If Bruce ever gets out of bed it would be fun to hear what his memories of that car are.... between naps.
Ha ha ha...just woke up from a nap and your much baiting has drawn me in..lol
At my age all I have is memories but with the age also comes memory loss.
The original design build was pretty simple..i.e. join 2 race proven 6cyl. engines...but as with most things that may start off with a simple idea came some complex issues that had to be resolved to make it viable.
One of the issues was cylinder heat dissipation...being completely air cooled by a single horizontal flat fan it was impossible to extract the cylinder heat using conventional cylinder barrels with a liner(totally different than a liquid cooled set-up)...hence the use of an unlined aluminum cyl. barrel with a nikasil coating applied. Doing it this way also had an added benefit..weight savings of the engine proper.
There was no difference in race trim vs qualifying trim....everything had to do with the little knob which set the boost limit of the turbo's. With the cooling fan turning just below the speed of sound at full rev's and a monster oil cooler these are the only ways we could control overall engine operating temps. It was the drivers responsibility to monitor the temps and adjust the boost at their discretion. After sufficient data had been acquired thru testing the drivers were fully aware of the pitfalls of leaving the boost in the higher quadrant..e.g. decreased longevity to an all out engine melt down.
The 917/30 series were capable of producing in excess of 1500hp and on a few occassions(very very few because nothing else could even come close except another 917) the ole boost knob would be full to the right not only for a qualifying run but during the actual race(short spurts)...again this was pretty much left up to the driver and very few of these drivers could handle such an intense drive at full boost.
Well I have to go...it's nap time