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April Report 2004 Editor - Paul Carey
April 10 - BF Goodrich Drag Combat, Quit Motorplex
Dyno testing in the weeks prior to Drag Combat proved our ignition system is not up to "Blown Alcohol" standards. Initially when we designed the car two years ago, a big enough six cylinder magneto was not available by Mallory, MSD or Vertex. We trialled the Bendix aircraft magneto, and all went ok, except under full load at the drag strip.
Electronic ignition was looked at, but after some exhaustive research it was decided even these systems are not really up to blown alcohol standard over 30lb boost. We are in negotiations with a brand new magneto manufacturer, and two huge mags will be on the car next season.
In the meantime, we decided to run the car at Drag Combat, and see if we could "find" the small tuning window that is available with the present ignition/fuel system and get in some licensing and testing passes. Starting the event on the fat side (we got sick of blowing burst panels) the car would not run over 5,500rpm at wide open throttle - and just fouled. Taking more and more fuel out progressively through the day was unsuccessful, and we never found that illusive tuning window.
The crew got a good workout, and were able to turn the car around in 30 minutes (not bad for a blown deal) between rounds. We were very encouraged by the day despite the car running like a pig under full power. We would like to thank all the spectators, fellow racers, Drag Combat staff, ANDRA staff, and Motorplex staff for the wonderfull encouragement at the event. We have an answer for the problem, I just have to finalise a product choice, hand over the folding stuff, and fit the units and test the car ready for next season.
Archived Newsletters:
March No 2 Report 2004
March No 1 Report 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
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