An issue often not immediately considered when discussing an engine component such as a cylinder head or engine block, or any cast or forged part of them, is the way the machined features are positioned into the rough part. These features need to be positioned - or 'targeted' - correctly onto the casting, in order to get to a fully functioning component as the end product. So what are the important points during this initial machining, which will create the basis for all other...
The British Touring Car Championship is in a state of flux at the moment, with cars running to different sets of rules and with different engine regulations in play. As we might expect, no 'side' is happy when the others are winning. It would appear that teams operating under the new rules, with the so-called Next Generation Touring Cars (NGTC) such as the Toyota Avensis campaigned by Dynojet Racing and driven to good effect this year by Frank Wrathall, are becoming more successful,...
When we look at a bespoke fastener for a race engine, it is often clear that a great deal of thought has gone into its design, and considerable effort into its manufacture. Fasteners for use in race engines typically see much higher stresses than a typical production engine fastener, and they also tend to accumulate stress cycles at a much faster rate than in most other applications. We should not therefore be surprised that a lot of attention is paid to fastener design, especially with...
We live in interesting and uncertain times - that much at least is certain. The world may be hovering on the point of economic disaster but in 2011, despite the proliferation of other types of fuel (such as ethanol, methanol, CNG or diesel) the performance fuel of choice is still gasoline. A mixture of up to several hundred types of hydrocarbon chains of varying length and shape, gasoline can be tailored more specifically to the precise characteristics of an internal combustion engine than...
In the rarefied atmosphere of Formula One, engineers are often given the resources to investigate engineering issues that would be beyond the scope of other racing organisations. With the regulations limiting engineering freedom to an extensive degree, teams will go to great lengths to gain any advantage. One example of this is the development work undertaken by the now defunct Minardi team in the production of a new gearbox for the 2005 Formula One season. The team had been working on its...