How much does F1 racing fuel weigh per litre/gallon?

[kriptone]

Hi All,
As an armchair fan of Formula 1, I am continually perplexed as to why the ITV F1 team always refer to kilos of fuel rather than litres or gallons. Call me thick if you like but I cannot work out the fuel consumption of the cars from x number of kgs put in will last for x number of laps without knowing the weight!

Apologies if this is an old question that is addressed elsewhere

Regards

Tone The Krip

[willibetz]

The exact value will vary between suppliers, but I'd use 0.75 kg/litre as an approximation.

WilliBetz

[kriptone]

willibetz said:

The exact value will vary between suppliers, but I'd use 0.75 kg/litre as an approximation.

WilliBetz

Thanks, this has confuddled me for some time! Now I can watch GP's and know with some degree of certainty how much Alonso, Button etc are using. Cheers

Tone The Krip

[robbiemeister]

willibetz said:

The exact value will vary between suppliers, but I'd use 0.75 kg/litre as an approximation.

WilliBetz

How does that compare with pump petrol?

[willibetz]

The range of permissable densities is the same for both, and 0.75 kg/litre is a reasonable working figure for road fuel.

As before, it will vary between suppliers and grades.

WilliBetz

[racefan_uk]

Isn't it to do with the volume of the fluid, depending on the atmosphere (heat/cold I mean)?

I thought petrol always weighed the same, whatever the temperature, but the volume it takes up, in capacity can alter depending on whether its hot or cold. Teams used to stick it in the freezer years ago as it took up less volume.

I may be confused on the science, but I thought that was the reason they worked in weight, rather than litres.

[100SRV]

The answer is in one of Steve Matchett's books, I think it was the Chariot Makers. It was the same reason as fuel mass instead of volume is used in aerospace - I'd guess it is to do with the way the car's suspension is set up - if the gross mass passes a certain value it will compromise the ride / handling setup? But eliminating the guesswork of varying volume with temperature is as good a reason as any

100SRV

[willibetz]

A given mass of fuel will occupy a volume that varies according to temperature. It's significant in motorsport, but not deemed important at the forecourt where we buy fuel by volume.

Cooling fuel will decrease the volume it occupies, but there are other benefits to doing so that are also important in motorsport. That's why cooling the fuel is prohibited (outside certain limits) in F1.