|
"The Soft Head"
I ran across this in the July 1985 issue of HOT ROD.
Larry Widmer of Endyn,743 N.Merril,Duncanville,Texas is described as kind of a Black-ops secret-weapon in the racing world.
Larry's dad,a pioneer in aircraft design and airflow science exposed Larry to a computer "area rule" formula ( area rule was discovered by Dr.Richard T.Whitcomb of NASA,dealing with volume/velocity/area relationships."Coke-Bottling" "Whitcomb-waisting"Area-rule" "Sectional-density" can be used interchangeably to describe the concept.Also,a look at Keppler's law of planetary motion will get your brain warmed up for this.)
The long and the short of the article is that,Larry says forget the manifolds,the action is in the ports of the heads and combustion chamber.
By using his computer modelling and flow bench,Larry was able to design both intake and exhaust ports for high-swirl,lean-burn.
Ports,combustion chamber,valves,piston top are treated as a complete system.
Larry achieved the "homogeneous" mixture Henry "Smokey" Yunick had been working on until his death.
Air/fuel ratios could be leaned to 18:1,with lower exhaust gas temperatures,reduced peak pressures,faster,longer burn,with pressures attained during piston position of maximum mechanical advantage.
Here's the clincher.BSFCs of 0.347 Lbs.BHP-HR are reported.
This is absolutely remarkable for anything but a Hitachi,super-charged two-stroke Diesel operating at 100 rpm aboard a Ro-Ro ship.
Looks like this is where the money is.
|
