During 2010, Porsche achieved another significant first when it won an important motor race using a hybrid vehicle that stored its energy mechanically. When Formula One embraced KERS technology in 2009, the teams which raced these systems did so successfully using chemical storage of energy in the form of batteries.
Williams had developed, but didn’t race, its flywheel/electric system. Flybrid’s pure mechanical Read more…
In my previous Heads-Blocks article I described the advantage of Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI) on one of the most severe cylinder head failure modes, Thermo Mechanical Fatigue (TMF). The main area of interest then concerned differences in material properties. Of course, material is not the only contributor to TMF robustness of cylinder head design, so in this article I will give an insight into another parameter influencing TMF, coolant jacket design. Read more…
We’ve all received them at some time in our lives. That invitation to so-and-so’s wedding that spreads mild panic in the household. A new outfit for the wife, a few modifications to the waistband of that old suit of mine, and the prospect of being away from the workshop for a whole weekend. At the bottom of the card the letters ‘RSVP’ demand an almost immediate reply and so inspiration for damage limitation has to come - and come quickly. Read more…
In a recent article, the subject of using fasteners for composite components was discussed. The number of components for which composites are considered is increasing considerably, and in some race series their use is limited by regulations.
There are many areas in a Formula One engine, for example, where composites are expressly forbidden, but in production-based series, people are free to use composite components much more freely and so they Read more…
We have become accustomed to the fact that many race motorcycle exhaust systems are made from titanium. Owing to the fact that they are generally much better supported than on most racecar installations, the problems with fatigue and creep are nowhere near as serious.
One company, Good Fabrications, with extensive experience of many types of exhaust materials has applied its knowledge of special high-temperature Read more…
If snippets of information that filter down to me turn out to be true, the average motorsport engine ECU of the future will have to work a lot harder. It’s all to do with economy - both in the size of the fuel pump and the amount of power it consumes. While the systems that give these benefits have been fitted on some road vehicles for many years it seems that motorsports, with the emphasis now more on fuel saving than absolute power, is beginning to take notice as well.
In my younger days, when fuel injection was but a luxury and the roads were less crowded, the journey to work was always so much more enjoyable in the foggy early morning light than at any other time. The engine in my transport - a high-compression ‘A’ series unit, tuned ever so close to (and sometimes beyond!) combustion ‘knock’ - would run totally free of detonation and be a joy to drive around the twisting country roads where I lived.
As a development engineer I put this down to the water Read more…
In the article on crankshafts which will appear in Race Engine Technology (issue 50, November 2010) there is a brief discussion on the use of heavy metals for crankshaft counterweighting purposes. There are a number of reasons why it might be deemed desirable to use a high-density material for a crankshaft but, for a given level of counterweight moment, it will lead to a lower inertia crankshaft assembly.
The advantages of adding a high-density material to a Read more…
In an article published in 2009, I looked at some of the design features of the joint face of a split con rod. One important requirement is that the two parts of the con rod - the ‘blade’ of the rod and its cap - must be positively and reliably located with respect to each other.
It is important that these location features are machined into the rod before the big-end bore is finished to size. This guarantees that when the rod is assembled and the Read more…
In researching a recent article on this subject in Race Engine Technology (issue 47, June/July 2010), I spoke to many companies and discussed all kinds of coatings. DLC has been around for a number of years now and its use is widespread; however, this coating still attracts a lot of R&D spending for process development.
The aims of this are generally to produce an improved coating in terms of one or more parameters. It would be considered a worthwhile step forward in coating Read more…
