Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Amen...

Mad stat about those 10,000 hp + Top Fuel Dragsters.

They reach over 100 mph by the time the rear wheels have crossed the start line.

(30ft)

Ah no point at all, as I though you were talking about me when you mentioned dialynx not the audi tuners, and I think a while back I mentioned Dialynx' built 600bhp? 4pot 1.4 audi 80 quattro and it coming from swindon.

As for the rolling road, was more than just foibles but more of an attempted discussion how operator error/ poor set up and users tweaking the results by using thin (0w20) motor oil instead of the usual spec engine oil etc alter the reading artificially. But mainly to discuss how a rolling road can't measure a vehicles bhp as magical software only appears on the road as it is 'hidden' on the standard ECU. Nothing to do with me, but interesting tuner...

What 10,000 hp does to a drag tyre at launch (nicked from reddit but not sure who the original photographer was)

Anyone want a BMW Foxwell NT510?

I could probably make use of one with my cursed 325i hahaha!

How much?

There were some drag race facts that I saw about the same time as that photo. Likely you've all seen them, but some of them are mental:

One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.

• Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitromethane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes about the same amount of jet fuel with 25% less energy being produced.

• A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger.

• With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.

• At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitromethane, the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.

• Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

• Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

• Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.

• If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.

• In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.

• Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!

• Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.

• The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.

I was surprised how few revs (540) the engines actually does on a run.

At the other end of the spectrum, the most powerful engine the 2CV had was a 600cc unit belting out a peak of 29 HP. Reckon you could get quite a bike pile in the back of this 2CV van, want.


Also much want, this lovely Fiat.


And laughing in the face of the speed freaks, is this the slowest car ever to sport Gulf colours? It brought a huge smile to my face. A Fiat 850, the owner was having a typical 70's Fiat experience and was nursing it along, frequently pulling over as it kept cutting out. And only 1 working brake light. Fully authentic, rep.

Suspect the 850 maybe a little special due to the exhaust.

that 850 is very cool. good work dude.

oh and see a 2CV van, or Dyane even, need to get better look, in regular use our here in Suffolk. looks ace

Love the fact it turns into a diesel half way.

:o)

Vw t4/lt/crafter all use 5 pot diesels, different models but the 90s ones generally more sought after.
Have the same engine in my 90s volvo, just done bottom end after it needed piston rings (gummed from using veg oil), decided to replace crank and rod bearings (with factory spattered type), after 260k and 22 years they were fine. Some measurable wear but not terrible, nice and even, no scouring, no anything really. Polished the crank journals and put new ones in along with one grade higher of bolts.
The high power guys are running massive steel plate girdles across the main bearing caps (20mm thick steel!), double squirters, forged h beam rods (forgot brand), a chunky decompression plate and then very serious heads, they've been chopped up, dissected and bits somehow welded in to increase everything, amazing really.
Cast iron all the way!

Yeah i read up a bit on them after i originally posted, I'd sort of forgotten that a lot of the T4 etc of that era had a 2.5TDI version which was 5cyl.

I'd actually quite like a T5 sportline as it is!

The T4 5 pot diesel is an amazing engine due to it tolerance for abuse and lack of maintenance. As I have mentioned before.

Were you using svo or mixing it? How long before the engine suffered sticky rings?

Yup using veg from a friend who was brewing it from waste oils from a large base near here, also using a mix from a retail operator in the other end of the city (has duty built in so was barely aby cheaper thwn regular diesel). And yeah gumming issues started happening within a few thousand miles of first use.
Pump etc is dead happy just the rings! Oil gets changed regularly (quantum synta 10w40 which is vw trades own brand oil for vp and pd engines, its like £9 for 5 litres) every 6k.
Having worked on a few they rarely go mechanically bad, it's more their ageing control systems and mechanics that aren't familiar with them that is the common cause for them to end up in the bin.
Was at least 2 years of not 3 since last using anything other than pump diesel, but still the damage has been done. Tried leaving cylinders to soak in that carbon melting stuff (some kind of stinking organic compound) just before an oil change but made no real difference.
Has all new rings in it now, gaps and wear seem ok, had to buy a bore gauge as my friendly engine builder is shut, often borrow his sexy spec tools.
Lesson learned cheap fuels or improper use kills engines

You don't see many of these around, the weird windowed Subaru SVX.


And a gleaming Ferrari Testarossa spotted in Kennington

Love the kid with Dad in awe.

Daughter has to shield because of CV so we decided to sell her car as it wasn’t getting any use. I polished it up and it sold in one day!

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Noice.

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fantastic

Meh, seen the ferrari engined one? Home built by Jeff?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBVSBxohaGQ

I'm a sucker for American Car series on youtube, Hoovies etc.

Just been steered towards a new favourite. Buys an abandoned car, non running and drives it home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXc4TLoHSDM

that bloke is a genius.

VE day yesterday, 2m spaced musing along the street. First time chatting to a guy who I always see fiddling with his cars in his garage
One 20 25 from 1930 and one silver dawn from 1953

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Like the blue one. It seems amazing that despite having 2 main headlights each the size of the bat signal, they felt the need to add a third one in the centre.

Spotted quite a rarity yesterday, an excellent condtion 1968 Renault Caravelle convertible. It looks better from the back but I was too slow to snap its rear.