All the EST

[Bob Valentine]

> Now please don't get me wrong, but what is the point of going so ape over an
> EST.  Top fuelers are using Magnetos and runnin' fours.  I see all kind of
> rails at Bandimere speedway (1/4 mile track) that have either stock
> electronic or minimumly modified ignition and the're runnin' sevens.  My
> point is why spend the time, effort and money to design something that won't
> do better that what is out there (cost and performance).  I'm not tryin' to
> be a pessimist, but can someone show me actual quicker quarter mile times or
> dyno tests.

     I agree with what you're saying.   For a drag car you probably don't 
need EST.   But in the real world we don't drive with the gas pedal in 
a binary state.  ;^>

     Part throttle advance and varying engine loads are not a part of a 
drag car, whereas they are on a street driven vehicle.   I'm looking into 
EST since I find the old tune-flog-tune-repeat cycle of setting an 
advance curve to be rather annoying.   It would be much easier to adjust 
it from inside the car.   You can also add modifiers for engine temp or 
other outside factors, something you cannot do with mechanical advance.

    As you pointed out, you can also have detonation control - here's one 
thing that would be good for a drag car, since detonation under boost or 
N20 is _*NOT*_ a good thing!   This can also compensate for varying 
qualities of gas - I know that if I fill up with Mobil, I've got to back 
off the advance so I don't ping, whereas the same grade of other 
gasolines DOES detonate.   

> PS Let the comments begin.

     Thank god this is a list and not a newsgroup... otherwise I would be 
advising you to get some abestos undershorts!

                     -->   Bob Valentine  <--  
                    --> ravalent at liii.com  <--  
            "Hard Acceleration Saves Costly Aggravation"