Hi guys,

What is the current opinion regarding baffling the fuel tank for racing - is it really necessary?

I only ask as I have a smallish unbaffled tank & wondered whether it would be okay for my racer.

Cheers,
Rob.

i would have a baffle, the one i had made for the GT as a small foam filled baffled tank inside a larger one for use on the road, you generate some forces on the race track, better safe than sorry IMHO of course...

Thanks Jon, I thought that having it baffled is the best bet, just wanted to check out what the Locost racing guys do (but none of them have responded!!!)

Cheers,
Rob.

if you have it foam filled you dont realy need a baffle and foam is better than a baffle.
Tim

I've got a baffled tank (single central plate with corners chopped off, as per book) and it's pretty rubbish.

I have to keep a fair amounf of fuel in the tank at all times to ensure i don't get problems. Bizarrely even though my pick-up is on the bottom left corner of the tank i still get problems through long, fast right-handers. The main symptom is the engine just slows down and eventually dies.

When i get the chance i'm cutting the tank open and stuffing in a load of foam. The general impression i've been given is that foam will do the trick.

Hope that helps.

Rob (No.47)

I had heard that using foam was the best method, but was wondering what impact this has on fuel tank capacity.

The tank I have is fairly small, 2.9 gall capacity. Will filling this with foam leave enough capacity to get enough fuel in to complete a race?

Presumably the foam is available is different densities, so the answer will lie in selecting the foam dense enough to do the job, but not so dense that is reduces tank capacity too much.

Cheers,
Rob.

From what i have found (insert legal disclaimer here) you need to 'budget' for up to a maximum of 2.4 gallons of fuel in your tank.

The highest consumption is at Donington and Snetterton where i've used up to 7~8 litres during a race (the oddball 20 minute race at Snet earlier this year). Plus you need the 3 litres spare at the end as specified in the regs. Add it up and it comes to about 2.4 gallons.

Could be cutting it a bit fine?

Ummm, as you say Rob, that is cutting it a bit fine. I will have to do some research into the density of tank foam, joy oh joy!

Thanks!