Some things about cars just amaze me

[redcoupe86]

I was reading about F1 cars the other day and the RPM they opperate at and it got me thinking about our cars (and I guess any cars really) and how fast things really happen.

Take for instance what our little drivetrain must cope with. At 6400 RPM the whole rotating assmbly inginites each cylinder 106 times. Think about it, count off the seconds: 1- 2- 3 - etc.

So between one and two your engine has spun around 106 times - amazing.

Then I was reading about how some turbo charger impellers can speed up to 100,000 rpm, thats 1666 times around in one second - I just dont see how this is even physically possible in my minds eye - but it DOES it!!!

Any other things you all think about that just baffle you.

Im bored - its friday

[Vipergrün]

Originally posted by redcoupe86


Any other things you all think about that just baffle you.

Im bored - its friday

Yeah, sure, no matter how much we have repaired or upgraded, there is always SOMETHING to spend more $$ on

[redcoupe86]

Originally posted by bb80sc
Yeah, sure, no matter how much we have repaired or upgraded, there is always SOMETHING to spend more $$ on

no truer statement has ever been said

[Wil Ferch]

While taking nothing away from your post ( re: the relatively amazing speed at which things happen)... let's look closely on one of the numbers, however.

At 6400 ( engine) rpm.... the dizzy rotates at 3200 rpm...right ?...since there is 180 degree movement there for every full ( 360 degree) engine rotation.

So.... wouldn't that be 3200 "firings-per-minute"... or 53.3 fps ???

Oh wait... is that "per cylinder"...and now we multiple by 6?...to get an overall 320 fps ( firings-per-second).... ??

Hmmm... Let me mull that one over too for a moment, I think I got that wrong, too !!! ....

- Wil

EDIT:..I think that's correct... 320fps...not bad for a single coil ignition system!!

[BGCarrera32]

If you take a current F1 car, you could stick 6 full grown men on the tip of the composite front wing (assuming you could fit them on for arguments sake) and measure *no* detectable flex...

And the new 2.5L V8's for the next F1 season are topping out around 21,000 rpm...

[RarlyL8]

Hey it's just time right? Your perception of time means little in the physical world. I'm still trying to figure out how they get the ship in that tiny bottle.

[ZOA NOM]

Here's one that I can't wrap my head around, and I'm not sure I believe it -

If you get in your hopped up Twin Turbo Ruf and mash the pedal all the way down from a sufficient distance to hit 200 mph by the time you cross the starting line, a Top Fuel dragster will catch you and PASS you before the finish line!

[wholberg]

Originally posted by ZOANAS
Here's one that I can't wrap my head around, and I'm not sure I believe it -

If you get in your hopped up Twin Turbo Ruf and mash the pedal all the way down from a sufficient distance to hit 200 mph by the time you cross the starting line, a Top Fuel dragster will catch you and PASS you before the finish line!

The dragster:

In 2005, Tony "The Sarge" Schumacher ...clocked the NHRA National speed record for Top Fuel dragster of 336.15 mph and broke the ET record at 4.437 seconds.

The Porsche:

(1 hour/200 mi)(1 mi./4-1/4 miles)(60min./hour)(60sec/min.) = 4.5 seconds to cover 1/4 mile at 200 mph. The dragster would win by about 1 carlength (~18.5 feet). At the finish the Porsche is traveling about 293 feet/second, and the dragster is traveling about 493 feet/second. The Porsche could tie if it maintained a steady 202.8 mph.

The math doesn't lie, but it's still hard to accept. Wow!

[ZOA NOM]

Thanks.

[redcoupe86]

Originally posted by Wil Ferch
While taking nothing away from your post ( re: the relatively amazing speed at which things happen)... let's look closely on one of the numbers, however.

At 6400 ( engine) rpm.... the dizzy rotates at 3200 rpm...right ?...since there is 180 degree movement there for every full ( 360 degree) engine rotation.

So.... wouldn't that be 3200 "firings-per-minute"... or 53.3 fps ???

Oh wait... is that "per cylinder"...and now we multiple by 6?...to get an overall 320 fps ( firings-per-second).... ??

Hmmm... Let me mull that one over too for a moment, I think I got that wrong, too !!! ....

- Wil

I suck at math. So whatever you say is probalby right - I forgot about the 180 bit!!!

[redcoupe86]

a statistic from my NASA brother.

if you were to remove the connecting rod from the piston at the top of its travel at max RPM (no heads on of course ) this piston would fly up in the air about 1 mile. While that is amazing in and of itself, concider that the piston on travels 1 inch. So think of throwing a rock (made of whatever material F1 pistons are made of) a mile with only on inch of travel.

I've also read or heard that the top fuel dragsters will chew through 15 gallons of fuel in 5 seconds. Don't know if I could afford that gas bill!!!

[MikeSid]

There's a great scene in that Charles Lindberg movie where Jimmy Stewart is over the middle of the Atlantic in that tiny plane and to keep himself awake he calculates the massive number of tiny explosions that must occur in sequence to get him all the way to Paris.

Probably the last thing I'd want to think about while hung out over the ocean in a tiny plane.

[mschuep]

On the way to work this morning I got a little loose going around my new favorite corner. Every time I get a chance to do it, it puts a smile on my face. Since I dislike doing most other things over and over, I think it is pretty baffling that the same corner can make me happy again and again. Cheers.

[ZOA NOM]

I have several of those corners on my commute, and I find that I can never quite repeat any of them exactly the same way. I never get tired of it either.

[edward993]

Here are a few things that amaze my wife:

1. How I can spend so much time looking at and talking about Porsches and other cars.

2. How I can "think" I can $pend so much on Porsches and related track madness.

3. How I can go around the same track, time after time, then do it again a month later, and then again, and NOT get bored.


And here's what amazes me ...that she tolerates my insanity! Gotta love her!!!

Edward

[strupgolf]

On some nights, my head spins around pretty fast and I cant tell. I cant do the math either. Ok, pop another one.

[Dixie]

whole rotating assmbly inginites each cylinder 106 times…

Not quite. You’re forgetting it's a four stroke motor. It ignites on only one of the four strokes.

• 6,400rpm/60 = 106.6revolutions per second
• 106/4 strokes = 26.6 ignitions strokes

So it ignites almost 27 times in one second..

But perhaps more amazing is to think that at 6,400rpm each piston in a 3.2 liter Porsche flat six accelerates from zero to roughly 70mph, and then back to zero again.

And it does this 53 times in one second.

[Dantilla]

But there are two strokes per revolution.

106/2= 53.

[Dixie]

But there are two strokes per revolution..

Doh! Stupid details!


(Yeah, "The Simpsons" are on right now...)

[bell]

Originally posted by MikeSid
There's a great scene in that Charles Lindberg movie where Jimmy Stewart is over the middle of the Atlantic in that tiny plane and to keep himself awake he calculates the massive number of tiny explosions that must occur in sequence to get him all the way to Paris.

Probably the last thing I'd want to think about while hung out over the ocean in a tiny plane.

one of my favorite movies
the scenes before he touches down in paris was an excelent portrayal of what sleep deprevation can do to you

and back on topic.......think of how fine tuned the electronics are that control the pnumatic valve closure at 19,000 rpm.........it has to work everytime.

also a few years ago our local pca tech session was held at wiseco pistons in mentor ohio, they explained in detail the forging process and the engineering behind the oblong shaped cylinder walls, when the temps come up the cylinders take their true shape, can you imagine an 8,000 rpm idle?

there was a video somewhere of the mclaren (i think) team playing mary had a little lamb with an F1 car by varying idle speed.....anyone have that vid?