Race engines are characterised by high levels of output, and are generally considered to be low in mass. Engineers spend a great deal of time, and companies spend a great deal of money, in trying to create ever-lighter components. Light components lead to lower forces for a given level of acceleration, and therefore generally lead to lower friction. Such pursuit of minimum mass in engine components leads us to produce evermore complex machined parts, and new manufacturing methods will soon...
Test systems are only as good as the instrumentation used to measure and record data; without the ability to undertake accurate measurements, reliable testing cannot be conducted. However, as test beds increase in complexity, so does the volume of data generated by their sensors, making rapid interpretation of results difficult without efficient data management and analysis systems. Generally speaking, most dynamometer manufacturers will supply sensors and a data management interface with...
The differential is one of the most important components in a modern rally car, contributing significantly to its performance potential. This impact is in terms of actual grip and, more important, the feel the differential affords the driver in order to judge available grip, allowing them to extract maximum performance from a given set-up. With the simplification of the technology allowed now in the WRC, teams are limited to using purely mechanical systems, but this was not always the...
There can be little doubt that the flow bench is a useful piece of equipment. They can be found everywhere, from the workshops of those who tinker with engines for a hobby to some of the top engine manufacturers in the world. Those with large financial resources and great faith in CFD can perhaps manage well enough without a flow bench - indeed, CFD can tell us much more about port flows than a flow bench ever could. Both these tools are excellent in their own way. Anyone with a little...
Plain bearings come in a huge range of sizes, and in dealing with engines we will be familiar with a number of different types. The simplest are the cylindrical bush types which we see in various guises, most notably as con rod bushes and valve guides. Con rod bushes and valve guides are most commonly alloys of copper. In the case of the small-end bush, these see relatively little sliding but high loads. The valve guide experiences little load but intermittent sliding. Copper alloys also...