A lesson in torque

[98SVT - was 06GT]

It's simple but expensive

[deathsled]

That looks visible to me. And rather intense.

[FL SAAC]

Holy crxp!

[Side-Oilers]

Excellent photos.  Should be on the cover of an engine build-up book "Torque 101."

Wonder what vehicle those parts were on, and how much twisting power it took to produce the results.   

In the mid '80s, when Top Fuel and Funny Cars were making leaps in power and elapsed times, I interviewed Larry Minor, the owner/driver of the McDonald's Top Fueler. We got to talking about the recent increases in power, and how to get it across to the reader in a way that is most understandable, other than just quoting trap speeds.

He laughed and said "here's one for ya."  He told me that they'd been using their previous-season Top Fuel dragster race engines in his flat bottom drag boats for years, and they're crazy fast, if you can hang onto them. 

But, just a few weeks previous, they bolted-in the previous season's championship-winning Top Fuel engine in the same boat. At Lake Havasu, the instant Larry flat-footed the throttle, it twisted the driveshaft in half.  That's what I put in the article.

TORQUE:  My most favorite mechanical thing.