When we talk about friction in regard to race engines, we are normally referring to the power or energy lost due to it, but the phenomenon of friction plays an important role in the function of many components in a race engine. Fasteners are a particular example. For critical applications, we would ideally like to measure the tension in a fastener directly, but this is rarely possible. Our next best method of gauging the tension in a fastener immediately after tightening is to measure its...
The role of the lubricant in any tribological system is to eliminate component wear and minimise the frictional drag. This is as true for any road-going touring car engine as it is for one used in Formula One - indeed, in many ways the former is a far harder task since the engine has to be protected over a much wider range of operating conditions, summer and winter and often up to 20,000 miles between oil drains. In the case of the latter, the oil simply has to last only the race. However,...
When it comes to any form of competition engine, I prefer my oil systems to be like my Martinis - dry. But as 99% or more of the engines in the world store their oil immediately below the crankcase, it will come as no surprise that some race regulations insist that this arrangement must be retained. And apart from having to mount the engine a little higher in the chassis and the ever-present issue of oil surge on corners and under braking/acceleration, other problems, sometimes totally...
When Bob Vandergriff Jr decided to take his operation full-time in the National Hot Rod Association Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel category, he also made the commitment to change his tune-up combination in order to run with the balance of the field more readily. According to crew member Rob Hauser, "We're trying to adapt to a newer, more late-model tune-up for 2011 than we used in years past; we're going with what a lot of the other teams are running." When...
Love them or loathe them, and despite being virtually outlawed in international motorcycle racing, two-stroke engines are still the main form of propulsion in the world of karting. With far fewer moving parts and power:weight ratios that most four-stroke engine designers can only dream about, the piston ring in a two-stroke engine has an altogether greater task than those in its four-stroke cousin. Not only does it have to seal the combustion chamber at much higher engine speeds and cope...