If we look at the high end of the market as far as racecar alternators are concerned, we see very special productions by only a few manufacturers. Such alternators are chosen for a number of reasons, not least of which is their notable compactness. They are permanent magnet machines, and can be found nestled alongside the engines in Formula One cars. The same technology is used widely in industry and the military, and is also commonly found in various hybrid systems, Read more…
Archive for December, 2011
Brushless permanent magnet motors
Thursday, December 15th, 2011Making it more complex?
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
In today’s world the possibilities for producing complex castings are much more sophisticated than ever. Whereas in the old days we only needed to worry about making patterns out of wood or steel/cast iron, now we can look at how to integrate as many functions as possible in as effective a solution as possible on a mass scale. So we no longer use only the traditional method of pattern making, but rapid prototyping techniques as well.
In general, an engine block casting consists of a number Read more…
A balancing act
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
I wish I had a fiver (about $8) for every time a racing driver mentioned the word ‘balance.’ The post-practice or post-race interview of explanations and excuses as to why he (or she) didn’t win invariably attributes the cause to the relative grip between front and rear tyres, thus allowing the car to oversteer (loose) or understeer (push). And away from optimum handling, how could he (or she) possibly ever be expected to win? But in the world of engine lubricants the word ‘balance’ assumes an Read more…
The risks of plating fasteners
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
The subject of the plating of fasteners is one that causes some debate. Many companies refuse to contemplate the use of plated fasteners, while some manufacturers will supply them only at a customer’s insistence and with a waiver that absolves them of any responsibility for losses resulting from a breakage.
Other companies are much happier to supply plated fasteners, however, having taken every precaution to minimise the chances of embrittlement before, during and Read more…
World Superbike exhausts
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
World Superbike remains a popular series in motorcycle racing, its enduring appeal stemming from the fact that the machines are based on the same motorcycles that you can find in your local showroom. Twenty years ago, it was a competition full of limited-production homologation machines, such as the Honda RC30 and Yamaha OW-01, which were produced at great expense and which required a racing kit that at the time dwarfed the cost of the motorcycle. In 1990, if we discount the Bimota machine, the most expensive road bike was the Read more…
But which gear?
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
As a young man (many years ago), although my spelling was never entirely satisfactory, the subject of mathematics never daunted me. Matrix manipulations, Laplace transforms and complex differential equations were as meat and drink to me as I endeavoured to find order in this apparently disordered world. It was only later, as I discovered karting, that this world was slightly shaken, when I lost my ability to count. Read more…
Transmission dynos
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
In previous issues of RET-Monitor we have looked at the wide variety of dynamometers designed to measure engine power output or gauge the parasitic losses of particular components. However, engines are not the only area of a racecar that can benefit from dynamometer testing. In the upper levels of motorsport, every tiny performance gain counts, and the transmission and final drive is an area where considerable gains can be made. Enter the transmission dyno, the most direct method of quantifying improvements in Read more…
Aerodynamic counterweights
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
In the search for increased performance, the common direction of engine development has been to increase engine speed incrementally. While this trend is somewhat on the wane - owing to various regulations such as absolute rpm limits as in Formula One, fuel capacity/flow limits or the NASCAR ‘gear rule’ - high engine speeds are a good way to raise performance, providing that efficiency can be maintained. Read more…
Bushless small ends
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
When we come to describe a ‘traditional’ racecar con rod for a four-stroke engine, we would imagine a split rod with a bushed small end (or at least many of us would). The bushed small end has been with us for many decades, but the bushless steel con rod is becoming more popular, and bushless rods are a possibility in a number of other materials. As reported in the con rods ‘Focus’ article in Race Engine Technology (issue 48, August 2010), some rod suppliers have been supplying Read more…
Thermal barriers
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Many of the applications discussed in the RET-Monitor articles where thermal barrier coatings are concerned have been on the subject of exhausts. Thermal barrier coatings here have the aim of reducing radiated heat, although in some cases a benefit of such coatings can be to improve the efficiency of the turbocharger turbine by retaining heat within the exhaust flow rather than rejecting it to atmosphere prior to the turbine. Read more…
