minus motor and rearend. There was lots of rust everywhere so I made Ernie an offer, and offered him $9,000 and I really thought I was nuts for offering that much money for what was there, and he politely refused my offer. A couple of weeks later I said well maybe Ernie had a change of mind so I gave him a phone call and asked him if he would reconsider my offer and he told me he had sold the car to Dennis Varni, and the rest is history.

Tom G.  

[RichFox]

That would be my memory also. In those days you got bumped two classes for running a blower. So what is now a E/BFL would have been a C/L. No gas classes

[Sumner]

...The word I heard .. is that at 280 mph it spun the tires.. don't know the weight on rear.. though....

I could believe that...



... according to my figures the car might of needed around 2,000 lbs. on the rear axle to avoid wheel spin at 280,

Sum