While Rick and Chris were working on aero upgrades this weekend, I installed the new beefy prop shaft ratchet and milled out and installed a prop sprocket reinforcement plate.
In 2009 we set out to conclusively answer the following question... Can a vehicle be built which can go directly downwind, faster than the wind (DDWFTTW), powered only by the wind, steady state? On 3 July 2010 we established a world record by going directly downwind at 2.8 times the true wind speed with the Blackbird. Now we have begun to modify the Blackbird with the intention of going directly UP-wind faster than the wind - steady state.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Higher torque upgrades
As we approach and perhaps even exceed 3 times the speed of the wind, we're getting rather twisty on our prop shaft. We're now in the 500-700 ft lb range torque wise and car buffs will note that this is similar to the torque output of a modern supercharged Corvette V8 engine.
While Rick and Chris were working on aero upgrades this weekend, I installed the new beefy prop shaft ratchet and milled out and installed a prop sprocket reinforcement plate.

While Rick and Chris were working on aero upgrades this weekend, I installed the new beefy prop shaft ratchet and milled out and installed a prop sprocket reinforcement plate.