Funny cars

True funny cars do not have to have a heavy duty motor (although many of them often have very powerful motors). Quite often the usual four-door limousines and two-door coupes of medium and large class sizes of such brands as Audi, Bentley, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce and some others - have 8-, 10-, 12-cylinder engines of significantly large volumes , and therefore a large total power. However, high speed characteristics of sports cars are achieved primarily due to the ratio of engine power, transmission ratio and relatively light body weight, as well as low aerodynamic drag, balanced chassis and modern suspension, the presence of wheels of the appropriate size and the quality of their contact with the road surface.

The structural arrangement of the motor on the chassis can be either front or rear or central (inside the wheelbase). In more dynamic models, a rear or central engine with a rear axle drive is preferred. This reduces the loss of torque, and hence the power on the transmission, as well as improves weight distribution along the axles and, as a consequence, the handling of the car.

The types of engine design can be very diverse: a four-cylinder in-line ICE, more often a six-, eight-cylinder V-shaped engine, often turbocharged. Less commonly, this is a boxer engine (as the most common motor in Porsche models), sometimes a Wankel rotary engine (like the Mazda RX-8), an electric battery (like the Tesla Roadster) or an electric-gas hybrid engine like the Fisker model Karma.

Gearbox - usually with manual shift, 6-speed (5-speed on older models), less often, on more expensive models - automatic or combined with electronic control of the really funny cars.

The interior decoration can be luxuriously equipped or “Spartan”, the interior design can be either massive or made from special materials - this also greatly affects the final price of the model.

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to see the funny cars in Europe - private transport collections are not so common in our country - and if they exist, they are in a closed state. Although periodically on our roads there are truly exclusive cars, of which there are only a few copies in the world. Nevertheless, in order to see firsthand the living automobile legends, it is worth going abroad, where they are often presented at specialized exhibitions and even as part of public events. The largest car collections are stored in the USA, Australia, Germany and France - this is where real connoisseurs of cars live.

For the first time, Donald Campbell came out on a new Bluebird CN7 car to start in 1960 on Bonneville. And one of the races almost ended in disaster: the car soared at full speed, rolled over and hit the ground. Contrary to expectations, the rider escaped with light scratches. Having completely rebuilt the Blue Bird and attached a high keel to it for better exchange rate stability, Donald took it to Australia, to the salt lake Air, deciding that the Bonneville track is no longer suitable for such speeds. As a result, Donald managed to break the record only in 1964. It amounted to 648 km / h. When designing the machine, Donald Campbell counted on much more. But he must have been glad of this, especially since then he was officially considered the funniest car of the planet.

The holder of one of the world speed records now is Don Wales, the son of Donald Campbell and the grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell. He set two American national records and eight records in the UK. Wales, following Donald Campbell, continued to set records, the first of which was the speed record for a car in 1998.

In 2009, Don Wales set the current speed record for a 238.68 km / h steam car.

In total, 27 speed records were set on Bluebird funny cars.

Improved aerodynamic characteristics of the body of the funny car;

Two (rarely three) doors;

Lack of a full second row of seats; there can only be spare seats;

Rear-wheel drive, less often front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive;

Low ground clearance (clearance);

Large alloy wheels equipped with special rubber

Large diameter brake discs on both axles

High speed engine speed dial (Throttle response)

Increased maximum revolutions (from 6 thousand rpm / min and above);

Good acceleration dynamics and high maximum speed.