Drive By Wire

[Ed Wright]

Jeff, that's a rev limiter. There is one for each gear. Rev limiters for park, neutral and reverse are normally set much lower than forward gears. The computer is cutting the fuel injectors off & on over and over. Makes that wop wop sound.

[darkside]

Stupid questin but don't some of the FI cars even have a laptop in them hooked up when they run?

[Ed Wright]

Not supposed to. If you have time to screw with a lap top during a pass, you have a really slow car! lol

[Dgal]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Not supposed to. If you have time to screw with a lap top during a pass, you have a really slow car! lol

My buddy said he would text you whether or not he should take the stripe. Any truth to that?

He said not to talk about the starting line incident in Noble. He is still in therapy.

Don

[Ed Wright]

Your buddy is defective, you know that right?

[Dgal]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Your buddy is defective, you know that right?

Yes I do! That is why we get along so well.

Don

[Larry Hill]

Does anyone think that Kevin Cour added 900 lbs to his car to slow it down .9 of a second to run Fletcher second round? According to "Live Timing" Cour was on a high 9.60's run @ 138+ Mph when he ran Norton first round. Second round Cour dials 10.57 and runs 10.562. Compare the two runs and '60 ft. is only down .096 on the on 10.562 run. Maybe they took 90 hp. from the engine on tune up, if they did it would not 60 ft. with a .1 of a second from the high 9.60s run. What I think happened the ECM was programmed to open throttle, at let's say 75% at the hit and run at, let's pick a number, 57% the rest of the run. His 60ft was quicker on the 10.562 run than on the 10.531 run in qualifying.

If NHRA would change the rule to "No drive by wire", a lot of the temptation would be removed. Anytime you have a computer controlling the air supply to the engine, the driver is just along for the ride. The fix would be a cable from the accelerator to the throttle shaft on one side and a throttle positioning sensor to tell the computer what it's position is. As opposed to programming the computer and letting it operate the throttle plates to trace a previous run.

Billy, I read the 2009 rulebook and you are right. Either the Fords didn't go by the rules or NHRA turned a blind eye.

For me personally, I want redundancy (a return spring) in closing the throttle. Just in case something goes wrong.

[Jeff Teuton]

The 2011 Challenger V10 has removed the DBW throttle, in favor of manual bodies with a cable. Don't know if that was mandated or voluntarily done. I don't know what they are going to do about the 2012 Drag Pak.

[Sean Cour]

Originally Posted by Larry Hill

Does anyone think that Kevin Cour added 900 lbs to his car to slow it down .9 of a second to run Fletcher second round? According to "Live Timing" Cour was on a high 9.60's run @ 138+ Mph when he ran Norton first round. Second round Cour dials 10.57 and runs 10.562. Compare the two runs and '60 ft. is only down .096 on the on 10.562 run. Maybe they took 90 hp. from the engine on tune up, if they did it would not 60 ft. with a .1 of a second from the high 9.60s run. What I think happened the ECM was programmed to open throttle, at let's say 75% at the hit and run at, let's pick a number, 57% the rest of the run. His 60ft was quicker on the 10.562 run than on the 10.531 run in qualifying.

If NHRA would change the rule to "No drive by wire", a lot of the temptation would be removed. Anytime you have a computer controlling the air supply to the engine, the driver is just along for the ride. The fix would be a cable
from the accelerator to the throttle shaft on one side and a throttle
positioning sensor to tell the computer what it's position is. As opposed to
programming the computer and letting it operate the throttle plates to trace
a previous run.


Billy, I read the 2009 rulebook and you are right. Either the Fords didn't go by the rules or NHRA turned a blind eye.

For me personally, I want redundancy (a return spring) in closing the
throttle. Just in case something goes wrong.

Larry, the satellite Ford Motor Company launched into space a couple years ago, has a direct link to the CJ's PCM. Why do you think these cars are numbered? It's so the racers can access NASA's digital link through the TPS. That's why the Mustangs have fiberglass hoods. The signal would not be able to be transmitted through metal.