drive train losses

[George Selby]

At 10:53 AM 8/26/04, you wrote:
>Hmm, I don't think that's quite right.  So you're
>saying if you put a 40 hp motor in your car that had
>the 200 hp motor it wouldn't even move?  Also, as
>power increases, so does the heat in the tranny and
>diffs which is all lost power.


Well, that would be like when I drove on 2 cylinders on a VW Bug, it moves, 
but not very fast.  It would move because the 40 HP (and remember these 
were/are totally made up in my head numbers that bear no relation to 
reality) loss is only at the engines peak HP number.  Now I'll grant you 
that there is some very slight change in heat losses as the power 
increases, but these won't be a linear extension based on power.  So maybe 
you use an extra 2 - 5 HP for heat losses, this would still leave you a lot 
closer to my estimate than the estimate provided by a straight 20% 
drivetrain loss factor.

I just read Mike Arman's explanation, and it is right on the money.

George Selby