Re: engines

[David Doshay <ddoshay@cisco.com>]

Thanks to Martin and others for encouraging words. I'm getting motivated
to getting back to serious work on this mess I'm in.

Martin writes:
>Regarding your comment "...I am not sure if it will power the
>Velocity...", keep in mind the original Velocity was built with a 180 HP
>Lyc IO360. Since I have lunch with Danny quite often, I have heard him
>say on more than one occasion the airplane should fly quite well with
>less HP.

Less hp should not be a problem. Normally asparated Mazda rotories can make
a dependable 90 hp per rotor, so I should not have much problem getting the
engine to make 270 hp. The engine has twin turbos, so more power is there
if I keep the turbos and boost accordingly. Mazda races these things in the
900 to 1100 hp range and they last a season without rebuilding, so I think
the engine is strong enough for aircraft use.

What I meant by "I am not sure if it will power the Velocity ..." is that
I do not know if I will succeed in getting it all to work well enough that
the plane will fly with this thing on its tail. I'm sure it will be a long
and interesting journey.

>Knowing nothing of your background or experience,

I am an experimental physicist by training, and the one thing I think all
that education has taught me is when I am at the limits of what I know. I
know that I am way over my head with this one, and I am searching for
expertise to help. I have a few helpful folks lined up, and I am sure that
I will need others along the way.

I'll let the Reflector know whenever something interesting happens.

Cheers,
David