RAMM wanted to know about this 451..............

Okay, Andy and I are on the same page.

So on to another thing we learned getting ready for 2009.

A rule for 2009 was the water pump had to be driven off the crankshaft. I had several people tell me to remember to run a loose belt between the crankshaft and water pump pulleys, so the belt would slip and take less horsepower to run the water pump.

I watched that belt slap around on the dyno at rpm and there was no slowing of the water pump that I could see. Just this stupid belt doing a belly dance. So we put on a tight belt. BINGO, instant horsepower. Put the loose belt back on. You got it, we lost horsepower. Tight belt, horsepower back again. Not a lot, 2-3 horsepower, but you could measure it each time.

Everyone at the contest was running a loose belt. So somebody in the contest wasn't just telling us a tale to slow just us down. My next post will tell a story about belts and pulleys during the contest in 2009.