How can shells petrol be lighter than everyone elses isn't liquid the same weight no matter what ????

http://www.jensonf1.com/features/view.asp?id=176

 

No the gravity can change due to temperature & density of the fluid... oh sh#t i'm attempting to use my brain on a Monday morning & it hurts But the difference would be tiny..

 

I would`ve thought the weight of liquids would be different.

 

Fraid different liquids have different weights, hence the reason oil and most of its derivitives float on water, its all about S.G. (specific gravity) IIRC oil is around 0.81 where as water is 1, thus 1 litre of oil is lighter than a litre of water, weird eh.

John.

 

Ok I can accept that liquids can be different weights and I should have know that already but it is still early

But what about petrol can different brands of petrol be different weights and burn longer etc that they are accusing Ferrari of???

I thought there were only a handfull of refinaries that produce all the petrol and just badge it differnetly, Surely Shell can not be that more advanced than BP or ESSO etc that they can make petrol lighter and burn slower than anyone else.

 

The can be different weights yes.

The teams try everything to keep the car as light as possible (then they add ballast in relevant places to make it a) handle and b) pass the regs)

They even use Helium in the tires rather than plain air as it is lighter and reduces the un sprung weight!

 

Helium in tyres ? I doubt that very much. Nitrogen I can believe.

 

I thought it was Argon in tyres due to its inertness?

 

Cant remember exactly what the air is they use but its not to do with outright weight savings. It's to do with vapour (water) and making sure there isnt any as this exacerbates the problem of pressure changes when the tyre is being used IIRC.

 

Hell yeah. If you look at the range of fuels offered by the likes of Carless, Elf and Shell for rallying, the different fuels offered by different manufacturers vary slightly.

That's as much to do with the mixture as anything else. If Ferrari can run their engine leaner (or if the fuel formulation allows them to run the engine leaner), they'll use less of it.

Not sure anyone's accusing Ferrari of anything. It's not like they're cheating. FWIW they've been running this "light" fuel for some time, the website article that is being quoted here is itself quoting old news.

No. The World Rally Championship runs a single (Elf) control fuel, but F1's rules are different. Each fuel manufacturer has to deposit a sample of the fuel used with the FIA, so that it can be verified as compliant with the rules, but it's not like they all use the same stuff with different brands on it.

Rumour seems to say they can. In reality though nobody, bar the FIA, really know how much of this is true and how much of this is marketing/psychology.

You'd be incorrect to doubt it. Helium is used in preference to air in many pneumatic tyre applications where performance/weight is important. As stated above, it also has advantages in regard to eliminating water vapour and thus improving consistency.

 

Again, I doubt they use Helium. Have you ever tried to contain helium in anything, never mind a rubber tyre with that kind of loading ?

I think you will find they use pure nitrogen.

Cheers

Ian

 

I think helium would work in the case of a racing car because....well, how long are the tyres in use? 1/2 an hour, an hour at most. Doesn't give it much time to find ways to escape.

J.

 

Sorry - meant Nitrogen - it was too early!

Using pure nitrogen removes consistency problems and tyre pressures remain far more consistent.