When I started my first job as a design engineer I was given the task of engineering a crankcase, so the first thing I did was try to understand how a block was what it was. I studied the crankcases of rival engines, as well as earlier versions of ours, and tried to figure out why engineers did what they did and how they came to their decisions. To be honest it took me a lot of time before I had any insights into crankcase design. The main reason was the fact that every design feature in a...
Endurance racing has much to recommend it as a spectacle, and it is a pity that there aren’t more countries holding 24-hour races. I have been to all kinds of motorsport events, and there is little to compete with the atmosphere of racing taking place at dusk, through the night and into the dawn hours. Motorcycle endurance racing is singularly impressive, with the riders and their machines being brutally exposed to the elements and, in the event of an accident, to damage. In the case...
The components used in internal combustion engines, even highly tuned engines that we find in motorsport, are not routinely subjected to very high temperatures. Certainly the combustion temperatures are hot, but not so hot that aluminium can’t be successfully used for pistons, cylinder heads and cylinder bores in most applications. The only internal engine component we need to consider as a high-temperature application is probably the exhaust valve. Even so, it is usually only...
The benefits of injecting fuel directly into the cylinder have been understood for many years, but so too have the technical difficulties. Better volumetric efficiency and the ability to inject the fuel exactly where it is wanted at precisely the correct time in the engine cycle are the upsides. The physical difficulties of installing the injector, the fuel pressures needed and the temperature of the injector tip are some of the downsides. As long ago as the early to mid-1950s, Mercedes...
If you’ve ever examined the contents of the dirty side of the air filter of your daily transport you don’t need me to emphasise the importance of the filter on the engine air intake. Grit, dead leaves and even quite large insects can all easily be found scattered inside the entrance to the airbox, so in contrast to the ‘clean’ zone at the inner side of the filter, if ever there was a case for including an air filter on all engines – particularly those for...