Russ and Melissa's Turbo Alky car

[Grumpy]

He claims it leaves on 2 psi of boost yet you can see it's making power trying to light the last beam.

why would he lie about it ?? Obliviously you don't know Russ. Tells it like it is and lets the car do the talking. Hell someone could copy her combo an do nothing with it. Like her old 9.9 runs back in 2007. I am not a fast tuner but I do look at the runs everytime she comes back from making a pass. It is what he said. OH... she brings it to 2#s before she stages. Turbo is building a lot of heat. Then bumps her way in. Launches going forward NOT a kool guy wheelie. She is only foot braking NO trans brake.

[Grumpy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HWBspa9hc0 - Dan does it have travel limiters on the front?

No.. all playing with the suspension .. I bet he picked away at it for 2 or 3 months in 90*+ weather. Having power is one thing but getting it down is something else. I would have set the car on fire at that time. Watching it was a nightmare. Did the kool guy wheelies to.

[Steve Wood]

Looks like she bumps the car to build some heat.  Pretty good trick to not jump out of the lights...then she gets into it when the lights start to move...pretty damn good trick to not move out of the box until it goes green on the tree.

It's easy to see that the boost is low because the car is not twisting and curling up just before or after the light goes green.  Of course some of that is probably due to the TRZ stuff and months of tweaking?

It goes against everything I thought I knew because we spend a lot of time trying to keep the spray from coming on too early and killing the spool by being too rich and therefore "too cool".  He's starting with three nozzles spraying!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Grumpy]

Looks like she bumps the car to build some heat.  Pretty good trick to not jump out of the lights...then she gets into it when the lights start to move...pretty damn good trick to not move out of the box until it goes green on the tree.

Thats why she races with really fast cars. Have to be on your game. Hell out of 16 cars up here she is prob 14th. Oh... thinking here... the sound you hear with her bumping in the light is not her. It's the other guy. Her car is quiet. She runs threw the exhaust.

[Steve Wood]

I wondered if I was hearing her car or the other one...LOL

[1 RARE T]

What I'm saying is that it doesn't appear the car leaves and gets a 1.29 60' on 2 psi.

No-one claimed he's lying, Jesus. 

[Steve Wood]

There is a big difference from leaving at 2 or 3 and what it is actually hitting a few feet off the line.  I suspect it is at full boost long before it hits 60'

[Steve Wood]

I saw someone else post that since he started pouring the alky to it, he was hitting full boost 700 rpm lower than before.

[1 RARE T]

Interesting considering the fear forever that spraying too much alky too early would "drown" the engine.

Is it safe to say that he's running nearly entirely on alky and not gasoline for the 60'? Seems logical. I'd bet the tune is no fuel till 60' out.

[Steve Wood]

I'm not sure it is safe to say anything LOL, but, I would not be surprised to find he is running a lot of timing at launch and mostly alky as you suggest.  Given he is running XFI, he has lots of leeway in how he sets it up.

A few years ago, one of my friends was running mid tens and complaining that he had to turn the alky way up to get a fast pass.  Turned out his fuel pump was virtually dead and he was running on alky most of the run.  No signs of detonation at all....

[1 RARE T]

This is fascinating. 

[Grumpy]

What I'm saying is that it doesn't appear the car leaves and gets a 1.29 60' on 2 psi.

No-one claimed he's lying, Jesus. 

That was her first 1.29 short time.. Normally 1.30/1.33. . Still picking away with the tune. Who knows what would have happened if it didn't rain XFI tuning is endless.. Chip had done it's job for years.

[Grumpy]

Interesting considering the fear forever that spraying too much alky too early would "drown" the engine.

Yes it will....

Is it safe to say that he's running nearly entirely on alky and not gasoline for the 60'? Seems logical. I'd bet the tune is no fuel till 60' out.

No she isn't

[Grumpy]

This is fascinating. 


It is.. Russ picks a little bit at a time. The car does boggle my mind. I never thought it would go like this. Hell I am impressed with a mid/high 9 with a 109 block. The car doesn't look like it belongs in those classes.

[Steve Wood]

Interesting considering the fear forever that spraying too much alky too early would "drown" the engine.

Is it safe to say that he's running nearly entirely on alky and not gasoline for the 60'? Seems logical. I'd bet the tune is no fuel till 60' out.

   It is fascinating and it's not doing it the "conventional" way.  that is what makes it even more interesting to me.

We have no difficulty in accepting those that run E85 but when someone sprays a lot of alcohol and apparently not so much gasoline, it boggles the mind.  Mine at least

I still remember the '60's (probably better than ten years ago) when alcohol cars were popular.  I remember that detonation was not a problem, but, pre-ignition was if we got too far into the advance.  The biggest problem with alcohol was having to flush the heck out of the fuel system to prevent corrosion.  I'm prone to the lazy side and I remember hating alcohol cars for that reason.


From 2003, here are Bamford's EGTs with a PP and a PTE plenum.

cyl#    PTE 70 mm   PTE+PP  EGT's PTE  EGT's PTE+PP 
   1           -56%         -3%     1702            1660  
   3           +36%         -3%     1688            1640
   5           +27%         +2%     1759            1647
   2           -59%         +2%     1736            1704
   4           -2%           +2%     1744            1707
   6           +36%         -2%     1802            1682

For some perverse reason, it always makes me happy to see tests prove the experts wrong    I believe the flow numbers above came from RJC's flow tests.  It looks like Russ is having the same kind of results.

Dan, I see the cam that Russ listed is not extremely wild.  Do you have any idea to a ball park rpm that Melissa is launching at.  I am assuming it is critical to get that size of turbo to start spooling is as much rpm as heat?