Indy 500 today

The famous Indy 500 race is scheduled for about noon, broadcast on ABC. Dont know any of the current drivers or pilots, but used to have a connection to some, more on that later.

There will probably be a fly over at the start, most likley F-16s which in ok, but not unusual. I d really like to see some vintage warbirds. My friend, long time EAA member and Indy car dealer Tom Woods used to lead a flight of P51s over the start. Im not sure but other 51s might have been Vlado and the irepressible Gen, Reg Urshler. Itd be good to see this type again or maybe a B-25, B-17, etc. or even FIFI.

I believe this year it will be a fly-over by a B-52 bomber?

Speaking of car racing, how many auto-race engines have made the step to aircraft, especially amateur-built ones?

I know some of the WWI-era engines came from racing, but am more curious about the post-WWII engines. I've got a brother-in-law who races with the SCCA, and he took me to the World of Speed Museum in Wilsonville, Oregon.

http://motor-museums.com/_Media/dsc_0475-2.jpeg
I figure an Indy-car Offenhauser or a NASCAR engine probably aren't suited for flight, but there are a lot of lower classes where the engines get lighter and more compact. For instance, I seem to recall a "Formula Vee" class that was for Volkswagens. Anyone know if any of the early VW aircraft pioneers were involved in Formula Vee?

How about any other racing engines?

Ron "Vrroooom" Wanttaja

I think all 33 cars are running a Honda engine, not the same engine as the HA-420 HondaJet.

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Originally Posted by martymayes

I think all 33 cars are running a Honda engine, not the same engine as the HA-420 HondaJet.

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Recip or turbine? I pay no attention to racing (or business jets, for that matter), but seem to recall that the Indy establishment got up in arms when a turbine car was entered ~40 years back. And they had passed rules to prevent a recurrence.

Ron "Rrrrrrrr or Hmmmmm?" Wanttaja

~135 cu in V-6, spinning like a turbine, 11,000 rpm, lol

Fan or not, Honda is impressive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by martymayes

~135 cu in V-6, spinning like a turbine, 11,000 rpm, lol.

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OoooOOoooo. Any idea what the weight is? Wonder if you could de-rate it (to, say, 8,000 RPM) and get some reliability out of it.

But on the other hand, an Indy-car motor is likely to be more expensive than the run-of-the-mill Lycoming.

Ron "Design of the PSRU is left as an exercise for the student" Wanttaja

Personally, I would be more comfortable with an engine designed with longevity and reliabilty as the primary goal. Obviously reliability is a design goal for racing engines, but not the primary goal. When push comes to shove, those engines really only need to run for a few hours.

18 Hondas and 15 Chevrolet

Steve Wittman and John Monnett started formula V racing (VW). Maybe others also, I don't know.