Barnyard Bearcat is ready to run -- we're locking down the course now. Winds are about 5 mph on ost of the course watcher stations.
Okay - I think I"ve got time for the Ian Mann story:
On the down run this morning, when one or both of the front tires were hurt, there's a question of just what made them lose rubber. It is now thought that there may have been contact between the two tires - and that stripped off the rubber. After all, the tires are spinning at 8,000 rpm @ 450 mph - and the car was close to that. And he continued that maybe the tires didn't actually tough - but the sonic shear force between two surfaces may have been enough to make the rubber shred itself. I don't know if that story will hold up - but it's a possibility
Now for the rear tires: Yesterday it was decided that the gear ratio should be tall -- tall enough, Ian said, to run a 501 at redline speed. And with that ratio George said he wanted more power in fifth gear - that he liked the way the gear was working. Ian said "How much?" and was told that 40# boost would be about right. So - he programmed the system for 40# in fifth.
Well, that was too much. Combine lots of power with a tall gear - and the drive wheels broke loose. Wheelspin had been about 4-5% up to then, but when the big boost hit hard - Well, front tires were spinning at aboug 315 mph and the rears showed 347! Think of it, Ian said, as doing a burnout at more than 300 mph! Nice graphical description, hey?
Whatever -- since the gearing was so tall, and since the red line/shift light had been set at or above 8800 rpm -- the shift light never did come on at the top end of sixth. The car ran 429 - 430 in sixth gear.
That's a LOOOONNGG ratio, isn't it?
PS We're on a wind slowdown for the Bearcat's run -- up to about 10 mph right now. Stay tuned.
