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...
In response to my earlier articles on cylinder head cooling, two comments were posted on the website by readers. Both are written more or less from the perspective of current cylinder head material and its limitations, providing enough food for thought on alternative concepts. The major driver is to achieve sufficient cooling for the several components in the cylinder head, preferably in combination with a simple and lightweight design. Looking for alternatives, on the one hand...
I can hardly believe it - it's now almost 50 years since hard rock first came to our ears. That genre of music produced by (often distorted) electric guitars, bass and drums, sometimes accompanied by piano or keyboard, made its mark on the 1960s - much like, in a different sphere of endeavour, the invention of nickel silicon carbide began to influence cylinder bore coatings. Until that time, cast-iron cylinder liner technology in race engines was pretty ubiquitous. But whereas cast iron...