Re: DRSS-XXX? (Cost of SGTC vs. SSTC)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Paul B. Brodie" <pbbrodie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Steve,
I confess!!! I spent a small fortune on drag racing. People used to say, 
yeah but look at all that money you win. Ha!!! Back in the early '80's, The 
purse at the small southern dragways was a whopping $150! I made tons off 
of that. It was just like coiling. I did it for the challenge and I wanted 
to know as much as I could find out about automotive engineering and this 
was the ticket. I raced Chrysler products exclusively and I used to know 
all of the Chrysler/Dodge racing engineers on a first name basis. No 
Internet back then, huge phone bills. Believe me, if you want to do it all 
yourself, there is a tremendous amount to learn. That was my first 
introduction to electronics, building high energy capacitive discharge 
ignition systems. That was pretty advanced stuff for back then. Most people 
were still running dual point mechanical ignition systems or the few who 
could afford it used magnetos.

I think Terry mentioned $2,000. I know I spent at least $8,000 on just my 
best race car ( the sub 10 second one) but that included the auto body. The 
bad part is that was $8,000, 1980's dollars! Believe it or not, most of it 
was in the engine and transmission. Those were the days of high tech jobs 
with high tech salaries not Soc Sec disability. Pure history!!!

Paul
Think Positive

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2005 9:55 AM
Subject: RE: DRSS-XXX? (Cost of SGTC vs. SSTC)

> Original poster: "Steve Conner" 
<<mailto:steve.conner@xxxxxxxxxxx>steve.conner@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> >unless prices
> >get reduced drastically somehow, it will forever be out of my reach.
>
> Yup, the DRSSTC is the coil of choice for young single electronic engineers
> :))
>
> At the moment anyway. I imagine sooner or later someone will come out with a
> mini coil that can be made with $40 worth of parts. My local Maplin has the
> old Siemens BUP314 IGBTs for $7 each, and I have seen Vasil use these in a
> DRSSTC with great results. Or if we did a production run of kits we could
> buy the more powerful Fairchild or IR IGBTs in bulk and get them for about
> $5 a piece- same idea as the MMC bulk buys.
>
> But there is still the knowledge barrier. The state of the DRSSTC is about
> what the motor car was in 1900. In other words, to run one, you either need
> to know a heck of a lot about electronics, or hire a "chauffeur" to do it
> for you ;)
>
> This situation will get better too as we get more operating experience.
> Steve Ward has already discovered a nice simple tuning/feedback recipe that
> gives great results. But it's still a bit fiddly. There's really not any
> point making a mini coil kit until we have it all figured out and can
> guarantee something that will work if you make it according to the
> instruction sheet.
>
> Finally- I think Paul Brodie mentioned he built a car that could do sub-10
> second quarter miles. I am no expert on drag racing but I know the average
> kid in a souped up Civic struggles to make 13 seconds- so it must be
> serious! I've seen the price of racing engines, tyres, and such like, and I
> imagine he probably spent as much on motorsport as any of us ever spent on
> coiling- maybe even Terry with his big box of Tektronix toys ;)
>
> Steve Conner
>
>