I posted this on different eng. topic, no answer so I will try again.If BERNARD HOOPER ENGINEERING is GOOGLED a 2 stroke eng design comes up ,that I remember reading about 45? years ago Why didn't it hit the big time ????
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2 strokes
I posted this on different eng. topic, no answer so I will try again.If BERNARD HOOPER ENGINEERING is GOOGLED a 2 stroke eng design comes up ,that I remember reading about 45? years ago Why didn't it hit the big time ????
geno
Senior Member
Not much given away on their site...vague ..small pictures ..no address ..only a PO box.
all power quoted in KWs...i would have thought if they wanted to get attention they would quote BHP.
all the best..markj
Senior Member
Two sets of piston rings equals twice the ring friction and higher fuel consumption.
Paul Compton
www.morini-mania.co.uk
Senior Member
When I googled it, I got the company page, and it seems they designed a lil bit of everything that seemed "fun," yet nothing really went anywhere. The man himself appears to be rather well known, but not for his own company's exploits. The company's page reminds me of a lot of the automotive aftermarket "engineering" than it does anything that is actually optimized. I call it the "draw it and pray" method, because enough collective knowledge/expertise is not present to really build anything great. I suspect this is the reason why their two stroke engine never went anywhere - simple lack of man power.
kW vs bHP...eh...anyone working in the field should be intimately familiar with one, and be able to do a rough estimate conversion off the head easily.
"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer -- born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow."
Senior Member
Fwiw: An Italian company built a stepped piston single cylinder two stroke for go-kart racing back in the 70's. Since it was a single, it was more like a conventional 2-stroke (no wet sump, primarily). The engine never made it to the U.S., it was only raced in Italy as I recall. Not many were produced.
It showed potential, and was quickly banned by the FIA. That was the end of stepped piston engines in karting. I think that may have been before Mr. Hooper showed his design(s), as the earliest date I see mentioned is his presentation of a paper in 1999.
It's interesting how the data on his single cylinder test engine focuses primarily on oil consumption, something nobody really cares about in racing.
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