10 replies to this topic

[island]

Hi!
Why did the turbine car not become a world
beater? Dave Walker stormed through the field
in the wet 1971 Dutch GP-only to spin out.
On the other hand, Emerson Fittipaldi finished down in eighth place at Monza in
September and could not pass Frank Gardner`s
Lola T300 at Hockenheim`s F5000 round a
week later.
Was the 56 down on power?

[green-blood]

Think turbo lag times a large number!!!! The turbine needed to spin up before its power was useful, hence the drivers would try to carry speed through the corners usually without success - hence Holland, the drivers famously used to plant the accelerator before the corner in the hope that the power would be available on the exit. There was no engine breaking so they had to rely on the brakes completely whilst having their foot down to get power after the corner - you can imagine in a race you dont need these extra probs.

The concept was well suited to Indy though where maintaining a high velocity was essential, as opposed to acceleration and breaking agility.

[Roger Clark]

Apart from the turbine lag, there was the weight, the frontal area, 4WD, the fact that it was a three year old design...

[desmo]

[RehsperW]

Do you think they could make the turbine work today? I imagine they could...

RehsperW

[Darren Galpin]

A turbine works best when run at a continuous speed, so if you mated it to a continuously variable transmission system (banned if F1), then you could have a powerful and usable drive system. Don't know what the power would be like compared to standard engines though.

[Leif Snellman]

In a Swedish book about the 1971 season (Ronnie! by Sveneric Erikson/Ronnie Peterson) I found the following about the Jochen Rindt Gedächtnis-Rennen:
"... and Colin Chapman lost a Ford engine and the Pratt & Whitney turbine, that after a rebuild had been promised to stand 1000 hours of racing but now barely managed a single one."
Were P&W actually expecting the components to stand 1000 hours of racing? That seems highly optimistic to me! Any comments?

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Leif Snellman
The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing

[This message has been edited by Leif Snellman (edited 05-19-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Leif Snellman (edited 05-19-2000).]

[Paul Hartshorne]

Was the Pratt & Whitney engine that the 56B used built in Canada?

If so, is it the only Canadian-built engine used in F1?

[Ray Bell]

Does this mean helicopter races are dangerous, with dropouts running at a high level?

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[Falcadore]

Jody Scheckter certianly though helicopters and racers were dangerous. Especially if the racer was Gilles Villeneuve.
yours
Mark Jones
"The impact broke the control arm on the Falcon steering, and the Mountain took the car and flung it casually and contemptously towards a grove of trees that had never been removed, because of the simple expert knowledge that no car could possibly get in there" Bill Tuckey on Dick Johnson, 1983

[Ray Bell]

"Grove of trees..."? What lunatic wrote that?
Poetic licence, journalistic licence, artistic licence - they have their place, but to call a patch of unadulterated Australian bush anything like a "Grove of Trees" is stepping over the boundaries!

Into the scrub -- Into the bush -- Into the dunga -- into the gum trees, any of those, but never a "Grove of Trees"!

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Life and love are mixed with pain...