I drafted a big truck on I-5 for over a hundred miles late one night on the
way to LA.  1/4 inch throttle pedal opening on my 89 wolfy.

If you have a CB and let the trucker know you want to "park on his bumper"
for a few some will not get upset about doing it.

Best spot is up pretty darn close though better be on the ball the WHOLE
time.

Doug

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Walters" <sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 2:24 PM
Subject: Re: Power loss with 15" wheels?

> Loren,
>
> You had to brake to keep from running into the van in front of you due
> to the 'draft' that you were in.  Same on a bicycle when riding in a
> line or a bunch as racers tend to do.  You have to lightly touch the
> brakes to keep from running into the bike in front of you.  The front
> bike can be pedaling like mad and you can just sit there and touch
> brakes.  The lead bike is dealing with wind resistance head on and you
> have the draft or area of lessened wind resistance.  Move two feet to
> the side without pedaling  and you will seem to shoot backwards.
>
> The same would happen with cars if there was a safe lane to the side
> where you could quickly pull out of the draft.  Truckers don't like it
> and it is a bit dangerous, but you can pull pretty close up to a truck
> and suddenly your rpms  to match the same speed lower because you are in
> the trucks draft.  Since they take so long to stop you really aren't
> that likely to run into them.  Also their draft is bigger and longer
> than that of a van or car.
>
> Sam
>
> --
> Sam Walters
> Baltimore, MD
>
> 89 Syncro GL, Zetec Inside
> 85 Westy Weekender
> 85 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel - to become veggie oil powered
>
> All incoming and outgoing email scanned by
> automatically updated copy of Norton AntiVirus.