Racing Engine questions...

[mjr]

Attention racing fans!!

Ok, first off, how many people who race cars have Wankel engines in their cars?

Second, I'm pretty sure that most (if not all) drag racing classes are standard piston-driven engines (crankshaft, pistons, heads, etc...)

But it got me thinking. How would some of these cars handle a Wankel engine?

For example, in the NHRA, the Top Fuel category. For those not familiar, this is what a Top Fuel engine looks like (sorry about the image size...I couldn't figure out how to make it smaller): (MOD NOTE: Take a look! http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=68897 )

MOD EDIT - Added "WIMG" tag to resize image as a courtesy to others. Click on image to enlarge.



And a Top Fuel engine makes an estimated 10,000 horsepower, or approximately 1,250 horsepower per cylinder.

So I know the NHRA has rules about engine specs, but I do have to wonder if a Wankel could be built that could handle nitromethane and a supercharger at that level...

What do you guys think??

[Bandit]

OH! OH!

I did!

My 2nd Gen RX-7 had a Wankle.

It was always fun taking it out and saying to the wife that I was going to play with my Wankel.

That said, I don't know if you could build a rotary that would work with nitro.

Nitro burns slower than gas, which is good for a rotary as usually they liked the lowest possible octane for full combustion. I don't know if you could build the apex seals strong enough to keep them from blowing up seconds after you started it for the first time.

The other trick would be trying to keep it cool enough from blowing up before the apex seals did. With the Wankel design, the seals in the coolant path are critical - moreso than in a piston design. I found that out thanks to a previous owner and coolant overflow issues, I popped the seals pretty quick in mine.

Now with that picture of a top fuel motor..........I have to leave now.......

B

[dendawg]

Is it just me, or is anybody else reading Wankel as Wanker?

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

I can't remember the magazine the article was in, but I remember reading about a tuning team that turned a RX-7 into a dragster and were running it on nitromethane back in the mid to late 90's.