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Technical Discussion / Stored energy, released during a run
« Last post by tallguy on June 02, 2024, 08:21:19 PM »We all know that there are various ways of storing energy that can later be used to propel a vehicle.
Some examples of energy storage items are batteries, capacitors, flywheels, compressed air tanks, mechanical springs,
nuclear devices, earth's gravitational field, and biological organs such as muscles.
In the context of land speed racing, is it likely that the performance of a vehicle could benefit by storing energy this way while accelerating, and release the energy later in the run, thereby achieving a higher measured speed?
It's not clearly obvious to me that this would be the case. On a relatively long track -- such as a Bonneville -- , a lot of energy is required to push a vehicle through the air at high speed over a long distance. Over a relatively short distance, a well-designed vehicle could/would use most of its available (engine) power output to build speed. But a vehicle whose engine power (and, therefore, top speed) are quite limited may hardly benefit from a very long track, compared to a shorter one. I don't immediately imagine that 4 miles of distance prior to the timed mile is much of an advantage, compared to 2 miles of distance prior to the timed mile -- for a 100cc motorcycle. But if that bike were able (and allowed) to store energy on the way to the first timing trap, perhaps that energy could help during the timed part of the run, without violating any of the rules.
Some examples of energy storage items are batteries, capacitors, flywheels, compressed air tanks, mechanical springs,
nuclear devices, earth's gravitational field, and biological organs such as muscles.
In the context of land speed racing, is it likely that the performance of a vehicle could benefit by storing energy this way while accelerating, and release the energy later in the run, thereby achieving a higher measured speed?
It's not clearly obvious to me that this would be the case. On a relatively long track -- such as a Bonneville -- , a lot of energy is required to push a vehicle through the air at high speed over a long distance. Over a relatively short distance, a well-designed vehicle could/would use most of its available (engine) power output to build speed. But a vehicle whose engine power (and, therefore, top speed) are quite limited may hardly benefit from a very long track, compared to a shorter one. I don't immediately imagine that 4 miles of distance prior to the timed mile is much of an advantage, compared to 2 miles of distance prior to the timed mile -- for a 100cc motorcycle. But if that bike were able (and allowed) to store energy on the way to the first timing trap, perhaps that energy could help during the timed part of the run, without violating any of the rules.
... although I don't know anyone that looks at MPG on their Bonneville car... but I know Bockscar gets about 5MPG with the 1 liter.... E85 is about 4 
