As an engineer first, a motorsport enthusiast second and historian third, I welcome the recent upsurge in historic rallying. But whereas most journalists or writers would perhaps reflect on the sheer thrill of hearing the sound of a BDA reverberating through the forests, my particular recollection is listening to one particular example idling just before entering a service halt. To put it bluntly, it sounded like a bag full of hammers! I'm used to listening to hot engines, and beneath...
The preponderance of multi-cylinder four-stroke race engines means that the production and supply of bearing shells is big business. The share of the bearing market occupied by two-stroke and four-stroke engines with assembled crankshafts that use rolling-element main and crankpin bearings, or four-stroke engines that are designed to use special rolling-element bearings with split outer races, is very small indeed. The manufacture of bearings, through the application of better...
The forces acting on the con rod are considerable, and the components to which they are attached are surprisingly flexible, although they may not appear so when you pick up a component such as crankshaft. The deflections of the crankshaft (bending and torsion) and the con rod (torsion) give rise to a tendency for there to be some axial force on the con rod trying to force it one way or the other parallel to the crankshaft axis. In providing adequate lubrication (and therefore very low...
The manufacture of crankshafts is not a straightforward matter; many pitfalls await the adventurous novice attempting to make his own crankshaft, and there are reasons why there are so few reputable race crankshaft manufacturers. The general trend for trying to reduce engine friction means that modern design practice is often in the direction of reducing bearing diameters. This means greater care needs to be taken in manufacture, especially heat treatment, if serious distortion is to be...
I have to admit that despite my fascination with modern technologies, the art of being a racing driver was always encompassed in the skill of changing gear - the crispness of the up change and the shear poetry of it while simultaneously braking and changing down. Judging it to perfection was satisfaction indeed, and many more hours were spent practising either on the road to and from my place of work or in the 'cockpit' of an armchair at home. But despite these many hours of practice...