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Trip Report
June 13, 1962 Reference To: XXX From: L. H. Williams
Subject: Turbine Race Car Trip Report, Indianapolis Speedway The following report covers the period from April 12 to
May 25. During this period, the John Zink Trackburner race car was completed and
shakedown tests were made in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The car was transported to the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway where it attempted and failed to turn lap speeds
sufficiently high to enter the 1962 Memorial Day Race. The tanks were completed April 18. Final assembly of the car began April 2l
and the engine made its first start on April 25. Page 2 Monroe shocks were used front and rear and were also used to support the coil
spring suspension. A second problem concerned the use of white gas as a fuel. We had trouble with vapor lock producing flameouts and no starts. Changing over to JP-4 eliminated these problems and JP-4 was used from then on. Saturday, April 28th was used to conduct a development program on the throttle linkage. Various positions of the back pressure valves and systems of springs and linkages were tried to give the foot throttle the best "feel" possible. One final system was established which allowed the driver to operate the foot throttle but it was still not as smooth an operation as the throttle on a piston engine. Further testing at the track revealed a further deficiency of the waste gate system. It was impossible to unload enough horsepower with the waste gate fully open to prevent the car from coming into the turns too fast. A change was made here to operate with the gas producer governor alone and
eliminate the waste gate entirely. Acceleration time from idle (15,000 rpm) to
rated (38,000 rpm) was 7 seconds. Page 3 In a short period of time, the driver (John Zink) learned to anticipate the power requirements and was turning lap speeds faster than he had ever done with the waste gate system. During the learning period, he made 15-20 trips into the field surrounding the track before he found the optimum point at which to stand on the pedal. Coming on too soon would produce the power before the driver had the car set up for the straightaway. During this period work was done on the chassis and suspension to determine optimum spring ratio, shock absorber setting, sway bar rate, amount of cross weight to be cranked into the suspension, roll center setting and other items that control the handling in the turns. This is a difficult process at best since changing any one of the above influences the others. The major problem remaining was the engine running out of fuel with about 20 gallons left in the tanks. Relocating the fuel pick up outside on the right hand tank solved this. This was the last testing to be done prior to leaving for the Speedway. It was while conducting these tests to determine the minimum amount of fuel left in the tank before flame out that the accident occurred (May 2nd). Jack lost it like he’d done many times before but this time, before he had the car back under control, he hit a small drainage ditch in one corner of the field. The car rolled over a least once tearing off the right rear wheel assembly and extensively damaging the chassis and body. Jack suffered a concussion and facial lacerations and was taken to the hospital. During one roll, the car landed on the exhaust collector forcing the nozzle ring against the second stage wheel. The wheel was rubbing when the car was loaded on the trailer. Following the roll over, there was an oil fire on the nozzle box where oil had run out of the breather tube. Fortunately there was no fuel fire even though one fuel tank had been ripped open on top. There was partial evidence that the foot throttle had been held down during the accident. The output tachometer tell-tale showed 8000 and both rear axle half shafts were twisted. The next four days were spent completely rebuilding the car. All drive line, steering, and suspension components were magnafluxed. Sections of the frame were rebuilt and all badly damaged car parts were purchased new. The engine was disassembled and visually inspected. The only damage was some metal build up in the nozzle ring wheel shroud where the second stage wheel had rubbed. This was ground off and the engine reassembled with .017 inch second stage wheel clearance. The compressor case Marman clamp was damaged and later replaced. The car was then checked out on the ranch track late Sunday evening, May 6th, with Jack again driving. Every thing functioned satisfactorily so the car was put back on the trailer and delivered to the Indianapolis Speedway.
The car arrived Tuesday morning and spent the day going through tech inspection. Only minor problem was lack of penetrant inspection papers on the engine. The car got out on the track late in the afternoon and got in three laps before the track closed down. This was the first time Dan Gurney had seen or driven the car. During the week of April 28th, Gurney had passed his drivers test using the John Zink Trackburner No. 72. This is a conventional roadster with a four cylinder Meyer Drake engine. After passing his test, he flew to Monaco where he raced a factory Porsche. He arrived back at the Speedway the same day the turbine arrived. Gurney’s best time Wednesday with the 300 HP setting was 128 mph. His best time with the 375 HP setting was 143 mph. This was with a 3.63 rear end ratio. That night the rear end ratio was dropped to 3.78 and the acceleration time reduced to 5 seconds (19,000 to 39,000). This failed to produce any decrease in lap times and it was becoming apparent that Gurney was losing confidence in the car. He felt that with practice he could pick up another 2 or 3 miles per hour but that he could never overcome the acceleration lag when driving in traffic. This conclusion was reached after racing with several other top cars (Troy Ruttman in the Jim Robbins Special and Eddie Sacks in the Dean Van lines Special) He then left us to drive a rear engine Buick for Mickey Thompson. He qualified the Buick at 147 the following Sunday and then left for Holland to race in the Formula 1 Zandsvort race. Duane Carter next expressed interest in the turbine. After two days of practice, Friday and Saturday, he had the car up to 142 mph. Duane is one of the older more reliable Speedway drivers and was most helpful in comparing the car’s performance to the conventional roadsters. Although Gurney was faster through the turns (138 mph versus 128 mph for Duane), Duane’s ability to get back on the throttle sooner resulted in both drivers turning comparable lap speeds. Duane’s top speed on the straight was 167 mph versus 155 for Gurney. The Offys will turn 170-175 mph on the straights. As it appeared, we had gone as fast as we were going to go without the waste gate, it was decided to install the linkage so that when the waste gate was opened, the gas producer would drop back to some predetermined rpm. The setting for this intermediate rpm was controlled from the dash. The setting generally ran from 33 to 37,000 rpm, depending on the driver. This of course still left us with a 1 to 1-1/2 second acceleration lag. Gurney was prevailed upon to give the turbine one more try but by now he had been turning qualifying speeds with the Buick and was not too anxious to run the turbine. He turned a few laps in the 130’s and claimed the waste gate showed no improvement. He also felt the car was underpowered as evidenced by his lack of top speed in the straights.
Duane drove the car the rest of the day but could only get up to 140 mph average lap speed, (160 mph top speed). By now it was becoming apparent that the track temperature was beginning to make itself felt on the engine horsepower. The temperature along side of the track that day was 98 deg. F. In order to have a car in the race, Zink put Carter in the Zink roadster that he qualified at 145.8 mph. As luck would have it, the crankshaft broke halfway through the last lap dropping his lap speed from 146.8 to 144 mph. With Carter qualified, we once again had no driver for the turbine. Monday morning, Bill Cheesbourg stopped by and offered his services in getting the car up to qualifying speed. Bill had driven the Offenhauser powered rear engine car built by Zink the year before and is enthused about the future of rear engine cars at the Speedway. He was under contract to drive the Novi (supercharged V-8) but the car was in the garage being modified. As it appeared that the Novi would not be ready in time to attempt a qualification run the second weekend, Bill spent the next four days driving the turbine. He made a number of recommendations that improved the speed through the corners. On Tuesday, he turned in one lap at 145 mph and was consistently turning laps at 144 mph. The temperature alongside the track that day was 88 deg. F. His top speed during the 145 mph run was still only 163. Wednesday and Thursday the temperature rose to 97 deg F and the lap speed dropped to 143 mph. Bill’s speed through the first and third corners was as fast as the Offys but his time down the straight away was fully half a second slower. Late Thursday, Bill left us to drive the second of the Buicks, which he also had been checking out during he week. He ran the car into the wall but escaped unhurt. Before crashing he was turning about 143 mph lap speed. Thursday night the writer left for Dearborn, Michigan, to give a talk on the progress of the "Trackburner". The talk was given at the Society of Automotive Engineers (S.A.E.} Midwest Regional meeting. The talk was apparently well received and much interest was expressed in the car and proceedings at the Speedway. Mr. C. L. Bouchard, Manager, Ford Gas Turbine Department took Mr. Vincent Moore and myself on a tour through their gas turbine facilities before the meeting. By now, it appeared that the second Zink car was in danger of being bumped from the starting line-up so it was decided to give the turbine one more try with Duane Carter driving. A call to Seattle confirmed the use of another 1000 rpm for the gas producer. That night the gas producer was turned up to 40,000 rpm.
Saturday was a scorcher. The temperature in the pits was 105 deg F. The track temperature was 141 deg F, the highest ever recorded on the Speedway. The inlet air temperature must have been 115-120 deg F. The best Duane could turn was 143, lap speed. We did get some times on the car at different sections of the track. In spite of his low top speed, his elapsed time down the straight way was comparable to the Offys. His time through turns 1 and 3 were also the equivalent of the Offys but where he appeared to be losing was through turns 2 and 4. His times here were about ½ second slower than the Offys. This can only be attributed to the 1 ½ second acceleration lag. It appears that it’s impossible for a man to get back on the throttle before the chassis feels secure in a turn. Sunday was almost as hot as Saturday so the car remained in the garage and that was the end of qualifications. The car made a demonstration run the following weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park (not the Speedway) with Henry Banks driving. It was on display at the Speedway on race day and then returned to Tulsa. In retrospect, there were three problems that beat us, the acceleration lag, the heat, and the loss of our original driver. The order or importance is questionable. Although no effort was make to silence the engine, the car was much quieter than the other cars on the track, both to the spectators and driver. Duane Carter described it as "eerie". He heard the tires patting on the track and the body creaking and groaning. These were noises he had never heard in a racecar before. Both drivers, Cheesbourg and Carter, extolled the virtues of the vibration free ride. Both drivers wanted to drive the car again in the Milwaukee 100 miler later in the month. The engine performed flawlessly. The car ran 270 laps at the Speedway and 370 laps on the 5/8 mile track in Tulsa. This is easily the equivalent of two 500 mile races. Total time on the engine was 9 hours and 150 starts. The EGT ran 1200 deg at Tulsa and 1250 to 1300 degrees at the Speedway. It showed 1350 deg F when the gas producer was cranked up to 40,000 rpm. We did have a second stage wheel rub at the Speedway, which was corrected by moving the reduction unit on the sump and base. We occasionally had trouble with the RH igniter flooding and not firing. This never happened during a normal start but only during the first start after we had run out of fuel. The plug was replace but this did not help. The compressor case Marmon clamp was replaced after the rollover accident. Outside of this no other engine parts were replaced after the engine left Boeing. Oil pressure never varied on the turns (40-45 psi), SAE 10 was used in Tulsa and SAE 20 use at the Speedway. There was a little trouble with oil coming out of the breather on the turns but this was cured with Chore-Girl stuffed in the breather.
Tire wear was good, 80-90 laps on the right rear and over 150 laps on the right front and left rear. The left front never was changed. This was not at competitive speeds so it is only an indication of probable tire wear. The fuel consumption averaged out at 4.3 miles per gallon. This compares to 3 to 3 ½ for the Offys. The difference between operating with the waste gate or fuel control was negligible. Brakes also were no problem. In spite of all the laps on the car, the brake pads were never replaced. The rear pads were worn less than 25% when the car returned to Tulsa. Wear on the front pads was negligible. Everyone was enthusiastic about the car including the other car owners and drivers. All expressed the opinion that they would like to see the car in the race. The accessory manufacturers were particularly helpful. Mobile offered to provide us with any blend or type of fuel or oil that we needed. When Champion heard we flooded and fouled out one of their igniters, they flew in their assistant chief engineer along with a variety of igniters to be tried. Allison had engineers over daily looking over the installation and asking questions. Allison also helpfully calibrated our tachometer when the readings became questionable. Don Cummins of Cummins Diesel followed the turbine car closely as did Lou Meyer, manufacturer of the Offenhauser Racing engine. In the event that we should run again in "63", there are two basic changes that would have to be made before the engine can be considered competitive.
Parallel with engine development would be an improvement in the chassis and suspension to enable the car to power through turns 2 and 4. This would reduce the dependence on quick engine response. The engine will be returned to Boeing at which time it will be disassembled and inspected to determine the effects of the high operating temperatures on the hot parts. There are no plans for running the turbine in "63". Len Williams Leonard Williams |