drag car question
Discussion
The reasoning behind the name is a pretty straightforward one to be honest. The funny cars were spawned from the A/FX "factory experimental" class in the 60's. GM, Ford and Chrysler were all pumping out hotter and hotter factory modified models in an attempt to trump the other brand and sell more cars. As the A/FX class developed the cars were getting more and more radical to the point where the rear axles were being moved a foot forward to aid weight distribution and the striaght tube front axles gave them a wild nose-up stance. Legend has it that someone simply made the comment that they're "funny looking cars", and the rest is history! Mercury (Ford) backed driver "Dyno" Don Nicholson can be credited with the first modern "flip-top" style Funny Car in 1966. Between them they figured that there was a hell of a lot of excess weight being hauled down the track, so they took a mould off a showroom-stock Mercury Comet and produced a single piece body in fibreglass that hinged at the rear to enable access to the driver's compartment and mechanical components. After "Eliminator I" hit the track the class would become pretty much what we see today.
Under the skin, yeah they are pretty similar to dragsters technology-wise. In the Nitro funny car class the engine and drivetrains are identical to that of the Top Fuel dragsters, the major difference is the 125" wheelbase as against the dragsters who run at 300". Due to their short wheelbase and relative lack of downforce compared to the dragsters, funny cars are extremely twitchy and require a completely different approach to driving. Top Fuel pilots generally get to enjoy a pretty "point and squirt" kind of run, whereas in the Funny Car you have to grab it by the scruff of the neck and wrestle it down the track as the last direction it wants to go is straight!
The bodies themselves have always traditionally been fibreglass, although in the last 5 or so years carbon/kevlar composites have become the norm.
Hope that helps.
Under the skin, yeah they are pretty similar to dragsters technology-wise. In the Nitro funny car class the engine and drivetrains are identical to that of the Top Fuel dragsters, the major difference is the 125" wheelbase as against the dragsters who run at 300". Due to their short wheelbase and relative lack of downforce compared to the dragsters, funny cars are extremely twitchy and require a completely different approach to driving. Top Fuel pilots generally get to enjoy a pretty "point and squirt" kind of run, whereas in the Funny Car you have to grab it by the scruff of the neck and wrestle it down the track as the last direction it wants to go is straight!
The bodies themselves have always traditionally been fibreglass, although in the last 5 or so years carbon/kevlar composites have become the norm.
Hope that helps.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 24th November 19:18
MrKipling43 said:
deevlash said:
cheers, I was kind of hoping it wasnt just because they looked funny but I guess that explains it anyway 
Ockham's razor my friend!Edited by MrKipling43 on Monday 24th November 19:44
also, when did we get a drag forum?!deevlash said:
MrKipling43 said:
deevlash said:
cheers, I was kind of hoping it wasnt just because they looked funny but I guess that explains it anyway
Ockham's razor my friend!Edited by MrKipling43 on Monday 24th November 19:44
also, when did we get a drag forum?!veryoldfart said:
Occam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae ("law of parsimony" or "law of succinctness"): "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem", roughly translated as "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity". An alternative version "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate" translates "plurality should not be posited without necessity". [1]
Blimey!I didn't realise there were any intellectuals involved in drag racing
SurreyMustang said:
veryoldfart said:
Occam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae ("law of parsimony" or "law of succinctness"): "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem", roughly translated as "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity". An alternative version "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate" translates "plurality should not be posited without necessity". [1]
Blimey!I didn't realise there were any intellectuals involved in drag racing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
KNOWING how to GET something can be as important as KNOWING it....
knowledge is power, but it neednt be YOUR knowledge....
i consider it akin to not being able to recite ALL the tangent/sine/cosine tables verbatim like my old engineering tutor at college but being able to FIND a tangent/sine/cosine
been a while since i saw a slide rule too, do they still exist?
knowledge is power, but it neednt be YOUR knowledge....
i consider it akin to not being able to recite ALL the tangent/sine/cosine tables verbatim like my old engineering tutor at college but being able to FIND a tangent/sine/cosine
been a while since i saw a slide rule too, do they still exist?
Edited by veryoldfart on Tuesday 25th November 10:50
We have scientific calculators these days Steve. Knowledge you seem to have missed out on.
The point is, if its not your knowledge/theory/opinion/artistic work then you should at minimum cite your source. Anything less is plagiarism/infringment of rights at the very least and should always be frowned upon.
As you say, "Knowledge is power"*
The point is, if its not your knowledge/theory/opinion/artistic work then you should at minimum cite your source. Anything less is plagiarism/infringment of rights at the very least and should always be frowned upon.
As you say, "Knowledge is power"*
- source: Reg Holdsworth, Coronation St, 1994.
Edited by TheMighty on Tuesday 25th November 15:23
Yes slide rules do still exist, saw two in my local charity shop only last friday! Slide rules have been in drag racing longer than Konputers. They put a man on the moon using slide rules. Oh, and i think you will find the good old boys at Mopar designed the 'Hemi' with a slide rule.
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