Any Merlins left for a speed record ?

Many things affect here, prop, engine output, wingloading, aerodynamics ( drag, wingfoil, cross section, geometry of things etc. ), overall cleaness of the design and most of all pilot skills.

Very interesting to know is that Mustang had lot less wingloading than Me-109 or FW 190D and thus it had a good range ( fuel economy ). Also large prop and radiator design + wingfoil ( laminar ) affected and good drop tanks….charger and carburettor….100 octane fuel….smaller cubature engine…

James D,

Power to weight ratio is important.

WW II fighters were 1000 to 2 800 hp and weighed 2500 to 10 000 kilos.

Racers are typically 3000 – 5000 kilos and produce 2 500 – 4 500 hp.

There is a big change in the ratio.

Thanks, but my question was – does all up weight hinder top speed?
Racers are light, presumably because they need to go round corners and accelerate out of them. Might not be an issue if you only want top speed?

Just wondering!

Are you mixing up the TS II and “Roadrunner” ? I added an older R3-A…the original design and a new 2-seater version ( just in case a customer needs a jet pilot to teach how to fly the vehicle ).

No definitely TS II, reason being that the horizontal stab looks to be set at a height where there would be the possibility of at least partial if not full tailplane blanking at certain AoA, i have a reasonable grasp on aerodynamics but i could be wrong.

im not sure if it was tsunami, but i remember that it crashed, had a problem with the prop or something

Red Baron

Hang a contra prop Griffon off both ends, a la Dornier 335!:diablo:

Just wondering – how big a role does weight play? Sure it will hinder acceleration, but what about top speed?

James D,

Power to weight ratio is important.

WW II fighters were 1000 to 2 800 hp and weighed 2500 to 10 000 kilos.

Racers are typically 3000 – 5000 kilos and produce 2 500 – 4 500 hp.

There is a big change in the ratio.

Hang a contra prop Griffon off both ends, a la Dornier 335!:diablo:

Just wondering – how big a role does weight play? Sure it will hinder acceleration, but what about top speed?

No Tsunami was explained here before..it had a flap problem while returning from the races.

MA II had apparent structural failure…which may have resulted due to prop governor failure AFAIK.

Pond Racer was destroyed due to engine fire and dangerously installed valve.

Super Corsair had fire too but pilot parachuted safely.

Those are very rare incidents…unfortunately most of them fatal especially happened to scratch built racers.

im not sure if it was tsunami, but i remember that it crashed, had a problem with the prop or something

At present only Precious Metal…if I am not mistaken also Miss Ashley II had contra unit and Lear Jet wings and elevator.

which was the P51 based racer that had a griffon with contra props?

there were videos of it posted on here sometime ago i think

Dont look to much differant to the Miss Ashley

http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&rlz=1T4TSEA_en-GBGB304GB304&q=Mustang%20miss%20ashley&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

Gary Lewitz’s naca scooped Miss Ashley has some similarities.

The main difference in all my designs vs. WW II byrds is that my kites are much much smaller. Ts II was different than the one on top.

And here I think you have your answer. Tsunami was sadly lost in a fatal accident not exactly related to it´s design (IIRC) but it failed miserably to live up to it´s designers hopes on the race course. The above is from memory since I was heavily interested in Reno racers in 1990-1998, so I might have something wrong.

When RareBear got the 528 MPH world record, I remember reading at the time, that this was just as fast as any piston engined aircraft was likely to go due to propeller efficency at high speed. Now, I´m not an expert on these things, but I think your first stop would be to design a propeller that can cope with such high speeds, have it installed on RareBear and have a go at the 528 MPH record. If she betters it with your propeller, then design a new aircraft behind the prop and smash the record in a big time.

At the end of the day, all such record attemts need to have a supurb engine running great. As has been seen with RareBear, that is not always the case. Getting the right combination of engine, airframe and propeller is going to empty your wallet really, really fast. And when you think you have got it just right for the big day, one of the three is going to let you down big time!

If you have the time, energy and a bottomless pit of money, go for it. Be prepare for a big disappointment though. Messing around with an unknown airframe, unknown engine and unknown propeller is going to be expensive!

I also think this has a change, but like I stated above…far beyond my purse’s cubature !

I recall Tsunami did one pass at 541 mph in Reno while trying for the 3 km record.

Tailplane blanking by the main wing at certain AoA looks like a real possibility

Are you mixing up the TS II and “Roadrunner” ? I added an older R3-A…the original design and a new 2-seater version ( just in case a customer needs a jet pilot to teach how to fly the vehicle ).

Do you mean the visibility at high AoA approach ?

Tailplane blanking by the main wing at certain AoA looks like a real possibility

And here I think you have your answer. Tsunami was sadly lost in a fatal accident not exactly related to it´s design (IIRC)

Galdri,

Tsunami was lost when the flaps (driven from a single flap jack) were selected down and the tie rod on one flap failed causing a massive and ultimately cataustrophic roll input close to the ground.

Cheers,

C6

It is a Mustang concept with all ammo and guns away…like Tsunami was.

And here I think you have your answer. Tsunami was sadly lost in a fatal accident not exactly related to it´s design (IIRC) but it failed miserably to live up to it´s designers hopes on the race course. The above is from memory since I was heavily interested in Reno racers in 1990-1998, so I might have something wrong.

When RareBear got the 528 MPH world record, I remember reading at the time, that this was just as fast as any piston engined aircraft was likely to go due to propeller efficency at high speed. Now, I´m not an expert on these things, but I think your first stop would be to design a propeller that can cope with such high speeds, have it installed on RareBear and have a go at the 528 MPH record. If she betters it with your propeller, then design a new aircraft behind the prop and smash the record in a big time.

At the end of the day, all such record attemts need to have a supurb engine running great. As has been seen with RareBear, that is not always the case. Getting the right combination of engine, airframe and propeller is going to empty your wallet really, really fast. And when you think you have got it just right for the big day, one of the three is going to let you down big time!

If you have the time, energy and a bottomless pit of money, go for it. Be prepare for a big disappointment though. Messing around with an unknown airframe, unknown engine and unknown propeller is going to be expensive!

Dont look to much differant to the Miss Ashley

http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&rlz=1T4TSEA_en-GBGB304GB304&q=Mustang%20miss%20ashley&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

the wing looks too far forward to me…

Wing is highly swept ( less than in a Roadrunner )…but you may be right..I don’t have BoM based calculations of it.

Can see a potential for less than favourable AoA characteristics on Tigershark II

Do you mean the visibility at high AoA approach ?

Fascinating! Can we have a pic of the Roadrunner in plan?

Reminds me a little of the Bugatti racer –

I am flattered.

No I drew the new sketch last nite…but we could in the future.

For TS II I made model few years ago.

the wing looks too far forward to me…

I have been sketching several different racer or record attempt planes in the Nevada based site www.aafo.com.

I have two designs that if thoroughly investigated, built and engineered could come out as winners.

Naturally this is way beoynd my budget, but is there anyone with a spare Merlin and means to take the second step on either of these designs ? They are a for large part team work with online people at aafo.com.

Do you want to know more about them ?

For comparison also a F8F-2 is drawn beside them ( Rare Bear we all know right ? ).

Can see a potential for less than favourable AoA characteristics on Tigershark II

If we are talking about the Piston Engined World Speed Record then I thought that Rare Bear still held that at 528mph. Dago Red has the fastest ever lap at Reno.

pretty sure its dago red mustang from reno

and its over 500mph not quite sure though