Re: Drive shaft

Tom Sherman writes:

... They [Corvettes] also do very well in quite a number of
racing categories, though such arguments are always muddied by
the fact that with enough modification and accommodating rules,
lots of cars turn into successful racers.

If the old rules that matched cars in classes for racing by engine
displacement were reinstalled, the Corvette (or any car with a
pushrod engine) would not be competitive. So GM gets 505 hp from a
7.0L engine. Scale up the engine of the Honda S2000 to 7.0L, and
the result would be 840 hp.

Displacement rules are interesting for formula racing categories,
but on the other hand, if displacement rules were reinstated, every
race car would be a rotary (or they'd use the rule that the area
occupied by the rotary's piston counts against its
displacement...). And whither turbines?

So brute size should be rewarded over modern engineering?

Engines rarely scale in any sensible way. There are model aircraft
engines that would put your S2000 motor in the shade,
specific-output-wise.

What about emissions and durability?

A Modern Parable

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (General Motors)
decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams
practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the
race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile. The Americans, very
discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the
crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was
formed

to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was
the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the
American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a
consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second
opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering
the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent
another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure
was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering
superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They
also

implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person
rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the
'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free
pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles,
canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and
bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor
performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and
canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved
was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next
year's racing team was out-sourced to India. Sadly, The End.

Sad, but oh so true! Here's something else to think about: Ford has
spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US,
claiming they can't make money paying American wages. Toyota has
spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside
the US

The last quarter's results:

Toyota makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in
losses. Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

If this wasn't so true it might be funny.

---------------

Jobst Brandt
.

Relevant Pages

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