Matt Shumaker: Too much power?

Matt Shumaker did some more testing with his car early this morning, this is what he has to say:

Oh, I just got in from some test running at 6AM before traffic built up on the road. I have come to a very interesting conclusion-------------- It is indeed possible to have too much horsepower. I am up to 4.54 HP (I keep squeazing a tiny bit more here and there) and the car just won't hook in the distance I have to work with. I ramp the car up to 85mph, then sqeeze the throttle and the tires smoke. They don't just spin, they SMOKE! I also ran off the road twice and rolled the car. One roll gave me over 18Gs of load! I torn off the chin spoiler on my body in one wreck. That is fine because I want to lengthen it for more nose downforce and I will make Lexan side dams that are larger than my CF dams for more rear downforce. These changes are needed for more traction and more straight line stability. I also need to get my high end gyro fixed. This gyro is not happy above 100 and my steering "Feel" goes completely away at that speed. My other gyro never felt vague as this one does at super high speed.

Anyway, this top speed thing is really alot harder than it looks. I know I have the horsepower and aerodynamics for EXTREMELY high speed, but I am overpowering my street and even my radio. My Eagle Tree is picking up alot of glitches even though they are not coming through my ESC and servo.

At any rate, the driveline held up, the power system held up, the chassis and all other components help up fine. I just need to get he power to the ground and regain my straight line tracking.

Oh, have been nervous to run the car on this street with so much power, weight and speed. That is a problem as well. I need a better place to run.

Matt

I wonder if there really is too much power. I don't really think so. Its just a matter of getting all that power to the ground. I am not going to let this distract me from my testing.