Rob W M Shipley wrote:

Has anyone on the list considered this as a means of normalising performance
at altitiude.

Rob
Rob W M Shipley
rob@robsglass.com

We don't need no stinking normalizing. :-) The rotary is very
robust and tolerates lots of boost at sea level and as high
as you care to fly.

Paul Lamar

david mccandless wrote:

I like that Paul, direct to the juggular. My sentiments exactly; Dave McC

Sorry Rob. That sounded a bit flippant. I was trying to be funny.
I just thought it ironic that the term "normalizing" was invented as
an attempt to reassure people that were worried about their air 
cooled aircraft piston engine exploding when turbo charged. With good 
reason too as aircraft engines are right out there at the stress limits.
They must be that way to keep the weight down and the power to weight
ratio where it is. That means if you make modifications that increase
the HP, even the slightest amount, you can rest assure the life will be
much shorter. It was not really failure prone it was "life challenged" :-). 

If it was "normalized" you never had anything to worry about because 
it never generated any more power than it was designed for.

The rotary on the other hand can run at four times the power we
are asking from it. Jim Mederer at Racing Beat has over 250 hours
at 300 HP per rotor at 8500 RPM on the dyno and much much more life 
to come with no signs of failure or wear so far. This advantage 
of the rotary is hidden in automotive use. When they fail in automotive 
use it is usually something easy to fix such as the cheap nylon tubes 
that feed oil to the apex seal cracking with age. Of course any 
engine will fail if they don't get lube oil. They will also fail if 
you over heat it long enough.

All this is why I think we are being too conservative limiting the
RPM to 6000. I think we have nothing to worry about and we can 
run it to at least 7500 RPM with a 2.85:1 gear box for takeoff 
and climb.

BTW Perth guys, have you heard from Ian Beadle lately? Tried to
contact him by email and heard nothing back.

Paul Lamar
 
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