[sammyg2]

Yup. just loosing fire to one cylinder is enough to push the car sideways out of the groove.
i've heard the number 800# of force per cylinder exhaulst pipe mentioned.

EDIT: looks like that 800# number is for total exhaust downforce, not per cylinder.

Back in 84 I decided I was going drag boat racing.
With my usually enthusiastic ignorace of the classes, i built up a blown hemi that basically put me in a pro class. Very expensive, lots of safety regs.

I complained when I had to spend 2 grand on a whirl-away ratcheting prop shaft, even though it would keep the boat from corkscrewing if the engine siezed.
Then I complained about having to spend another grand to have a special stainless driveshaft tube made to keep the standard automotive driveshaft from cutting the boat in half (and me) if it failed. I already had a 1/4" thick aluminum tube!
That driveshaft was about 2 feet long and was spinning at engine speed, and was connected to a gearbox next to my leg.
the front U-joint was 6" from my hip holding back over 1000 hp.

I have allot more respect for safety rules now than I did when I was 24 and bullet-proof.