Rob,
They use compressed air as introduced by Renault several years ago. Renault
is now working on an engine that does away with camshafts and uses solenoids
to control the valves.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "R Haug" <haugchiro@moscow.com>
To: "Adam Bradley" <ambradley@yahoo.com>; <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 5:31 PM
Subject: Re: Stroked R16
> Adam Bradley wrote:
>
> > That is, is the limiting factor of our engine RPM the stroke or
> > something else?
>
> I remember reading something about the design of older Ferrari engines a
> few years back. They tried to keep the piston and rod velocity below 4000
> feet per second. If you increase the stroke of the engine, you
effectively
> increase the velocity of the piston and rods. If you exceed this limit
> then something will come loose (read that as break).
> Many of those high revving F1 engines have relatively short strokes. The
> use of titanium probably helps significantly as well. They may even use
> other high tech materials to withstand the extreme rpms.
> I thought they were going to replace the valve springs with solenoids to
> actuate the valves so they could control opening and closing more
> accurately at high rpms. I could be wrong. They run 2 - 3 times the rpm
> capability of our engines.
> Bob
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