[Question] Speed Ratings

[Doofenshmirtz]

Yesterday I went out to a practice field to throw a few relative new discs for comparison purposes. My two consistently longest discs were a Westside Northman and a Star Tern. Though it is impossible to get a perfect comparison I noticed that on consecutive, nearly identical throws, I got the same approximate distance (about 380' or so) and flight path on the Northman and Tern. Am I wrong to have expected that the higher speed disc would have traveled a little further?

 

[Halcón]

There's really no such thing as "speed." Those numbers are all relevant, and loosely based on the disc's rim width.

 

[denglish]

Edit: Beaten to the punch

 

[zj1002]

Yes, speed ratings from both those manufacturers has more to do with the disc wing size than actual true distance potential. Also a speed 11 won't be more than 10ft short of a similar rated speed 12 on perfect drives. Something like a Wraith can go just as far as Destroyer if used properly. This goes for most discs that are separated by 1-2 on the speed scale. Generally you won't see more than 5% distance increase/decrease which is fairly minimal in a game where most holes are 300-350ft and people can make 30ft putts on the norm

 

[NOStheBOSS]

I believe someone threw a teebird 810' and temporarily set the World Distance Record, which was then broken by a Valkyrie and then by Wiggins' Boss. The Boss only traveled 27 feet farther than the Teebird, or 3.3% farther. Obviously this is pure distance but still a good example that wider rim does not equal farther

 

[PMantle]

That Pohjan Poika is crazy long for it's rim width. may be my next purchase.

 

[Halcón]

And GG threw an putter 500 feet. So many factors determine how far a disc will travel. A manufaturer assigned number is the least of them.

 

[PMantle]

One person throwing a low speed disc a huge distance is meaningless really. Do we know what that person would dowith "faster" ones?

 

[NOStheBOSS]

One person throwing a low speed disc a huge distance is meaningless really. Do we know what that person would dowith "faster" ones?

I'm relatively positive that if a person goes out to throw for the world distance record, they dont just look in their bag and say "hell I'll throw this danged teebird"

They train and practice with multiple discs and find which will go the furthest for them. For Sandstrom it was the Valkyrie. For the other guy it was a Teebird.

In the Deep in the Game video, Jussi chose an FD for his max distance driver. His job is to manufacture discs of all speeds, you think he wouldn't have chosen the best one for his distance potential?

 

[sneakytiki]

How I have always taken it, higher speed discs have more mass around the rim. This means the disc will have a higher rotational inertia, meaning more resistant to changes in its spin velocity. This means two things:

1. It will require more energy to get it up to speed (rotationally speaking).
2. It will stay spinning longer.

This means to see the disc behave as it should throughout its flight you need to be able to transfer a lot more energy to it, and if you can transfer enough energy it will be less resistant to the drag forces slowing down its spin. Can this mean more distance? Yes, but at a cost.

 

[PMantle]

I'm relatively positive that if a person goes out to throw for the world distance record, they dont just look in their bag and say "hell I'll throw this danged teebird"

They train and practice with multiple discs and find which will go the furthest for them. For Sandstrom it was the Valkyrie. For the other guy it was a Teebird.

In the Deep in the Game video, Jussi chose an FD for his max distance driver. His job is to manufacture discs of all speeds, you think he wouldn't have chosen the best one for his distance potential?

When were those throws done? What was out there?

I just know this, when I do field work, you can pretty much count on the discs lining up by speed rating when I'm throwing for distance. The exceptions are really overstable stuff that I don't normally use for distance anyway. I had a dx T-bird that was a freak for a 7, but still wasn't close to being my longest disc.

 

[Colt]

For big D I think it's more about maximizing a flight line for that thrower then wing spd / penetration

 

[Kenny53691]

I believe someone threw a teebird 810'

I could only dream of getting my Teebird..... but I'm sure someone out there has done it.