Quote:
Originally Posted by ckouba  Clearly someone with TOO much time on their hands. Maybe he should try building a 40... |
That Jet Bug is really just a clown car....
Sorry guys, but it's all for show... The power numbers he is talking about don't translate into what we generally think of as acceleration.
Jet engines make thrust. Unless you are moving really fast, they really don't make much power. Now if he was already going 300 mph, he would be making the 1300+hp that he claims, but in the real world he isn't.
If we take the typical torque of a small block (about 350 ft lbs) and multipy it by the gear ratio of the rear end and the tranny (2.97X3.42), then (assuming that the rear tire radius is about a foot, which is close enough), we get a thrust at the tire of about 3500 pounds. That is the thrust that a typical Corvette makes in first gear....
The jet engine here will only make about 750 pounds of thrust, enough to accelerate the VW (which with the jet engine and driver, weighs about 3,100 pounds) at about 1/4 of a g, or about as well as a Corvette would accelerate in third or fourth gear.... So if this guy shuts off the normal engine and lights it off, he is going to accelerate like a vette in fourth gear..... It will keep accelerating like that until it is going really fast, but in any kind of a drag race it wouldn't be very exciting. Even with both engines running he won't start to gain on a Corvette until the Vette hit fifth gear....
So, enjoy the afterburner fireball, and all these people can talk about big power, but we know better, it's just a clown car..... And if he wants to race, do it for a quarter of a mile and you will kill him.