In response to one of the postings in the continuing saga of torque/HP (
which might be better posted on Apex Speed.com or Sports Racer.net) drag
racing was mentioned as a good source.
Having done that from 1960 until 1975 I might point out a few items that
might alter the equations. In the early days of drag raciing we had to deal
with wheelspin and the emphasis was on weight transfer to reduce it (see
origins of "funny cars" in 1965) Aerodynamics was a new black art back then.
We were under the impression when we tuned our cars (presumably false
according to these posts) that torque multiplied by our rear end ratio was
responsible for getting us off the line and that brute HP was responsible
for the big top end charges. Indeed I swapped my rear end from 4:88 (1/4
mile) to a 5:12 when running 1/8th mile drags and never gave a thought to
the effect of HP as I was only going the 1/8th mile. (This was on the 3285lb
396-375HP 67 Camaro that I won SuperStock C with at the Nationals at INDY
back in 1970 with an 11:29 139MPH on 9inch slicks)
After that I went to a B/Dragster & B/Fuel Dragster (sb chevy)which gained a
lot more speed and lower ET. Now we had the problem of TIRE GROWTH which I
don't believe is a problem for F500s. (how much do F500 tires grow at
speed?)We now had to gear our cars to take tire growth into account as it
would reduce our overall rear end ratio. With all the drag cars we wanted to
be pulling strongly at least to the first set of lights if not the whole
1/4mile. I do remember that we shifted so we would fall into the maximum
power range without exceeding the then low RPM limits on our engines
(usually 7000-8000)
Drag Racing is its own world and it problems concern going 1320ft in the
least amt of time. I do not think you would gain that much useful info on a
drag racing site compared to the Apex and Sports Racer sites I mentioned.
Ed Capullo
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