NoSloVo said:
I have a question about rallying and HP. I know we are all in the quest for more HP and John can arguably have the highest HP volvo in the country (very cool !). ... but ... is more HP better in rallying ?? I mean there must be a point when there is too much HP to the grip of the tires as well as the controlability of the car (the second is probably more so driver). Lets say you have a 300 HP rally 240 vs a 400 HP rally 240 on the same stage. If they are identicle to each other in every other way. Lets say the 400 HP one is spinning its wheels ... throwing dirt all over the place 40% of the time where as the 300 HP cars does this only 15% of the time. Wouldnt the 300Hp car be "faster" in that the traction is more suited towards the track ?
I have been to several rally events ... and have seen certain "low" HP cars do much better than other "high" HP cars and I know more of tthis has to do with the driver. I have seen 350 HP blazers that cant get out of there own way and I have seen 200 HP volvo win stages.
Dont get me wrong .. I am not pooping on the "hail John & Dave" party .... that is an awesome ride... anywhere, any how.... but on the tar I can see HP to the moon (almost) .. but in the dirt ???
... so tell me I am wrong.
-Oskar
To sort of add to John's reply to this, no, you are not wrong. There is only so much power you can put down on a given surface. 90% of the time The Fire Breathing Monster has way more power than it can effectively use on a rally stage. Sometimes there is enough grip to use it, for example on a long straight on a dry stage, and John can just murder everybody there, even the top 4wd cars. There is a long mainline straight on the Wild West rally and they often have a radar gun recording the top speeds for bragging rights. A few years ago John had the fastest speed by something like 10mph over the factory Hyundai of Paul Choiniere, if I'm not mistaken.
Conventional wisdom is that 300-350hp or so is about the limit of what you can effectively put to the ground with a 2wd rallycar (obviously tarmac rallies are another matter.) Anything more than that just results in a really big tire budget. Case in point: on a long 20-something mile stage last summer in the Simpson forest (Simpson roads are notorious tire eaters when its dry) John took a set of barely used medium compound rally tires down to the cords before the end of the stage!
And these are the largest size rally tire available. Still set the 2nd or 3rd fastest stage time, I think. (Correct me if I'm wrong, John.) John's got a bunch of hard compound Pirellis now that hold up well in the hot weather.
Remember, we didn't go out trying to get 600hp or whatever it has out of the thing, it just happened. (Yes, I know, I can see everybody doing this
right now, but it's true.) The V-6 responded very well to being turbocharged. We were hoping for and expecting something more like 250-300hp and would have been happy if that's what we got. But we got closer to twice that, so hey, we'll take it! Every one of you would have done the same thing, I'm sure! I can guarantee you this conversation never took place: "Gee that's too much horsepower. We'll never be able to put that all to the ground!" "Hmm, well gosh, I guess we better put on a smaller turbocharger!"
If you think that then you obviously don't know us very well! :wink:
I think more likely what was said was something like: "Hey, what happens if we give it even MORE boost?!
"
So to answer your question more simply, no you can't always put that much power down, but it's so much fun when you can!
John's a very good and fast driver, but Carl Jardevall is just amazing, a very talented and experienced Swede. The 740 "school bus" that he used to run had 300hp at best and he would clean everybodies clocks with it, usually in the top 5 of any ProRally in amongst the Open class 4wd cars, so that goes to show how much power is really necessary to get the job done. The rest is sheer spectacle and that's what John Lane does the best and gets the most enjoyment out of.
-Dave Clark