The Oxford English Dictionary rather politely defines a jerk as "a contemptibly foolish person", and in reality this is probably the definition that most non-engineers would give. However, and to its credit, a more formal definition and one which is perhaps more meaningful to the world of engineering, is that of "a quick, sharp sudden movement". But as engineers we prefer our definitions to be a little more exact, so a better description and one more readily applicable to...
In an article posted in February 2011 on the subject of coatings, there was a brief discussion of the physical vapour deposition (PVD) method, some of the coatings used in motorsport that are commonly associated with this method, and some of the pitfalls of blindly specifying the latest coating without taking account of the exact type and grade of material being coated. In this article, I'll look into the method in more depth. The method lends itself to a very wide variety of coating...
There has been mention of coatings and other surface treatments for con rods in previous RET Monitor articles, and in the articles on con rods in Race Engine Technology magazine (see issues 40 and 58). At the recent Autosport Engineering show in Birmingham, England, I discussed the matter of rod coatings with a supplier, who showed me a couple of con rods he had to hand. The supplier explained to me that the con rods were coated with diamond-like carbon (DLC) with the aim of reducing...
The use of nose-feed crankshafts has been mentioned before, both in these RET-Monitor articles and in Race Engine Technology magazine issue 49. It is certainly not a new concept, having been used in the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines* with great success, nor is their use limited to the highest level of motor racing, having been used with success in LM P1 and LM P2 sportscar racing as well as some production motorcycle engines. The idea behind them is simple: the oil is introduced to the...
Controversial it may be, but the FIA's push to make Formula One more relevant to the roadcar world does seem to be having an impact. Take KERS for instance. Introduced in 2009, outlawed in 2010 and reintroduced for 2011, there must be hardly an OEM vehicle manufacturer anywhere who doesn't have some form of energy recovery programme of one form or another. Likewise, the rules for 2014 stipulating not the maximum amount of fuel to be used during a race (as has hitherto been the norm)...