Mike Garfias wrote:
> Also, the nascar engine shops are anything but drunken good ol boy rednecks.
> They don't operate the way the stereotype says they do. They are scientific
> in their approach to finding power, and all extremely intelligent.
>
My use of the the term "good-ol-boy" was not meant to be pejorative; it
was merely a nod of the head recognizing that many, if not a majority of
stock car racers are of Southern extraction. Nor was it meant to
denigrate their accomplishments. I am astounded at the amount of power
and reliability they wring out of an engine that was designed primarily
as a passenger car engine rather than a strictly racing car engine.
They play their game exceedingly well under the rather restrictive rules
that they elect to follow.
I am reminded a little of AMA motorcycle racing in the late forties and
the fifties. Before WWII Harley and Indian dominated the track racing
scene, Indian beating Harley more often than not, but both bringing the
side valve engine to a fairly high state of tune. But in 1949 Indian,
after a disastrous series of management decisions, went belly up. To
take Indian's place a wide selection of British machines became
available. Those that were not two-stroke tiddlers, almost invariable
had hemispherical combustion chambers, with radially disposed valves.
This was an improvement in efficiency, and the high octane gasoline
available allowed them to use much higher compression ratios than one
could achieve with a side valve design. Hence more available horsepower
for a given displacement.
The AMA in its wisdom (and to keep Harley competitive) limited the ohv
engines to 500 cc, and the side-valve engines to 750 cc. The Factory
racing Harleys, with their pie-plate flywheels, their swiss-cheese
con-rods and their skeleton pistons, were extremely sudden and rowdy
bikes, and competed well against the smaller English machines. The twin
cam Norton Manx was not allowed to compete in class C racing at all.
I guess it all comes down to what rules you want to run under.
Cheers,
Bob Eaton
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