As I'm watching NHRA qualifying tonight I find myself wondering why it isn't possible to build an engine load dyno for a top fuel/funny car motor?
If memory serves me correctly, the highest engine load dyno holds about 2500hp. Experts estimate the top fuel cars produce about 6000hp. With the millions of dollars that teams and maufacturers put into R&D for engine parts specific only to the top fuel cars, I wonder why one hasn't been developed yet?
Here's my thoughts:
1. Is it simply against all physics? (Water shear/boiling in load dynos)
2. Budget is nearly unlimited, so why hasn't it been done? Once developed, would it not pay for itself because it's cheaper to simply send the car down the track?
3. What about an inertia dyno linked to the motor through the transmition? This would allow testing of both motor and tranny and the expense of accurate engine torque readings. This also seems to be the simplist solution for testing.
4. The usefulness of it could really make progress because you are eliminating other factors of actually running the car down the track, such as; downforce, parts wear, risk, and overall cost for R&D. You could also use it to test for different variables such as weather.
5. I do understand that the current ET limit for top fuel/funny cars isn't horsepower, it's traction. But watching so many teams throw blower belts, drop cyclinders and grenade motors, I know they could at least benefit from the developement of reliable parts for the future.
If anyone has useful information, please feel free to reply or send me an email. I'm also interested in any web links that have technical articles regarding this topic.
