2017 Thunder Road info

[HappyMidget]

Yeah, think mine maxes out at 194ish. Just need to get intake temps under control a bit better. Interestingly I did manage to get similar speeds in the afternoon with the spoiler back on and with a passenger, but that was due to a few more tweaks to the tune at lunch time. I could go down the interchiller route, but have been advised that whilst it works wonders on the Eaton/Heartbeat style chargers it does not work so well with the Whipple style chargers so would be a waste of money to go down the chiller route as I do want to go over to a Whipple at some point.

I am honestly not surprised about not taking home the trophy on the day, I knew I would be up against it due to not having the meth kit installed, but have to admit that Javelin's ineptitude really did hit me hard. I know I saw 286 on the board at the end of my last run, but to have that recorded at 220 is a joke. The old style system with the timing slips would have flagged this straight away rather than the grand reveal at the awards ceremony that allowed no time for any questions or investigations. For anyone who was there, this was the run I was up against Goldy and left him for dead off the line just before lunch. I then came back to the tent and was happy at the 286 and discussed this with people whether that would put me 1st or not in case anyone thinks I was trying to poach Anna's time and being a sore loser. I know she is perfectly capable of running that speed as it was Anna I ran against last year on my 6th run.

Anyway, I will leave it there and put it in the lesson learned box. Not sure if I will be back next year or not though. If I do, it will be for personal testing only and will de-categorise myself as it isn't worth the stress of being in competition with organisers that couldn't arrange a pissup in a brewery. Please note Dougie, this is not aimed at you or the VXR team, what you provided was spot on, just a shame the professionals you employed have failed you.

[ARAF]

stevieturbo said:

It is a surprise nobody else has hit 200+ yet though in any of the mile events

It just shows how well thought out your build is. You have the power to pull the gearing and the correct gearing for the power and distance.

[stevieturbo]

ARAF said:

It just shows how well thought out your build is. You have the power to pull the gearing and the correct gearing for the power and distance.

Gearing is plain old bog standard gearing that most dislike....and I've simply used for 14-15 years that I've used the LS engine setup. ( ie 0.74 and 0.5 5/6 )

And part of the reason I'm struggling with "stronger" gearbox choices, because most dont retain that "crappy" gearing that works bloody well for everything.
None of the shorter 5/6 options would really do anything for me, especially for 1km or 1/2 mile, because making another gearchange in those shorter distances at high speed would probably drop more speed than I'd recoup after a shift, and no matter what setup any 6th gear will always be weaker than 5th gear, so another reason to avoid needing to use 5th.
Being able to pull the speeds using just 5th just works.

I had even been considering the blasphemy that is automatic, but even they too would struggle to get good gearing for all uses, especially top speed. 6 speeds would work, but none of them take any power.
4 speeds might be able to, but their top is 0.75 and I'm still unsure if their lockup converters can tolerate full power lockup for high speed....and some even suggest 4th, ie top isnt ideal for handling good power anyway.

Bloody gearboxes lol

[bigwheel]

Stevie, what would the 2 speed Powerglide Auto box do behind your motor? And then there's the diff ratio to figure out!
Or does Powerglide only work with humongous multi thousand horsepower?
Pardon my ignorance in the complexities of various gearing ratios.

[ARAF]

stevieturbo said:

Gearing is plain old bog standard gearing that most dislike....and I've simply used for 14-15 years that I've used the LS engine setup. ( ie 0.74 and 0.5 5/6 )

Bloody gearboxes lol

You've shattered my illusions now.

[stevieturbo]

bigwheel said:

Stevie, what would the 2 speed Powerglide Auto box do behind your motor? And then there's the diff ratio to figure out!
Or does Powerglide only work with humongous multi thousand horsepower?
Pardon my ignorance in the complexities of various gearing ratios.

The problem with ancient automatics like that, is they're all 1:1 top gear. ie, same as you driving in 4th gear in a manual box. So unless you've a very very very tall diff, huge tyres or have some insane rpm's available, top speed will be limited.
I could probably do 180mph in 4th gear at present if I really pushed it, but I dont really want to be revving it to 8k. It doesnt usually go much over 7k.

Although for 1/4's and 1/4's only...yes a powerglide would be superb.

For road use ? for sprints ? for hillclimbs ? for top speed ? Nope.

You could add a gearvendors to the back of the glide to give some additional gears and overdrive but it's another large expense and not sure how easy it would be to switch between gears to give a good spread whilst driving ( like a Hi/Lo range )

But strangely, even with only 2 gears, powerglides seem to make everything go fast ! It's all down to the black magic inside torque converters that I dont understand lol

This Koeniggggesssseeggggg video kind of explains it pretty well and how they dont really need a lot of gears in an auto. Although on the other hand a lot of gears allows it to work better for different things too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glf_k4qGBAA