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Anybody need surge tank?

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:20 pm
by Brian
Hey guys,

Any interest in Fuel Surge Tank?

In our supercharged 2007 we get serious fuel starvation at Laguna Seca at turn five if we are much below 3/8 of a tank. Since our car generates much more lateral G than the average track Miata I wonder how many of you folks may also be suffering this?

Re: Anybody need surge tank?

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:07 pm
by jboemler
Wonder why the Cup cars don't seem to have a problem?

Re: Anybody need surge tank?

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:57 am
by Brian
Hi Jim, I am not sure if you are joking with that question or not since part of the purpose of the Cup Car spec class is to keep costs low (relatively speaking) and racing tight and exciting by making everybody in the class race on the same skinny wheels with no downforce, etc. The Cup Cars are quick and light but intentionally low on lateral-G and exceeding the lateral grip of the cup cars is not a challenge.... and what I am wondering is if there are significant numbers of folks doing so and finding fuel starvation like we do.

Re: Anybody need surge tank?

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:40 am
by v67gsr
I guess this problem is specific to your NC on Laguna Seca. Our NC have very similar setup in aero and tires size. I occasionally and purposely ran my car in reserve fuel load (~ 6 liter) for best lap attempt but I have no gas related problem so far on any of the tracks accessible to me.

Re: Anybody need surge tank?

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:15 pm
by jboemler
Thanks for the extra info, Brian. I was thinking about the power difference (Cup car vs yours), which wouldn't make much difference in cornering loads -- I unintentionally ignored the huge leaps your car has made in tires and aero.

Re: Anybody need surge tank?

Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:43 am
by vetracr
Brian,

I had similar problems when autocrossing my C4 Corvettes. I built an auxilliary reservoir tank approximately 2" diameter about 10" high oriented vertically adjacent to main fuel tank. Fuel from main fuel tank was fed into reservoir and then a second fuel pump pumped fuel from reservoir to injectors. Overflow from full reservoir and return fuel from pressure regulator was fed back to main tank. Even if main tank pick up was sucking air engine never missed a beat as reservoir always had fuel in it. NC Miata does not have return fuel line from injectors but concept will still work. Sorry no pictures as this was a secret trick only a limited number of C4 racers knew about.

Larry