Brocks technology: Late 70's Australia wasn't quite a technological marvel. In a previous post we mumbled about his gear ratios. 4th seems to provide for him 270km/h at 6000rpm. Either his 4th gear was excessively long, or the rear end ratio is long.
The latter is the more likely of the scenarios. His 308 V8 would've needed quite a clean strong, and long power band from low RPM's through to the high ones in order to run such long gears for the first scenario mentioned. The second is more logical, since it's an endurance race having good acceleration from a stop is not important, thus putting a taller final drive in effectively makes 1st as long as a 2nd gear would be, so your four speed is the same as a 5 speed except missing 1st. Drats, no major advantage there. Still having a 5 speed box won't hurt!
380hp is a lot to try to make for free, one of the 'cheap' ways is to throw boost at it. A bit of a kick in the nuts, or at least a call back to the issues of the R32 GTR on Bathurst, turbo's are a bit of a fuzzy grey area that I'm going to have to learn to live with. Warren and Corey sat me down last night, wired my eyes open, tied me to a chair and barked turbo lingo at me for about 3 hours. the conclusion? Replacement for displacement only works if you keep the cylinder temperatures low.
I'm not a motor builder in any form. I've never been engine oriented, suspension and chassis setup is something I am excited about and excel at, but if I'm going to win, I've got learn. After a wild ride of PSI versus CFM, waste gate tricks, intercooler debates and [ENDLESS LIST]. Although it will be a much more mechanically complicated system than the V8 it may be my only option to achieve my goal. The ideal goal is to focus on cylinder temps. The cooler the cylinder temp can get the more 11's can be cranked up to.
At this point it's all speculation. I've sold a good chunk of my stuff, and at this point I'm about half prepared for the move. It's been a whirl wind of emotion the entire time. I'm so anxious to cut my teeth into that first crack of a bolt it sort of gets in the way of getting things done in preparation to it. I've been up and down emotionally this last week, hope keeps rushing in and out like a tide. One moment I am convinced I can do it, the whole thing, the move, the new job, building a work space, finding a car, sourcing parts, etc etc etc. The next moment I don't even think I could sell my food to a starving rich guy. Eitherway, small steps, each day to get there.
Part of this process is a learning exercise on how to design a big final picture, an end goal, then break it into smaller, chewable chunks. Diesel is not out of the question for a motor. Torque is always a friend that never comes by my house or even calls on holidays, but always welcome. I've made mistakes in the past about what cars I'll end up with. I was certain moving out to the island here that I'd be stuck with a volvo 240 the second I landed on the island, but luckily enough it's been mostly Corollas. Ford Falcon AU models seems to be stalking me in the classified ads quite a bit, and although I'm a bit curiously off put by a 4L inline 6 cylinder, I'm not too out on it, I may even be a little bit in on them.
I dream of a RWD chassis, mind you it's not too terrible, as I will be swapping the entire drive train of what ever I get, a RWD chassis, 'should' be less work to build something RWD from. A FWD car isn't the end of days, but it doesn't suit my driving style at all. AWD is out of the question entirely though. There is no affordable way to build an AWD for two reasons: The extra mechanical complexity in the drive train itself, including differentials. Sub reason: More moving parts to break and/or upgrade. Secondarily the expense of the drivetrain loss of power. Due to the track style, traction on acceleration is not as big of a contributor to lap times as is top speed. Delivering a greater amount of power to 2 wheels will be more beneficial than strong corner exit acceleration with some power loss over the drive train to all the wheels. Weight could be a 3rd consideration as well.
One car pending sale, the other hopefully soon. I will be in your down under soon, lady Australia.
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