The rigours of endurance racing make such events a real test of the machinery and the team behind it, and the exhaust system of any car or motorcycle needs careful consideration in its design, from the general layout through to the smallest details. GT racing has always been the backbone of national and international endurance car racing. In the good times there is the money to support big-budget Prototypes, but there is always a very healthy, well supported base of GT teams that offer...
There is very often a need to fasten thinwall parts to other components. In the case of engines and transmissions, this might be cosmetic covers, airboxes, airhorns, electrical enclosures or any number of other items. The fastening of thin components is not technically difficult to achieve: we can use the same type of fasteners that we use in normal circumstances, but we need to be aware of the difference in behaviour of threaded fasteners, which can tend to lead to fastener loosening or...
Back when petrol in the UK cost the equivalent of about 30p in current money and the Beatles were top of the music charts, the fixed-choke carburettor – particularly that of the DCOE – was most definitely king. Affectionately known as ‘Webers’, and more often than not a replacement for the constant depression SU or Stromberg, the throaty induction roar of the single-choke-per-cylinder device was the thrill for many, even it often yielded no more engine power....
It might seem difficult to believe but there was a time when not all engine designers believed in free-breathing engines. These days of course the key to the best possible engine performance is generally accepted as having the least restrictive intake system of a size and length to take advantage of the inevitable pressure pulsation within it. In the early days of engine design the preoccupation in packing the engine cylinders with as much air as possible was the same, but this was...
In the early days of automotive engine development, most engines made do without any form of oil filtration, or at best a rudimentary gauze filter. Until the 1970s there were mainstream production engines operating without any real filtration, a notable example being the Volkswagen air-cooled boxer (although did eventually gain a filter in the 1980s). However, ever-finer tolerances and longer service intervals have made filters an indispensable part of both race and road engine lubrication...