Wanderlodge Acceleration Performance

[davidbrady]

Guys and Gals,

You may like this: HP Wizard. It's a set of simulators which allow you to explore the braking, acceleration, and overall performance of you bus.

Here's some input and output for my Prevost H3: http://www.wanderlodgegurus.com/gallery/...p?album=50





All you need to do is input values for you HP, vehicle weight, and a few other details that we can go over, or read the tutorials for some insight. Out comes:

Braking distance from 60mph: 161 ft,
quarter mile time and speed: 24.55s @ 54 mph
max speed: 94 mph, (limited by air and rolling resistance; gear ratios aren't taken into account),
0-60 mph times: 30.93s,
and more.

The simulator takes into account aerodynamic drag and center of lift, it also uses tire grip, rolling resistance, weight distribution, wheelbase, track width, and center of gravity height. It doesn't yet take into account final drive and gear ratios, but that's in the works. Nonetheless, the numbers look reasonable and fairly accurate against my driving experience. If you need help I can provide assistance in filling in these parameters.

Here's the output for a 1983 210hp FC35: http://www.wanderlodgegurus.com/gallery/...p?album=51





Braking distance from 60mph: 161 ft,
quarter mile time and speed: 29.85s @ 44 mph,
max speed: 71 mph, (limited by air and rolling resistance; gear ratios aren't taken into account),
0-60 mph times: 74.24s

[dentmac]

Interesting Thank you.
Please comment:
The front "Lift" on initial start shows. If there is a front tire failure at speed....Braking would cause rapid deceleration which would add weight to the front and decrease steering ability. Coasting deceleration would have a very small effect. "Flooring it" will not give "Lift" but would prevent deceleration but is it worth travelling farther?

[davidbrady]

Hi Ross,

I think simply staying off the brakes is the lifesaver. If the retarders are enabled, then staying on the accelerator makes sense because the retarders can provide significant load transfer upon accelerator lift.

It's been a long time myth that buses don't transfer much weight to the steer axle under heavy braking. In reality they transfer about the same percentage as your common SUV which under heavy braking is about 12%. My steer axle goes from 16750 lbs to 22700 under a full panic stop.

Also, to throw another tidbit out there, modern day heavy duty bus disc brakes can lock up the tires on a high grip surface at speed. Therefore, running retarders enabled all the time doesn't shorten stopping distances.