UCC dyno explosion

stuart in mn said:

Tk8398 said:

That has happened at that event too, although I think the engine in this one was actually mostly reusable.

Note the crowd reaction in that video - half of them run up the bleachers away from the truck, the other half stay where they are and watch.

Even among the people that moved, most didn't go far. "Oh no, this thing is going to blow up! I'd better get about...15ft further away"

This video has some different, closer angles. It's pretty surreal to see and hear the connecting rods flopping around in the breeze for a few seconds after the explosion.

STM317 said:

 It's pretty surreal to see and hear the connecting rods flopping around in the breeze for a few seconds after the explosion.

Holy crap.  That is nuts.

In reply to STM317 :

Holy crap, it split the block between the head studs and mains. You can see it got knocked over and landed vertical along with the hood. Forget throwing a rod, this engine literally threw a block. 

Unless this sort of thing is bound to happen, is it even worth watching? 

I'm with Keith on having a high power FWD on the rollers and making all your fat friends stand on the door sills to try and get it to hook. Good days.

From that angle, it looks like the crowd is reasonably far back. 

STM317 said:

stuart in mn said:

Tk8398 said:

That has happened at that event too, although I think the engine in this one was actually mostly reusable.

Note the crowd reaction in that video - half of them run up the bleachers away from the truck, the other half stay where they are and watch.

Even among the people that moved, most didn't go far. "Oh no, this thing is going to blow up! I'd better get about...15ft further away"

I don't read too much into the people staying where they were.  In the "fight, flight, or freeze" spectrum, I tend towards freeze, so I might not have moved, either.

What's even more humorous or sad, is watching $$$ literally go up in smoke.  Years ago, at Englishtown NJ drag strip, my friend grenaded a high dollar engine on its second run.  He wasn't thumbs upping anyone.

eastsideTim said:

STM317 said:

stuart in mn said:

Tk8398 said:

That has happened at that event too, although I think the engine in this one was actually mostly reusable.

Note the crowd reaction in that video - half of them run up the bleachers away from the truck, the other half stay where they are and watch.

Even among the people that moved, most didn't go far. "Oh no, this thing is going to blow up! I'd better get about...15ft further away"

I don't read too much into the people staying where they were.  In the "fight, flight, or freeze" spectrum, I tend towards freeze, so I might not have moved, either.

I get not moving either because you're frozen or you don't realize the danger. What I don't understand is those who seemed to realize the danger and chose to move, but not nearly enough to get themselves out of harm's way. I didn't mean to get things sidetracked. I just thought it was a comical thought process.

Dirtydog (Forum Supporter) said:

What's even more humorous or sad, is watching $$$ literally go up in smoke.  Years ago, at Englishtown NJ drag strip, my friend grenaded a high dollar engine on its second run.  He wasn't thumbs upping anyone.

I'm guessing with social media, the clicks/likes/etc. translate into more publicity for their shop, so they won't be as financially hurt, or they'll come out ahead.  I'd be pretty bummed, myself, if I blew up an expensive engine.

TF and NFC waste an engine pretty much every pass, they are just smart enough to not break them in half. The wildness is the show, much like this.

To be fair, once it went bang nothing else was likely to come flying that far.  People who ran away, even not far, had already dodged the danger.  Now, the white truck than ran away and just kept on revving and revving, hell yes I'd have got up and kept moving further and further away, as you don't know when it's finally going to let fly.  But the instant bang and flying pistons, the danger was over before the messages reached your brain from your eyes and ears.

I wonder how this works out when you destroy someone's very expensive Dyno? If you have to pay for it, along with any payments for injuries that your exploded engine just caused, have you really made any money with click bait?

Also, doesn't this really demonstrate that your dip E36 M3 ass doesn't know how to build an engine or tune it?

Vajingo said:

I wonder how this works out when you destroy someone's very expensive Dyno? If you have to pay for it, along with any payments for injuries that your exploded engine just caused, have you really made any money with click bait?

Also, doesn't this really demonstrate that your dip E36 M3 ass doesn't know how to build an engine or tune it?

I'm sensing a lot of angst toward one specific segment of motorsport simply because the exhaust is visible.

Also, doesn't this below really demonstrate that your dip E36 M3 ass doesn't know how to build an engine or tune it?

P.S... at least this is legit racing, and a blown up top fuel car is a lot more common occurrence than an exploded clickbait diesel.  Not to mention, I guarantee that top fuel car costs a lot more than the dyno.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Never have to worry about a Top Fuel engine blowing up on a dyno. There isn't a dyno that can hold one. 

The difference I see is one is blowing up in pure competition,  the other is detonating for bragging rights. Unless is a dyno numbers competition, in which case that just seems like automotive dick waving.

ShawnG said:

Not sure what sort of safety measures are in place at tractor pulls but The same thing should probably apply here.

 

Pullers have blast shields, steel plate, on each side of the engine to stop shrapnel from going sideways into the crowd. A friend had a Pro Mod 4x4 with an alcohol 640 in it that had them. The shields were mandated after a spectator was killed by a connecting rod.

Blocking parts from going straight up and out the top is a bit more difficult.

The exhaust being visible.....  well you can make lots of power without impersonating a Chinese coal power plant dumping soot into the Yangtze.  
 

I think many of us have seen the LeMans Mercedes videos.  Having parts and cars enter the stands is a bad thing.  Excusing this or acting like these fans did is a sign that Idiocracy is moving from comedy to prophecy.  
 

Ultimately this sort of thing could be the end of Motorsport in our litigious  society.  Or alternatively people will collectively become too stupid to care.  Dude that's your arm bro....   Cool!  

alfadriver said:

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

 

I'm a bit flabbergasted by the crowd response basically being like how awesome was that Cletus, we almost got killed! 

Remember the crowd reaction when that Vette kart blew up all over the driver, who was burned really badly....  These are the motorsports fans who want to see destruction.

yeah, that didnt actually happen. I would post it here so you can see but its absolutely awful to watch so no. no one cheered. 

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

The exhaust being visible.....  well you can make lots of power without impersonating a Chinese coal power plant dumping soot into the Yangtze.  

That Cummins is (was?) mechanically injected. In order to have enough fuel supply for 1500+hp in the meat of the power band, you're going to need injectors that flow tons of fuel, and they can't really be leaned out easily at lower speeds and loads the way that electronic fuel injectors can. If you watch a tractor pull, diesel drag race, etc you'll see that most mechanically injected high performance diesels will emit much cleaner looking exhaust when they're in their most powerful part of the rpm range. That's because nearly all of the fuel is actually being combusted as intended.

The optics are bad, but lots of soot just indicates a rich condition. That excess fuel keeps combustion temps cooler, which creates less NOx. Soot particulates are bad news, but they mostly stay pretty close to where they're produced and fall to the ground. Meanwhile, NOx stays airborne and creates smog, harming air quality for a whole region. These people aren't doing air quality any favors, but the sooty trucks probably limit the damage to a pretty small area, while a similar truck with exhaust that looks clean (but really isn't) may be doing more widespread harm.

In reply to STM317 :

I agree you are right about NoX being worse than soot.  I did work for Cummins for a little while  Their fuel injection mechanical tolerances are world class on their injection pumps.  It is pretty amazing tech.  I don't think soot is just bad optics.  Check out the soot in the Yangtze from Chinese coal plains.  That isn't optics.  Sure this is a much smaller scale, but it is still not good. 

As for NoX, I never understood why we didn't convert the auto market to CNG or LNG; no NOX.  But I guess oil companies and governments didn't see enough money in changing infrastructure on that one.  The only thing you get from burning gas is CO2 and H20, and CO2 is clearly not as harmful as we have been led to believe based on many recent studies. 

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

As I said, soot is bad news. But my point was that just because something looks bad, doesn't mean it's actually worse than something may appear less harmful on the surface. I really don't like to see this stuff, but these people are mostly harming themselves. It's the lesser of two evils in my opinion.

STM317 said:

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

As I said, soot is bad news. But my point was that just because something looks bad, doesn't mean it's actually worse than something may appear less harmful on the surface. I really don't like to see this stuff, but these people are mostly harming themselves. It's the lesser of two evils in my opinion.

This is exactly my point.

Most people hate diesel because smell and the black smoke makes them want to scream "WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN," and then they carry on enjoying top fuel, nascar, or their rallycross car with no cats.  I find that almost everyone who dislikes diesels cites reasons that don't exist, or haven't existed since 1975.

Just because it's visible doesn't mean it is instant death, and just because gasoline or alcohol exhaust is not visible doesn't really mean anything.

I think much of that comes from also seeing Yeet trucks belching black smoke on the street. I haven't seen or smelt any street car burning nitromethane. 

I don't dislike diesel at all.  If I wanted to get into moving things for money; I'd get a 3/4 ton diesel truck and a 4 car gooseneck trailer and rock on.  Heck I'm tempted to set my son up with something like this, since school really isn't his thing and he loves driving. 

I'm still not a huge fan of all the rollin' coal bros and parts flying into the stands.  Why does that mean I don't like diesel? 

Appleseed said:

I haven't seen or smelt any street car burning nitromethane. 

One can dream...