"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond)
05/22/2015 at 09:08 • Filed to: None
0
0|
"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond)
05/22/2015 at 09:08 • Filed to: None | 0
| 0 |
I loved unlimited hydroplane racing in my youth. It was all over ESPN’s early days of the 1980’s backed up with aussie rules football and anything else they could find. I didn’t learn until later-while reading an artidle on the builders of Reno racing engines- how much damage this racing did, just like the tractor pulling guys.
Before the change to turbo-shaft helicopter engines, The warbird engines in the U class were running fairly wide open but are very hard to throttle like a modern v8 or v12 in offshore racing classes. Those engines have lightweight internals and can be controlled in choppy waters. An Allison or Merlin engine is designed for constant states of speed and the internals are very very heavy. Their throttle response is very slow. So, rough seas? They just let it run, surging all over the place in rpm so they are on power when in the water.
We can see in this video a mostly smooth day at a vintage day where they took these bad boys out of a museum and ran them around. Great stuff but we can see, especially on board the U-1, the engine exhaust on the big griffon becomes a bit darker whenever it sees a bigger load on the engine. It frequently changes. Not good for bearings on heavy parts.
This is why an overhaul shop of v-12 vintage engines will not touch one of these things if it’s been in a boat or a tractor. It’s been way past redline with shocking loads through the crankshaft applied. But, the post-war oversupply of these things made them relatively cheap throwaway single use units. Tractor pullers and hydroplane pilots used them until they blew up anyway so for the money, it was cheaper to put a new one in. At the time.
Now, there’s not so many engines left.
Have a nice video of the 1980 Miss Budweiser powered by a Rolls Royce Griffon. 2300 cubic inches.