RE: Highs and lows at Oulton Park: Time for Tea?
Discussion
Ken993 said:
The regulations don't require you to run an alternator. It will actually slow you down as the performance of the engine goes down as the power of the battery goes down. As Ryan is very light, he can afford to run a huge battery, if he only had a race battery, it would not have lasted the length of the race.
Ken - I'm not sure that's true. The engine performance will be marginally enhanced without the drag from the alt, and won't drop off until the battery voltage is insufficient to drive fuel injectors / coil packs... at which point the car won't run at all. You don't progressively lose power as the battery runs down.Have done the same myself in a TVR Tuscan - alternator packed up in race 1 and no time to change it (buried in the Vee of the engine) for race 2. Ratchet strapped a road car battery into the car, pushed it onto the grid and kept my fingers crossed I had enough electricity to get me to the end of the race. Made it into the pit lane and conked out!
Great performance in the race though - good to watch
teamHOLDENracing said:
Ken - I'm not sure that's true. The engine performance will be marginally enhanced without the drag from the alt, and won't drop off until the battery voltage is insufficient to drive fuel injectors / coil packs... at which point the car won't run at all. You don't progressively lose power as the battery runs down.
. I've races lotus' for eight years now and had many failed alternators, it is a weak spot on the kseries. I remember finishing a night race at brands with no lights as the alternator had packed up. I'm no engineer but the team have always said that losing the alternator will cost power and certainly the car feels a bit slower but I am happy to be corrected by somebody more qualified to comment than myself.
In terms of Ryan, we are splitting hairs. Not having the alternator would not have added much to the bhp of the car and due to the truck battery that he runs there would not have been much current loss in a twenty minute race. Ryan was lucky to get out in time for the race, they were working on the car right up to the point the other cars were going on the grid but they could not sort the alternator in time. I think every race team would have done the same and run without the alternator and even if it did transgress the rules in some way I am sure the scrutineers would have take a pragmatic view.
There was an alternator fitted, it was just the belt was missing, this is the alternator that was taken out of the car:
Engine bay cleaned up:
New engine:
wst said:
Is the new engine going to be to the same spec as the old one or is there any room for improvement anywhere?
The engine is already optimised within the rules so nothing else can done, they are hoping to use the same head as that was not damaged. The performance comes from how well the header is ported, that is the clever bit. We are restricted on horse power but not torque, there is also a lot of skill in the mapping to get a flat torque curve.wst said:
Is the new engine going to be to the same spec as the old one or is there any room for improvement anywhere?
The engine is already optimised within the rules so nothing else can done, they are hoping to use the same head as that was not damaged. The performance comes from how well the header is ported, that is the clever bit. We are restricted on horse power but not torque, there is also a lot of skill in the mapping to get a flat torque curve.
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