Robby Gordon 2013

[tinhead]

I'm calling shotgun on the RG FanWagon!

With a California shop, and the one in Charlotte, Robby could build a moon rocket if he wanted to.
It'll be great to see him in the Dakar again, I wonder if anybody will pony up the cash to run his second Hummer, and not that I could afford it but what's the pricetag on that truck?

Future in NASCAR? Dunno and can't guess. One dream would be to see his operation take on sportscar (endurance) racing, imagine how many French he could piss off by winning LeMans.

[Assfault]

Originally Posted by tinhead

I'm calling shotgun on the RG FanWagon!

With a California shop, and the one in Charlotte, Robby could build a moon rocket if he wanted to.
It'll be great to see him in the Dakar again, I wonder if anybody will pony up the cash to run his second Hummer, and not that I could afford it but what's the pricetag on that truck?

Future in NASCAR? Dunno and can't guess. One dream would be to see his operation take on sportscar (endurance) racing, imagine how many French he could piss off by winning LeMans.

Asking price on the #2 Hummer is $1,000,000.
Rental and entry to the Dakar is only $1.500,000.
So you could rent it and do Dakar for 1.5 M
Or just but it outright for 1 M and find your own way into the event or another race.
Good luck, keep us posted on what your gonna do

[Some Dude]

Originally Posted by larryboy

Well, I'd think that some minor HP could be gained by squirting 35 psi into an engine for a couple of seconds. Without putting it on a dyno it's hard to say how much, could be 1 HP or 20?

Really he was DQ'd for telling them they could "KISS MY ASS!!".

While I agree attitude was probably more the culprit of the DQ, I doubt the line pressure at the scavenging orifice on the intake is 35psi and it's definitely insignificant flow. The way I understood it is that the vacuum of the intake was the bigger advantage to deflating the tires just a few seconds quicker. 10-20cfm from a tire deflation system when that engine is probably sucking hundreds of CFM would be insignificant for overall HP

[Turbocelica]

Originally Posted by Some Dude

While I agree attitude was probably more the culprit of the DQ, I doubt the line pressure at the scavenging orifice on the intake is 35psi and it's definitely insignificant flow. The way I understood it is that the vacuum of the intake was the bigger advantage to deflating the tires just a few seconds quicker. 10-20cfm from a tire deflation system when that engine is probably sucking hundreds of CFM would be insignificant for overall HP

Did his system also air up the tires when needed? If so how was that accomplished?

[Kanook]

Originally Posted by crofrog

I love the roost he's throwing at that mini. Take that!

Yeah that was fricken awesome! Miles of room to pass but still took time to show the slower car who's boss. What a stud!

[wrk2surf]

same system the buggies use.. they air up.. and air down.. connected to the rim/tire with hoses.

[larryboy]

Originally Posted by Turbocelica

Did his system also air up the tires when needed? If so how was that accomplished?

Airing up would be off a compressor.

2013 ride:

[larryboy]

Picture of the 2012 car shows the air tank and compressor in the center behind the console:




I'd imagine that there are more air tanks in other places on the rig.

[Turbocelica]

Is it a manual transmission?

[Strong Bad]

Originally Posted by Turbocelica

Is it a manual transmission?

Yes. Albins 6 speed Sequential Transmission. http://www.albinsgear.com.au/index.php

[HardWorkingDog]

Originally Posted by Strong Bad

...Sequential Transmission...

Had to look that up--wow, learned something new. Like a motorcycle transmission, using dogs to shift to the next higher or lower gear. Clutchless shifts possible too.

[Strong Bad]

Originally Posted by HardWorkingDog

Had to look that up--wow, learned something new. Like a motorcycle transmission, using dogs to shift to the next higher or lower gear. Clutchless shifts possible too.

Been around for a long time. In Offroad racing an Albins tranny is commonly linked through a torque converter and NOT through a clutch. You have to start the car in gear and the biggest drawback is you have to shut the car off for going into reverse (off-shift into reverse-start-move back-shut car off-shift into 1st-start car) If you try to shift into first with car running and car stopped it either wont go or it goes and blows the tranny. Likewise with reverse which is the weakest gear in the Albins. The huge advantage is that the torque converter provides a hydraulic damper between the motor and gearbox causing both to last much much longer. However, I digress because Robby uses a clutch. Reverse is still the weak link in an Albins. Drivers say that if you have to use reverse on the race course you already screwed up, so don't get excited and try to jam it into reverse and make things MUCH worse! Clutchless shifts are possible but you need to "blip" the throttle to take the pressure off of the dogs. BTW a tranny like that will set you back about $40K, Robby prolly has 4 or 5 of them in the support trucks.

The really trick trannys are the ones VW used In their Dakar Race Touraegs made by Xtrac. Also sequential, but uses an pneumatic actuator to shift allowing paddle shifters. The system allows a shift in 1/300th of a second, you link it to the ignition system which cuts power for 1/25th of a second and the shift occurs in the middle of all of that lag time.

[klatelm]

i saw a picture of the VW trans and it looked as if there were auxillary motors attached power steerring and other pumps. i'll have to look it up again. I saw in Racecar Engineering Mag 05-06

[dashmoto]

Originally Posted by larryboy

Picture of the 2012 car shows the air tank and compressor in the center behind the console:


I'd imagine that there are more air tanks in other places on the rig.

ISTR someone suggesting last year that all the spare wheels were plumbed in to the system to act as a reservoir.

[larryboy]

Originally Posted by dashmoto

ISTR someone suggesting last year that all the spare wheels were plumbed in to the system to act as a reservoir.

Oh yeah, that's right.

Like my new avatar? It's the artwork off Robby's 2013 Dakar helmet.