MFH 1/12 Williams FW16
Discussion
AER said:
air-cooled engines are also necessarily long to allow for finning in between the cylinders. They really only make sense as radial engines because otherwise they demand really long, floppy and very heavy crankshafts, all for saving the weight of a bit of coolant...
Remember air-cooled engines have powered multiple Le Mans winners and loads of other sports car race winners & championships with the 917, 935, 956 etc series of cars; they couldn't have been significantly compromised designs overall.Air cooled radials are limited too
by the number of cylinders you can fit around the crank case, and by the number of rows you can have before cooling susequent rows becomes impractical.
The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major was a hell of an engine. 28 cylinders in 4 rows and almost 72 litres; servicing must have been a nightmare.
I think I have a photo in my archives.
Absence of a liquid cooling system that is very susceptible to battle damage was a major advantage of air cooled radials.
I think I have a photo in my archives.
Absence of a liquid cooling system that is very susceptible to battle damage was a major advantage of air cooled radials.
dr_gn said:
AER said:
air-cooled engines are also necessarily long to allow for finning in between the cylinders. They really only make sense as radial engines because otherwise they demand really long, floppy and very heavy crankshafts, all for saving the weight of a bit of coolant...
Remember air-cooled engines have powered multiple Le Mans winners and loads of other sports car race winners & championships with the 917, 935, 956 etc series of cars; they couldn't have been significantly compromised designs overall.Air cooled radials are limited too
by the number of cylinders you can fit around the crank case, and by the number of rows you can have before cooling susequent rows becomes impractical.
Multi-row radials have a huge advantage over inline engines and even V's in terms of the number of cylinders available per crank pin. Yes, they may have a packaging disadvantage for vehicle installations, but the dangly carrot of a really lightweight crankshaft has never really been explored in motor racing, but I digress from my original point, that air cooling is a pretty limiting choice when it comes to engine design. It has its place but I suspect that Porsche had success with the 917-956 because, basing the engine on a production design (concept) it spent its engine development money elsewhere. (or perhaps the competition was a bit poorly also)
Edited by AER on Monday 13th June 03:24
Caterhamnut - please confirm that you have no social activity this weekend , planned or spontaneous and from around 5pm tomorrow until late Sunday night you will be updating us with numerous pictures of the MFH progress - preferably the 917 but either would do .Or start something pre-war ?
I'm loving it .
Yours Hopefully
I'm loving it .
Yours Hopefully
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