Racing without a serpentine belt
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,700
Likes: 1,667
From: moraga ca
Racing without a serpentine belt
Just got back from the first of a 2 day weekend race at Infineon. After Wednesday's race, I noticed my powersteering, alternator bracket was cracked. The bracket holding the bottom pivot bolt on the alternator was broken near the block, and only half of the bracket was keeping the alternator from flying about (sorry, no pics. I left the car at the track tonight). I decided to play it safe and not run with the serpentine belt on. Having an alternator and belt flying around at 6500 rpm didn't sound too appealing. This meant charging the car between rounds with a 1600 watt generator and battery charger. This also meant no power steering. Fortunately I have a Meziere electric pump so the car ran cool. Went 3 rounds; .004 light, .002, and then a booger .049. My opponent had a .035. We both ran on our numbers and I lost by a hundreth. The car ran 6 rounds between 10.58-10.64. The da varied from 800 to 2000. I figured shedding the belt was good for about a half a tenth. I'll be back out out there tomorrow. Hopefully I'll take home some $$$ ($800 to win). Willie
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,753
Likes: 15
From: backwoods upstate ny
last century, several REAL car rags (no soft ****/etc) tested 1/4 times 'with' vs w/o alt
working...all ran slight quicker WITH the alt putting out...theory (?) is the highr voltage with the alt doin makes better spark/fewer misses/more power.
working...all ran slight quicker WITH the alt putting out...theory (?) is the highr voltage with the alt doin makes better spark/fewer misses/more power.
Last edited by redrose; Aug 14, 2011 at 08:52 PM.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,700
Likes: 1,667
From: moraga ca
You could be right. In my case, with both the alternator and power steering not running, it was good for about a half tenth. I've made hundreds of runs with the belt, and over this weekend, 12 without, and under the same conditions, it was just a little quicker. Willie
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,700
Likes: 1,667
From: moraga ca
Update, Sunday's race went light Saturday's; out in the third round. Case of really bad driving. My .007 against my opponent's .050. I misjudged the wind, dialed soft. Car hooked and I broke out by .03, my opponent by .02. Took way too much stripe. He was a faster car and I was expecting him to come by me. Hate when that happends. With one race to go, I'm 4th out of 33 cars. The top 4 go onto the race of champions when we meet in October for our divisional finals. Hope to do well on Labor day. Willie
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,108
Likes: 126
From: S.L.C. UT
I had a car on the dyno, and I pulled the belt off for one pull. It made 17 rwhp and 20 rwtq without the belt. But this car has ac,ps,air pump, mech water pump, everything. In this situation not driving everything was worth some power. But with less accessories, there would be less gain. And like mentioned, the car isn't seeing 13.4+ volts. The fuel pump would also spin slightly slower without the belt.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,700
Likes: 1,667
From: moraga ca
I had a car on the dyno, and I pulled the belt off for one pull. It made 17 rwhp and 20 rwtq without the belt. But this car has ac,ps,air pump, mech water pump, everything. In this situation not driving everything was worth some power. But with less accessories, there would be less gain. And like mentioned, the car isn't seeing 13.4+ volts. The fuel pump would also spin slightly slower without the belt.
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