Hey now, I can appreciate your concern, but rest assured, I think the smoking (and the fact that I am seriously racing a diesel, and actually doing well!) actually gives the opposite effect from what you describe, I mean yeah the smoking does get people's attention, but the funny thing is that so many other race car engines (keep in mind NO ONE in the non-stock prepared classes have emissions devices, IE: catalytic converters... racing is primarily about going fastest and winning, not being courteous to green-peacers!) the car is going so fast, people usually don't even realize it's a diesel until someone else tells them. This even happens to announcers!
It was funny, at '03 nationals, when I was running, the announcer was making these comments like "somebody needs to tune their carburator!" and then someone told me, there was simultaneous yelling of a bunch of people who knew that I raced a diesel from the audience: "IT'S A DIESEL!!!" And that I think, is making a very positive impression - IE: the fact that a mid-80's diesel can be so competitive, people don't even know it's a diesel because the common belief that ONLY a gas car could be made competitive, is so prevalent in our society.
Question: would you rather have me turn down my smoke level and forfeit any chance of success at the most competitive national-level events, or keep my smoking and maybe have a shot at making the first diesel to take a national championship in a serious racing competition against ALL OTHERS driving gas-powered vehicles?
You should be informed that a lot of other racecars give off WAY much nastier exhaust fumes and smoking than the harmless particulate matter emissions coming out of my richly-tuned Diesel. I'm talking about tired engines that give off lots of blue-grey oil smoke, headache-inducing stuff good to be clear of - high in carbon monoxide content and other really nasty fumes. This kind of smoke is the worst and by far more environmentally polluting than even thick diesel PM emissions, IMO! It is not even really fair to compare them. I kinda even like the smell.
It's totally tolerable. The blue-grey smoke is much worse. But maybe that's just my opinion. And there are a lot of other non-cat, "richly" tuned gas motors out there that are racing too! Then there are the class of cars running extreme-high octane "race" gas, their exhast also has a very "sweet" distinctive odor... I myself am not too thrilled about the smell of it and prefer the smell of my diesel, but I know a lot of other racers who love that smell.
I would however, consider for the big events, switching back to biodiesel. That really changes the smell of the exhaust (like french fries or some other kind of yummy cooking!), and I think then, most spectators might ask for me to smoke more for them!
:lol: But I'm still developing the car really, had some problems once with a bad batch of biodiesel that plugged up my fuel filter and it really was something I didn't want to have to worry about so I switched back to conventional diesel. BioDiesel is just not high on my priority for the smaller local/practice events. I have also been keeping somewhat of a low profile that my car is a diesel. I don't want to be so public about it until I am doing really, really well. I want people's views of a racing diesel to be that it is a fast, nationals trophy-winner. So, I am thus far laying pretty low in the PR department.
Now let me make clear, I'm not advocating running an extra-rich setup for a street driver. My car is a dedicated autocross racer. For a street setup, I would try and be courteous to the other drivers and tune the fueling level just up to the smoke limit, where I agree you can probably get about 85-90% - or most - of the overall power that is available. Whenever I drive cross-country, it's not like I'm smoking along the interstates... I'm just puttering around at low loads. It only smokes when I've got my foot deep into it.
I guess we can have different opinons about how is best to further diesel public appreciation... but IMO, the biggest way I can further the diesel cause is to win a trophy at SCCA nationals in my car, which is also the first diesel to have ever raced at the SCCA nationals level of competition. Imagine that - the first and only diesel to race takes a trophy - how good that would make diesels look in a magazine feature, etc. I think people understand that it's racing, and my class allowes removal of emissions control devices, and that so there is nothing wrong with some smoke coming out of the tailpipe for the total time of, probably near only 30-60 seconds per weekend of racing that my car is doing WOT full acceleration.
Topic: Fuel enrichment: How much fuel is too much fuel... discuss (Read 7713 times)
