The sickness is strong...
 

So I'm out in the garage last night in my apartment complex, working on the Porsche, and I hear the rumbling of a truck, with the rattle of a trailer in tow. I look up just in time to see this guy in a big truck come screaming past, trailer just barely hanging on. He throws it around a corner and over a set of speed bumps, U-Haul trailer bouncing along behind. :confused: Hmmm, that was interesting, back to work.

About 2 minutes later, he comes back around. I hear him coming, and zzoooosh, past he goes, hard around the corner, bouncing over the speed bump. I scratched my head, wondered for perhaps 2-3 nanoseconds what he was up to, then got back to tearing down my suspension.

About 2 minutes, I hear him coming again. Zzzooosh, past he goes, hard around the corner and bouncing over the speed bump.

My very next thought, honestly: "Gosh, his lap times aren't improving much; looks like his turn-in point on this corner is too late."

And the thought immediately after that, in all seriousness: "I wonder what that trailer does to his line?"


(shudder) Been reading too much Skip Barber...

:-)

You've got the sickness. My inspiration was Alan Johnson's Driving in Competition -- early apex, mid-apex or late apex?

FWIW, an unladen trailer behind a big truck wont do much... I used to pull a steel trailer with a 911 track car behind a 3,200 lb Jeep Cherokee, and I don't recommend it to anyone. When the trailer and tow vehicle weigh close to the same, the dynamics are, ah, challenging.

Much less the dynamics of an unladen African swallow...

with or without a cocanut?

What if the coconut has golf-ball style aerodynamic dimples?

depends also if the coconut hair has been aerodynamically shaved off as well

What if there were two swallows?

African or English Swallows?

You can actually corner faster with the unladen trailer. It acts the same as the tail of a kite, delaying the rear of the truck from stepping out of line.

It's not a question of how it grips it! It's a simple matter of weight ratio!

Now you've got me thinking: is this the next step in race-car development? Move non-essentials back to a towed trailer. Battery, gas, etc. that makes the actual car itself lighter. Better, add an engine to the trailer to make it self-propelled. Would that count against your own horsepower? What class would you race in? They'd have to make a new "trailer" class?

Dan

you guys are all sick....SICK I TELL YOU.

now let's see...if I stay a bit tighter on 2 then track out here I can carry a bit more speed.....

-- with a dimpled U-Haul trailer laden with coconuts.