ORIGINAL: wojtek
Oh, I think 300 is do-able, but you need more than just horsepower, you need to look carefully at every little bit of drag. I think the AMT guys got only up to 287(don't quote me) with a bandit with similar power, and they worked hard at cleaning the airplane up. Go for it! The Trance is a VERY clean airplane...somewhere around, there is a video of it...
300 is not hard or all that fast at all ! On a at400 ( pre its 3rd seizure ) my KingCat ( which was a dry 36 lbs pig) pulled 255 and that was in level flight and not even trying ! .. It had 270+ in her if I gave more room for an aproach, and out of a dive, i bet 300 would not have been out of the question ( i would not try this, this plane is not built for it, and all im saying it could aerodynamically / power wise ) so now why the heck would it be so far fetched to have a bandit on a ram 1000 pulling 280+ ? the CAI raptors on 27lbs AMT 28s were able to pull up to 270 and those are heavier and bigger than the bandit ...
Wojtek
I'm sure it can be done.
I think you are underestimating the amount of effort, and overestimating the importance of power. That air is a square, like someone pointed out before, it takes twice the power to go just a little faster. If I may quote the late Mr. Scott : "I canna change the laws of physics!"
So, if you want to break 300, you had better look at perfectly sealed gear doors, perfectly concealed linkages, every little bit of drag. Look at the design and expense put into full scale civil aircraft nowadays, people will spend $5000 on some fairings to clean up the struts and gain two knots, because they know they can double the horsepower for $25k and still only gain one knot. I may be exaggerating, but you get the point.
The difference between 270 and 300 is MUCH greater than the difference between 240 and 270, get my drift?
Check out that trance, see what I mean by clean! I bet that thing WAS doing 317, or at least something close to it.