Ram Air Induction?
09-14-2008, 08:36 AM
#26
Senior Member
RE: Ram Air Induction?
Superchargers are specifically prohibited in AMA control line speed and racing. I have talked with a couple of the CL speed guys about the idea of a tuned intake and they were not much interested.
09-14-2008, 09:20 AM
#27
Senior Member
RE: Ram Air Induction?
Speaking of CL speed/racing guys.
Back in the 60s-70s this area was one of the most successful in Speed. A lot of the US records in all classes were held by guys from around here. I helped run a number of contests where they ran. I also flew rats, slowrats, and Goodyears. The guys who tested tuned intakes found there was virtually no power to be gained. Some found that having a set of intakes did help to keep from losing power on days with "bad" density altitude conditions, but none of them seemed to believe there was any way to dependably increase power up front. You might have to follow internal improvements that did increase power with changes up front, but that was about the extent of it.
Control line operation provides one of the BEST testing environments that a modeler can every hope to have. When those boys tested something, they actually had a hope of telling if it really worked or not. All they needed was a stopwatch and decently consistent proceedures. And if they kept up with density altitude, they could actually compare results over a long test series.
The good/bad thing about R/C is that it's an awful test environment. So if you want to think what you're doing is helping, ain't no way anyone can show it isn't.
Back in the 60s-70s this area was one of the most successful in Speed. A lot of the US records in all classes were held by guys from around here. I helped run a number of contests where they ran. I also flew rats, slowrats, and Goodyears. The guys who tested tuned intakes found there was virtually no power to be gained. Some found that having a set of intakes did help to keep from losing power on days with "bad" density altitude conditions, but none of them seemed to believe there was any way to dependably increase power up front. You might have to follow internal improvements that did increase power with changes up front, but that was about the extent of it.
Control line operation provides one of the BEST testing environments that a modeler can every hope to have. When those boys tested something, they actually had a hope of telling if it really worked or not. All they needed was a stopwatch and decently consistent proceedures. And if they kept up with density altitude, they could actually compare results over a long test series.
The good/bad thing about R/C is that it's an awful test environment. So if you want to think what you're doing is helping, ain't no way anyone can show it isn't.
09-15-2008, 10:34 AM
#29
Senior Member
RE: Ram Air Induction?
ORIGINAL: JohnW
For testing, you can use onboard telemetry with R/C.
For testing, you can use onboard telemetry with R/C.
That certainly is amazing new stuff isn't it.
It should be considered however, that the pitot location, orientation at that location, and stability of the installation will all cause problems with the accuracy and repeatability of the data gathered. The fullscale guys are often driven to distraction by those problems on their birds. Of course, they are after repeatable accuracy, dependability actually, and the data in their environment can kill people if it's not reliable.
The speed recording device certainly would be a good thing for relative comparisons if the user knew how to position it. It'd be interesting to see how accurate it is in use. Of course, how would a modeler actually be able to accurately judge that.
