ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
(OP)
I'm doing historical research on drag racing and wonder if anybody recalls the magazine and issue in which the late Roger Huntington first published his "dream wheel" empirical equations for estimating a cars ET and MPH its WT and HP, ie:
MPH = 225*(HP/WT)^(1/3)
ET = 6.29*(WT/HP)^(1/3)
...CAR LIFE magazine has been mentioned, but it's out of business and back-issues impossible to locate.
MPH = 225*(HP/WT)^(1/3)
ET = 6.29*(WT/HP)^(1/3)
...CAR LIFE magazine has been mentioned, but it's out of business and back-issues impossible to locate.





RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
Norm
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
...I actually wrote to him once about his articles, but he sadly passed away before I could ask all the questions I had rolling around in my head.
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
Wasn't Roger the guy who predicted that no wheel-driven dragster could ever run in the 8's or go faster than ~160 MPH, because the coef. of friction would have to exceed 1.0? Maybe it was someone else--was a long time ago.
"When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber."
Winston Churchill
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
I'm need to know what magazine and issue he first published those equations so that I can "credit" him in my paper.
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
I first saw this article in Rod & Custom magazine which I still have somewhere. My friends dad made up a blueprint of the curve and gave me a copy of it. I have looked at that blueprint since Jan. 1958 which I think is the month of the publication (probably read it in December of 1957).
Hope this helps.
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
Anyway, I dug up the "How To Build A Hot Rod" publication and couldn't find it there (although it did present some work involving gearing, engine torque, tire radius, and weight). Now I'm wondering just where I did see it.
Norm
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
I haven't saved many of my old car magazines, but this one was always special.
Reading some of the other articles from back then reminded me of the sense of adventure of high performance cars for the everyday guy. This article did that for me. Today, awesome engine performance is almost an everyday occurance and the seemingly hidden "laws of performance" are held by fewer of the everyday enthusiast and more and more by the professional team.
Time to join a "Team", I guess.
Regards
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
Did you also read HOT ROD MAGAZINE circa 8/73, 11/73. 3/74 and/or HOT ROD YEARBOOK No. 14? especially the "Auto Shop" articles: "Basic Engine Physics & Math", "Drag Strip Dyno", "Header Science" and "Budget-Building the MOPAR 318."
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
But how do we communicate without including email addresses or phone numbers? I'm in Northern California. Let me know what you want me to do.
Doug.
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
If it helps either of you, I almost certainly have the '73 and '74 magazines (but not the 14th Yearbook). Just PM or e-mail me through www mustangforums com (you'll probably have to register first).
Norm
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
As for those HOT ROD articles, I'm the author...and "Drag Strip Dyno" was *my* attempt at a physics-based empirical equation for estimating 1/4-mile MPH & ET against vehicle HP & WT.
At the time, I didn't know of Huntington's article, so I was basically "re-inventing" his work, but I did know about H&H Racing's phamphlet with equations, and had collected lots of NHRA MPH and ET numbers to work with. Much later, I came across Dr. Geoffrey Fox's article which verified the basis of Huntington's equations.
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
In aviation studies doubling the HP does not double the speed. A helpful group in planes is max speed divided by the square root of power. This rates the 'efficiency' of power to produce speed. Of course weight, drag and other parameters are buried in the group.
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
...now, comes the question of "how to" get it done?
...since WE'RE both 'electrical' maybe a "common" external website will help? -- have you ever looked over some of the offerings at PENTODE PRESS? Some of my vacuum tube articles are posted there under "Vacuum Tube Archeology" and the AUTHOR page has a hotlink to my home e-mail.
...FWIW Jeff Lucius' STEALTH316 website has a separate page ("1/4-mile and HP") on these equations entitled: "Calculators for 1/4-Mile ET & MPH vs. HP and Weight."
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
The only 'math' equations in the 1963 Hot Rod Publication's "How to Build a Hot Rod" are simple power/weight and speed/gear ratio stuff by OCee Ritch. (I still have a copy).
Doug,
I do recall the "mystery math" from Huntington in the late 50's as I started drag racing my 49 Merc gasser in '58 and read all that I could on the subject. If I can still remember that far back, we, the engineering school hot rod fraternity, thought it a bunch of 'hogwash'...I still do.
Rod
RE: ET & MPH vs. WT/HP equations?
...although Huntington does NOT specifically mention his empirical equation in the article, ie: MPH = 224*(HP/WT)^(1/3), backsolving the graph and example car values, yields his approximated equation.
...interestingly, when a POWER regression analysis is applied to the example values, this is the result:
MPH = 235.85*(HP/WT)^(0.3523) ...with R^2 = 0.9995
...values commonly used today...but Roger's number crunching was done on a slide-rule, not a home computer!