typically ~50L fuel, 24-48 gatorade, anywhere from 26oz rum to 12 guinness (or both), couple gallons of water (in containers). at my age i'm pretty static...
|
|
|
Trailer width and fuel economy.
- Thread starter rmemedic
- Start date
typically ~50L fuel, 24-48 gatorade, anywhere from 26oz rum to 12 guinness (or both), couple gallons of water (in containers). at my age i'm pretty static...
Also why they now use the skirts under the trailers 
now to keep air from turbulating under the trailer and causing drag.
now to keep air from turbulating under the trailer and causing drag.Aerodynamics has A LOT to do with modern tractor-trailer tractor design. When you are on the road every day, improving from 7.0 mpg to 7.1 mpg via aerodynamics is HUGE. The trailers are standardized - and many modern tractor units are designed to optimize airflow of the combined tractor and standardized trailer in the interest of reducing drag.
Note how the roofline blends smoothly with the roofline of the standardized trailer, and the side fairings extend back as far as possible to minimize the gap between the tractor and the trailer, and the fuel tanks are faired in to keep the airflow out so that it does not go headlong into the face of the drive wheels.
For the original poster, the frontal area of the trailer will absolutely affect the fuel consumption of the vehicle. If the trailer is more-or-less within the frontal area of the truck, it won't be too bad, but extending out from the frontal area of the truck means the trailer will be outside the wake of the truck. The drag will be more or less in proportion to the frontal area (width x height).
The V will be a benefit but you wont notice a huge difference between width and mileage unless your racing takes you cross country or hundreds of k's into the US. I'd pull the biggest trailer I could manage and afford. A dry spot on a rainy weekend is like heaven.
Brakes are a good idea, 100km to 0 in a panic happens much better with trailer brakes.
I pull a 30ft tandem 5500lbs pretty regular, it has brakes and a 24ft single axle 2200lbs no brakes, the smaller has scared me more than once.
Brakes are a good idea, 100km to 0 in a panic happens much better with trailer brakes.
I pull a 30ft tandem 5500lbs pretty regular, it has brakes and a 24ft single axle 2200lbs no brakes, the smaller has scared me more than once.
rmemedic
Well-known member
Wow that is A LOT of gatorade lol.
I race MX, so I would have to say we sweat a lot more on the track, and have 4 Gatorade in a race weekend. Everything else I drink is water. Typically water in the morning, then dip in to the gatorade mid-day before I get effects of de-hydration and then drink lots of water at night. I hate the feeling on sunday morning when I didn't stay hydrated. I'm not a huge fan of those sports drinks, and only have them when I actually need them. I hate energy drinks even more, those people are just setting themselves up for poor performance all day.
However, I guess if you're adding rum in to the mix, I can see why you need so much gatorade lol. I don't know how people can ride hard saturday, party it up until 4 am and then functionally race the next day in 35 degree heat... I've seen a few guys make a mess in their helmets on the start gate.
Called the guy up tonight about the trailer, pretty sure I'm going to order it. It will make my race weekends a lot more comfortable and enjoyable... Only downside, is I'm using up my house down payment on it! Luckily, work has me so booked solid that it would be senseless to buy a house I would almost never sleep in.
I find you can deplete your salts quite easily on the super hot days. also the leathers are like sauna suits, I find I can lose 10 pounds at the track. I also bring extra, better to have too many than too few, plus i tend to share with my friends. booze is after the day is done but i don't go til 4am, i'm too old for that...
A bit of an aside and sorry if this is obvious.. but if you've dropped 10lbs of water weight you are incredibly dehydrated. I know on hot days you'll be driking a lot but if you're still losing that much weight you aren't drinking nearly enough. Consume enough water/fluids so that you do still have you pee through the day. That way you know you aren't depleated.
Only partially. They're also for safety reasons. Remember the story from Toronto, not so long ago, of a cyclist being crushed under a turning transport? That's what the bicycle activists were demanding be made a legal requirement for trucks, because of it.
Was that a transport or a short-wheelbase dump truck?
It was reported on the radio as being a transport, which would jibe with the description of how the collision occurred. Newspapers simply referred to it as "a large truck."
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/1...being-hit-by-a-truck-at-toronto-intersection/
That one?
That article states it was a 5-ton truck.
Then it was being mis-reported by one or the other (or both).
The only safety concessions on trailers are made to cars and are underrun bars side and (most important) rear. An aerodynamic side panel on a trailer will still be high enough off the ground to allow a cyclist underneath. Unfortunately when a cyclist comes into contact with a 53ft trailer, even a trailer wrapped in swaddling clothes, duck feather and soft downy pillows, the trailer will still win.
As regards aerodynamics, tractor design hasn't changed much over the years. Yes lines have been smoothed out and aero panels have been designed and added but tractors were built to the max width permissable by law, which was (more or less) the same width as trailers. It was the law which was the defining factor and building the biggest cab unit within the spec of the law. My original point stands (unless 9 years of trailer building/designing counts for nowt). Aerodynamics has/had **** all to do with tractor widths.
Last edited:
For some reason I thought it was a dump truck. I don't recall where I read the story now though.
Would the air deflectors really make much of a difference? There's still a gap below them.
I also read somewhere that too much Gatorade isn't good for your system. I drank a lot when in Florida once at a track and it had side effects to say the least. 2 or 3 a day and the rest made up of predominantly water and (after 5pm) beer.
This isn't the article I initially read but is as good as any to begin;
http://www.livestrong.com/article/68710-effects-much-gatorade/
They might have pushed her out of the way. From the description the space she was riding in disappeared, as the middle of the truck (trailer, whatever) overlapped the corner during the turn. She was also apparently towing a trailer, though, which might have gotten dragged under anyway.
The wind deflector panels are different than the one that are being pushed for by cyclists
Yeah, I find if i drink just water I don't drink enough and i don't end up going pee, by alternating with water and gatorade (or sometimes cutting the gatorade with water) I find I'm needing to go to the restroom a couple times during a track day. I also worry about over hydrating with out replacing the electrolytes - this can be as dangerous as dehydrating... as for dropping the 10 pounds.. i find after 3 track days in a row i've dropped 10 pounds and it takes a few months (xmas) before i've gained it back. If i just do one track day there's no noticeable weight loss
edit, i usually get the G2 stuff the regular stuff has too much sugar and makes me nauseated.
Last edited:
|
|
|
|
|