Fuel injection test at Kentucky goes well

Fuel injection test at Kentucky goes well

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 7, 2011)

SPARTA, Ky.—Engine builders didn't find anything too surprising Thursday as they put their engines and NASCAR's new fuel-injection systems to the test at Kentucky Speedway.

Five teams had cars outfitted with the fuel injection system for the test at the track. Teams worked on getting the perfect fuel mix using the system, especially when the driver is not at full throttle.

Teams used test drivers Thursday with Austin Dillon driving for Richard Childress Racing (Earnhardt Childress Racing engines), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. driving for Roush Fenway Racing (Roush Yates Engines), Sam Hornish Jr. driving for Penske Racing (Penske engines), Mike Skinner driving for Michael Waltrip Racing (Toyota Racing Development engines) and Aric Almirola driving for Hendrick Motorsports (Hendrick engines).

The cars with fuel injection turned average laps of 172-176 mph during testing Thursday, compared with 170-178 mph for the regular Cup cars that also tested at the track.

"It's pretty much what we expected," ECR engine builder Danny Lawrence said. "It's been pretty good. We have a lot of work to do. We just want to make sure we get it right.

"We're looking at every piece of it. Right now, we're working on drivability, making sure that when they mash the gas, it's a really smooth transition. Fuel efficiency, fuel flow and we want to make sure we don't hurt our engine, also. Everybody has learned a lot."

McLaren Electronic Systems and Freescale Semiconductor produce the engine control units, while Holley makes the throttle bodies. The systems cost about $26,000 apiece.

"These are the same injectors that you have in passenger cars: the same module that you use in a passenger car: the same wiring harness," said Dodge's Howard Comstock. "From Dodge's standpoint, it's technology that we've understood for the last 25 years that we can help the teams apply to the racecar."

Most teams have done testing of fuel injection systems the last two years.

"Full throttle load is the easiest thing in the world to tune to," said Toyota 's Dave Wilson. "It's all the part-throttle stuff—it's getting on pit lane smoothly, getting out of the garage smoothly, that is absolutely essential that we can't replicate in a dyno laboratory environment."

While fuel injection is designed to increase fuel efficiency, the injectors are not directly in the engine cylinders. NASCAR has required fuel injectors to be in the manifolds, and the fuel must travel a little bit of distance from the injector to the cylinder in order to keep one engine manufacturer from having an advantage with a particular cylinder head.

Because of that, the fuel-air mixture might vary in each cylinder, but it will be more predictable than in the carburetor-equipped engines.

"Today, you make all (the cylinders) the same but they don't run the same because a carburetor doesn't provide equal fuel to all the cylinders," Chevrolet engine component designer Ron Sperry said.

The data the fuel-injection systems gathered Thursday will be collected by NASCAR.

"There's obviously the ability to log and record everything that happens during the process of today," Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said. "We don't have to stand over their shoulder to watch anything. We can walk in tonight, hook up, walk off with what we need to look at."