A fan debate

mad_machine said:

BrokenYugo said:

Stampie said:

In reply to MrJoshua :

We're already ahead of you but way more redneck. 

Box fan running on an inverter? 

2 stroke leaf blower engine running a box fan?

Firefighters have something like that for getting the smoke out of burning houses, looks like an old mechanical radiator fan direct driven off a Honda horizontal shaft engine. 

If you want to really move some air on the cheap get the blower out of an old furnace and put an engine on it, just be mindful of overspeeding the squirrel cage. Leaving them electric they also make a great work fan in the summer

You're overdoing the weight savings. Skip a couple cheeseburgers and you'll save more weight. An electric fan makes the car more likely to survive the event. No need to be on the bleeding edge of cooling unless you've somehow shaved every other ounce possible, which I seriously doubt.

I've never heard of a team specifically trying to win the "Most Spectacular Failure" award, but there's always a first.

Seriously though, like was said, a slimline electric fan doesn't really hurt the weight and it makes things easier for the autocross.

If you want to move weight, move the radiator to the rear and build a duct for it.  Done.

Thought this would be about NASCAR vs F1 vs IndyCar or circle track vs road course fans. 

Got an update for everyone. We let the car idle for about 20 minutes before it started creeping up on temp. Right before it got too high we did the leaf blower and within a couple of minutes it came down to operating temp. I think we're good to go. 

In reply to Stampie :

Yep. All you gotta do is have Asa ride in front of you on the autocross on a bicycle with that leaf blower. 

dculberson said:

You're overdoing the weight savings. Skip a couple cheeseburgers and you'll save more weight. An electric fan makes the car more likely to survive the event. No need to be on the bleeding edge of cooling unless you've somehow shaved every other ounce possible, which I seriously doubt.

This, it's absolutely not worth it. Without the fans, the only ways the car can cool itself is by driving (gently) at speeds you'll rarely hit in a parking lot, or by sitting turned off for a long, long time.

Edit: Or I guess your F1 leafblower...

Edit2: I think this might take the record for "silliest thing I've ever seen done with radiator fans" from a local rally driver who has such a ridiculously huge budget that he got CF radiator fan housings fabricated

Moving the radiator to the rear will run into all kinds of airflow problems.    I've seen it tried on various ice racing cars.

Air flow at the back is a lot different than at the front.