Quote:
Originally Posted by MagicRat
This is an excellent observation, and one I missed entirely.
I am absolutely no expert on this, but I suspect there were other factors at work which improved the speed. The salt flats are less predictable than the drag strip. These guys may have tuned other things between runs, such as suspension set up, downforce, shift points etc to maximize the potential of the car. It's also possible the faster run could have occurred during more favorable weather conditions.
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Agree with you, Magic Rat. There most certainly had to have been other factors at play, "tweaks" made to the car, (particularly to aerodynamic trim - drag/downforce - as one goes up or down, so does the other).
Another factor that I overlooked, which makes a HUGE difference, is wind speed/direction. With all other variables the same, a headwind (and to a lesser degree, a tailwind), can change my dragstrip speed by +/- 5 MPH. And Density Altitude, (Air Quality, with regard to Temp, Humidity, and Barometric Pressure), has a MAJOR effect on Horsepower output. I assumed they factored the DA into their HP calculations, but perhaps not...