How much effect does a fan have on the track?

[Julian Thompson]

Just wondering if a radiator fan increases airflow through the rad when you're tanking around the track - it's hard to see it doing anything when you're doing 100mph?

 

Can anyone suggest if they see their temperature drop if / when the fan kicks in at race/track speed?

 

Thanks!

[knowley]

My water temps never get high enough for the fan to kick in unless the car is stationary

 

My R300

[fatcat]

I was told that the fan is fairly useless while whizzing round a track but can be essential when coming to halt after an enthusiastic session. The only exception to the useless bit is when racing...if you get really close behind other cars, right in the hole in the air behind a pack of them, then the natural flow through the radiator can be inadequate and a fan becomes rather more important.

 

[Julian Thompson]

Hmmmn - interesting indeed - then clearly I have inadequate cooling to cope with my new laminova - begger. Time for the oil cooler again and watch the for sale for the Laminova 😔

 

Round and round the cooling roundabout I go 😬

[Peter Carmichael]

What temperature is the fan kicking in? It should be clear and above the thermostat fully open temperature otherwise the fan and thermostat fight it out.

 

Many owners exhibit paranoia about elevated temperatures whereas there is little concern as long as the cooling system is intact and operating correctly and the engine isn't detonating itself to death.

[Julian Thompson]

Evening Peter!

 

There is currently no fan 😬 so it's not kicking in at all - but I have a fan I can use if/when needed.

 

The oil is running up to 115 degrees and the water around 107 degrees at the inlet to the block, on the circuit, before I chicken out and do several cooling laps! On the road it's a lovely 80 to 90 degrees on both fluids.

 

[RichardUSA]

I'm sure I'd go faster if I had a fan at the track but I'd have to bring one and, I'm sure I'd have to buy them beer.

[Peter Carmichael]

I don't think you need to de-rig your laminova just yet, but the overall cooling from the rad is evidently inadequate.

[S47zz]

Fans can make a huge diference to you times if they cheer loud enough *thumbup* 😬

[fatcat]

If you do alot of enthusiastic track driving it might be worth upgrading to the triple pass race radiator. If you're already running a race rad then gawd knows...

 

edited to ask, what spec is your car?

 

Edited by - fatcat on 15 Aug 2007 11:47:28

[Julian Thompson]

Cheers for that - the problem is that with the small rad I'm using there is simply not enough headroom for the Laminova to dump the oil heat into the water.

 

I will have to look at improving the ducting into the rad and the venting out of the rad first, and then if the problem persists I can always revert to a standard oil cooler rather than the lam.