[roundincircles]

Today it was about 4c when I rode my Ducati to the dealers for some quick service work. The throttle response and engine smoothness was just great as the cold air packed more oxygen into the engine.....very different from a hot Summers day.

This got me thinking about Mclaren and their search for engineering improvement.

Could they use the air conditioning to cool the throttle bodies, chill the incoming air and get an increase in BHP?

Silly, maybe, but they have trick suspension and chassis so what's next?

Any thoughts?

 

[Squirrel]

LOL! - Or how about if they scrapped the traditional radiators, fitted a water tank and used the wasted heat from the engine & exhaust to generate steam and drive a turbine which generates electricity to run an electric booster motor / KERS battery...

 

[roundincircles]

LOL! - Or how about if they scrapped the traditional radiators, fitted a water tank and used the wasted heat from the engine & exhaust to generate steam and drive a turbine which generates electricity to run an electric booster motor / KERS battery...

Brilliant, I will mention it to Ron next time we meet for a Pint. Bet he has a problem with the weight but I will counter that the MP12 is an 'And Car'.

 

[depthofshine]

There are a few trick bits you could use but would be expensive and prob not notice that much, all engines work better on a cool day, desmotronics are clever but expensive and i think ducati own the rights now, you may see pneumatic valves soon, i think McLaren have done well by reducing weight which is harder than adding power.

Here are a few things could be done.

1st) Water injection can be used to mix cold water to make the fuel air mix denser

2nd) could use charge coolers water/air again to help drop the temp of the incoming air, but the distance from the turbos to the inlet is short so the air wont heat up that much.

3rd) thermal ceramic coatings can reduce under bonnet temp by 33% the cast manifolds,hot side of the turbo and exhaust can be coated making temps cooler turbos to spin up quicker so making more power. I had these on my corrado exhaust manifold as sat on top of the inlet helps with heat soak.

http://www.zircotec.com/page/turbochargers/138

Lotus engineering are doing a lot of clever stuff they have designed a 2 stroke engine with variable compression under different engine loads. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIG9pWldO8U