Why not Diesel?

[ronniecalcutta]

Despite having much more Thermal efficiency & fuel economy than Gasoline, why diesel cars are not used enough for racing purpose? What are the barriers & limitations of a Diesel engine according to you? And what are the mods that can be implemented to a Diesel engine to make it unbeatable? Do not mind the coarse, & jerky operation of Diesel engines.

 

[be989]

The Audi R10's running (winning) the Le Mans are diesel powered. I'm guessing the technology to make diesel engines perform is still new that's why it's not mainstream yet.

 

[HDi fun]

The Audi R10's running (winning) the Le Mans are diesel powered. I'm guessing the technology to make diesel engines perform is still new that's why it's not mainstream yet.

That's the correct answer I suspect. The other problem is weight.

 

[be989]

That's the correct answer I suspect. The other problem is weight.

Yup, probably that too though weight can be reduced by using lighter materials for the engine. But compared to a petrol engine, yah, a diesel will probably always be heavier.

 

[HDi fun]

Yup, probably that too though weight can be reduced by using lighter materials for the engine. But compared to a petrol engine, yah, a diesel will probably always be heavier.

The lighter materials are quite costly as well. Give it a bit more time and I think we'll see diesel becoming more common on the racetrack.

 

[turbonutter69]

There are diesels that race. The BTCC has diesel racers and has had them for a good few years now..
The less know Vw championships have a diesel van racing round.
They are out there if you look hard enough.

 

[geraint13]

Plato was racing a seat diesel a couple of seasons ago iirc.

 

[turbonutter69]

Plato was racing a seat diesel a couple of seasons ago iirc.

Correct.

 

[HDi fun]

They are indeed. But the racing fraternity is still dominated by petrol though. The fact that the diesels don't stick out from the crowd is an indication of progress.

Imagine a 1986 Cavalier D on a BTCC circuit

Much as I am a confirmed diesel enthusiast (and I used to HATE them with avengeance) we must all remember that petrol engines are progressing as well.

But in the last ten years it's diesel power which has had the lion's share of the whole car industry's investment. Now that the environmentalists have decided that diesel might not, after all, be the best way forward (to suit their tree-hugging ways) the industry is re-visiting petrol engines.

So watch and see what happens - it'll be an interesting time.

 

[ronniecalcutta]

Guys, do you have diesel engine powered motorcycle running in your countries? In India, Royal Enfield used to make a few diesel motorcycles but they had to stop making due to poor response from consumers. My uncle drove it once and had to rest a few days to cure the pain caused by those diesel knocks.

 

[HDi fun]

Not aware of one yet. That's one application I can't really get my head around. Racing cars: yes, supercars and F1: yes with reservations; bikes: not keen but then I used to detest diesel cars so let's see what time brings

 

[turbonutter69]

Could you imagine the raw wheelie power of a Tdi Motorbike.

 

[HDi fun]

Could you imagine the raw wheelie power of a Tdi Motorbike.

I can indeed. :bigsmile::bigsmile::bigsmile::bigsmile: Pulling a wheelie at 1300rpm in third would be interesting

But you'd need lots of it to compensate for the weight of the engine.

 

[ronniecalcutta]

Yeah... the engine will be heavy, then one more thing, it would require much space for a turbo & the engine will also run hotter because of high compression pressure requiring a much efficient air cooling system...Royal Enfield was crazy enough to make this...this is still used in some of our military regiments...

 

[jarrus]

Well, I'm a bit of a diesel head it has to be said,

Peugeot are also running in LeMan as well as Audi with a diesel powered rocket ship,
It has to be said though that the Peugeot is the faster of the 2 but because it wasn't as reliable as the Audi, it lost out on a podium finish,
I love diesels, I love the big torque they offer over there petrol counterparts and I love the fact that you can have the performance and not use enough fuel to power my village for the rest of the year. But there are drawback like you've mentioned before,
Diesel engines are heavy because they need to be a lot (and I do mean a lot) stronger than there petrol counterparts, take my engine for example, It's an older design but still a good engine, it has a cast iron head and block. But it would need to because it has a compression ratio of 23:1 and runs about 18 psi (that's 1.24 bar for people who work in new money) of turbo pressure, no petrol engine would run that..... so now wonder they are heavy to contain the amount of pressure it has to contend with,

The noise they produce isn't exactly, fruity....

but then again...listen to these...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7UOFSMaAg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHLXIdq3sYg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7eunW70UXY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THlqwMldhsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkrG_zjz_B8

 

[turbonutter69]

I always thought the Peugeot 1.9td run 15 psi standard?
I've heard some run 28 psi. Not for long mind.

 

[jarrus]

14 psi standard, mine is at about 18 psi since i've tweaked it up,

there are people that run 30 psi with no problems using a different turbo, but the standard one will run up to about 22 psi before the problems start,

these engine are very strong, there have been cases where people have thrown rods in them but this is down to poor maintenance and people on 306 forums still think that you can only use a semi-synthetic oil in there old engine, so they put some massive turbo on it running stupid pressures and wonder why there tons of black crap in there engine when they have blown it up.....

You'd be surprised on what these are capable of, just no one has the balls to do it......

This is where I come in when I get the dosh.....