Race Car Fuel Tanks Are a Vital Piece of the Final Product
Race cars are phenomenal monuments to engineering and mechanics with a million and one separate parts and pieces, all of which come together as one to create the perfect racing machine. To really get top performance out of a race car, it is absolutely fundamental that every single part be absolutely perfect, with no detail being too trivial to be heeded: every part, from the smallest O Ring right up to the largest gasket, a winning race car needs every aspect to be ideal.
With the advance of technology, one part in particular which has been changing a lot is the fuel tank on racing cars. Otherwise known as fuel cells, they need to fulfill certain criteria in order to be incorporated into a race car that don't apply when dealing with an ordinary vehicle.
As with pretty much every standard auto component that goes into a race car, it needs to be smarter, better, tougher, and longer lasting. Especially considering the highly volatile nature of gasoline and the breakneck speeds accomplished on the race track (and hence the extreme violence of racing vehicle crashes), race car fuel tanks need to exhibit very special traits to be reliable and safe.
A major difference between racing and ordinary auto fuel tanks is the inclusion in the former variety of elastic inner liners within the tank structure. This sort of liner is specifically added to decrease the chances of a fuel leak and ignition during high impact situations, as the liner is able to stretch and absorb the blow, thereby keeping fuel from spilling out. This feature is a major fire prevention aspect of race cars.
Another special feature of racing fuel tanks is their form: they tend to be designed with more detail and particularity, so that they may be fitted into exactly the precise spot within the car architecture that is needed. This economizing of space increases a race car's performance. For example, a tank may be placed directly atop the rear axle instead of in front of it.
An additional characteristic of racing fuel tanks is the technology used to help further reduce the chances of explosion and fire risk in general. Many racing cars incorporate open-cell foam cores in the fuel tank which effectively diminishes the chance that the fumes floating around in the empty portion of the tank will explode.
To keep a race car nice and stable, it is important that the fuel tank have some sort of balancing mechanism inside of it so that as the fuel sloshes from side to side during abrupt and speedy twists and turns, the vehicle doesn't suffer from undue performance loss. This same problem may also induce fuel starvation in the race car, something which is absolutely not to be tolerated in the racing industry.
Originally mostly constructed with materials like steel and aluminum, in recent times more and more fuel tanks have been manufactured with high density polyethylene (HDPE). While on the one hand they are appealing due to the many complex forms into which HDPE can be molded, they are not good for long term use as a fuel tank because the gasoline or diesel will progressively penetrate the HDPE. - 21393
With the advance of technology, one part in particular which has been changing a lot is the fuel tank on racing cars. Otherwise known as fuel cells, they need to fulfill certain criteria in order to be incorporated into a race car that don't apply when dealing with an ordinary vehicle.
As with pretty much every standard auto component that goes into a race car, it needs to be smarter, better, tougher, and longer lasting. Especially considering the highly volatile nature of gasoline and the breakneck speeds accomplished on the race track (and hence the extreme violence of racing vehicle crashes), race car fuel tanks need to exhibit very special traits to be reliable and safe.
A major difference between racing and ordinary auto fuel tanks is the inclusion in the former variety of elastic inner liners within the tank structure. This sort of liner is specifically added to decrease the chances of a fuel leak and ignition during high impact situations, as the liner is able to stretch and absorb the blow, thereby keeping fuel from spilling out. This feature is a major fire prevention aspect of race cars.
Another special feature of racing fuel tanks is their form: they tend to be designed with more detail and particularity, so that they may be fitted into exactly the precise spot within the car architecture that is needed. This economizing of space increases a race car's performance. For example, a tank may be placed directly atop the rear axle instead of in front of it.
An additional characteristic of racing fuel tanks is the technology used to help further reduce the chances of explosion and fire risk in general. Many racing cars incorporate open-cell foam cores in the fuel tank which effectively diminishes the chance that the fumes floating around in the empty portion of the tank will explode.
To keep a race car nice and stable, it is important that the fuel tank have some sort of balancing mechanism inside of it so that as the fuel sloshes from side to side during abrupt and speedy twists and turns, the vehicle doesn't suffer from undue performance loss. This same problem may also induce fuel starvation in the race car, something which is absolutely not to be tolerated in the racing industry.
Originally mostly constructed with materials like steel and aluminum, in recent times more and more fuel tanks have been manufactured with high density polyethylene (HDPE). While on the one hand they are appealing due to the many complex forms into which HDPE can be molded, they are not good for long term use as a fuel tank because the gasoline or diesel will progressively penetrate the HDPE. - 21393
About the Author:
Byron Jonas buys all his racing gear from GMP Racing Products. From racing suits, to fuel tanks, they have him covered
posted by X - Men @ 3:19 AM
0 Comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home