Fuel injection in NASCAR
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Fuel injection technology has been found to be one of the most important technical advances in stock automobiles since NASCAR was founded in 1947.[1] [2] While the sale of manual transmission vehicles would start to decline in the 1970s and plummet in the 1980s, NASCAR continued to hold a strict policy of only allowing manual transmission vehicles in the Cup Series until 2021, when the Next Gen specification featuring 5-speed sequential gearbox.
Cars that compete in the NASCAR
Summary
History
During the 1957 NASCAR Grand National season, president of NASCAR,
Initially, NASCAR indicated that it would transition to fuel injection midway through the 2011 season.[3] They ultimately decided to delay the transition for one more year.[3] Starting in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, carburetors have been officially replaced with fuel injection - making the technology legal after 55 years of being "outlawed.[4][5][6]" The first race in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history to use fuel injection was the 2012 running of the traditionally carburetor-friendly Daytona 500; which took take place on February 26.[1][7] The first series of tests that were applied to the new fuel injection system began on the Thursday practice prior to the 2011 Quaker State 400 race; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest driver inside a fuel injection vehicle and Ford was the quickest vehicle.[8][9] Stock car racing technology had fallen behind the technology used in vehicles that are mass-produced for the general public. The reason behind this is that NASCAR didn't take advantage of fuel injection when fuel injected vehicles started to almost completely replace carburetor-powered vehicles during the late 1980s.[10]
Outside the NASCAR racing circuit, the American automobile manufacturers would make the final two models to run on carburetors: the 1990
Purpose
The fuel injection system that NASCAR will use in all future Sprint Cup Series races has been jointly developed by
Personnel on all the racing teams will have to adjust to the new technology.
Fuel injection allows a precise amount of fuel to suit the amount of air flowing through the engine, making it more efficient.[4][5][6] Fuel injection is also used to regulate the horsepower rating of the stock cars, making the sport safer, providing for more fuel efficient vehicles, in addition to cleaning the environment for the spectators in and out of the race.[4][5][6] There are more than 150 different adjustments that Sprint Cup Series crew chiefs can make with fuel injection, as opposed to 24 different adjustments with a carburetor.[14]
The stock car racing organization has a special authorization code that keeps hackers away from tampering with the vehicles using workaround programs.
NASCAR Sprint Cup races can start in temperatures as low as 50 °F (10 °C) without making the vehicles suffer through major engine problems.[16]
One of the downsides of allowing 15% ethanol fuel is the big jump in corn prices in recent years.
Approximately 75 psi of fuel pressure is used in the fuel injection system.
On-track results
The first win of a restrictor plate race during the fuel injection era would go to Matt Kenseth.[20] However, Kenseth simply could not keep the consistency to win any other restrictor plate race during the current fuel injection era. Roger Penske would become the first person to win the owner's championship while fielding cars with fuel injection. Chevrolet has won the first manufacturer's championship of the fuel injection area; keeping their momentum going from the carburetor era of racing.
Even with Toyota's overall success in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, their vehicles picked up eight engine failures to neutralize the eight wins that they accumulated during the course of that season. Most of these wins in 2012 for Toyota were picked up by Denny Hamlin.[21] Not a single engine failure has yet been attributed to electronic fuel injection.[22] Dale Earnhardt Jr. was responsible for accomplishing the one-millionth mile under fuel injection as he was leading lap 34 at the 2013 Bank of America 500.[23]
References
- ^ a b NASCAR: Shift to fuel injection a quantum leap Archived 2012-04-04 at the Wayback Machine at F1 Pulse
- ^ Going Beyond Gen-6 at NASCAR.com
- ^ a b Rodman, Dave (January 22, 2011). "NASCAR defers fuel injection to 2012 season". NASCAR.com. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g NASCAR sets fuel injection for '12 but keeping restrictor plates at USA Today
- ^ a b c d e f g NASCAR Moves to Fuel Injection, Bosch First Approved Supplier Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine at Auto Service World
- ^ a b c d e f g Bosch to provide oxygen sensors for fuel injection Archived December 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine at NASCAR.com
- ^ "NASCAR moves Daytona 500 back a week in 2012 - USATODAY.com". USA Today. Daytona Beach, Florida. Associated Press. February 20, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- ^ Hembree, Mike. "CUP: Fuel Injection Testing Scheduled At Kentucky". 6 July 2011. Speedtv.com. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
- ^ Menzer, Joe. "All testing talk centers around fuel injection". 7 July 2011. NASCAR. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
- ^ a b c NASCAR teams get first look at fuel injection at Yahoo Sports Archived July 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ France, NASCAR seek to carry momentum into '12 at NASCAR.com
- ^ The Power Inside NASCAR at Freescale
- ^ a b "Comparison of racing speeds". BJWor.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
- ^ NASCAR Fuel Injection? Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine at Real Car Guys
- ^ Day 2 of testing brings more competition changes at NASCAR.com
- ^ Brian West; Keith Knoll; Wendy Clark; Ronald Graves; John Orban; Steve Przesmitzki; Timothy Theiss (2008). "Effects of Intermediate Ethanol Blends on Legacy Vehicles and Small Non-Road Engines, Report 1" (PDF). Oak Ridge National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-10-19. NREL/TP-540-43543, ORNL/TM-2008/117
- ^ Matthew L. Wald (2010-12-20). "Engine Makers Sue to Block E15 Fuel". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
- ^ Matthew L. Wald (2013-03-18). "Days of Promise Fade for Ethanol". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
- ^ Make NASCAR Mean Something at Gas2.org
- ^ "2012 Official Race Results : Daytona 500". Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2013-03-08.
- ^ "Toyota defends engine program, fuel-mileage problems in wake of Kyle Busch criticism". Sporting News NASCAR. Archived from the original on 2012-11-19. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
- ^ "TECHNOLOGY COUNTDOWN: ELECTRONIC FUEL INJECTION". NASCAR. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
- ^ "Electronic fuel injection hits milestone in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series". Auto Week. Archived from the original on 2014-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-28.