i wish they knew what 350 mph was like, but
unfortunately NOWHERE close to that, nowhere
close to even a full run..........
its been painful waiting for results as a follower...
i cant imagine how painful as a team member...
10 plus year and still fighting gremlins in things
like fuel...timing...clutches.....proving that even
the basics can be tough...
its certainly not for lack of enthusiasm, passion and
persistence.....
Joe
Joe,
No where close? Hmmmm.
It seems your perception of the why fors and what ifs are in stride with that of many others. My only defense to this is a statement of fact. The Kawasakis and Suzukis that are turning in fantastic speeds with ease, are due to what? Hundreds if not thousands of drag strips throughout the USA and other counties have developed these already very, very high volumetric efficient engines and related components, i.e. ignition systems, clutches, turbo chargers, with fuel electronically controlled.
Nowdays any novice with little or no machine capability, and little or no design capability can buy technologies developed on dragstrips by experts from around the world. He doesn't have to have any of these skills himself.
Anyone with the bucks can buy 500 hp worth of motorcycle engine off the shelf. It would be relatively reliable, and would require very little maintenence. This is the easy way to get it done in a short time, but what have those (the majority) who do this really accomplished?
In my case, I started with two 50 hp push rod engines built 60 years ago.
They are now making nearly 600 hp, six times the original hp, with no off the shelf speed equipment designed and developed for these engines. all that horsepower has been developed in my garage.
Clutches, ignition, transmission, and fuel curve, all engineered and developed in my garage.
Over the years the total time the Vincent streamliner has been able to test under power has been quite limited.
Number of times attending a meet at Bonneville: 9
Number of days total on the salt: possibly 25, spanning a period of 12 years.
Number of attempted runs on the salt: 34 runs. Ten of these were aborted runs.
Number of minutes of actual run time: About 45 minutes over the 12 year period.
Is it fair to deride the performance not yet achieved, when I've never been able to get private time, due to financial limitations?
If you compare development time on the aforementioned Japanese machines compared to the development time of the Vincent streamliner, the Japanese machinery development time would dwarf the time I've spent developing the Vincent streamliner, by tens of thousands of hours.
**
We're closer than you might think.
Max
