Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

From a mechanical standpoint only, is there a "minimum" temperature that it is safe to start and shut down todays' sprint car engines?

No because most everyone has engine heaters of some sort to warm the oil and water. 

Gary Allbuagh

Thank you for the polite, informative response, Gary, instead of making me out to be some kind of complete idiot.

Being from PA we race in pretty cold temps.  Normally anything above 40 degrees. During those times you will have to run the fuel richer, if you run it too lean you will probably be sending your engine back for a rebuild due to a blow-up.

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

There's definitely a point where it's too cold, even with engine heaters. I don't know exactly what it is, but when you factor in cold temps you also have to factor in attendance. Once it starts dipping into the 40s and 30s less people are inclined to show up and sit in the freezing cold

Football fans show up in mass when cold.  Why not Sprint car fans?

I think the cold excuse has a lot more to do with fans not showing up anymore to cold weather races than any concern about blown motors. If you could guarantee a big front gate, they'd run the show. 

When the temp gets too cold for people in my area we take a piece of cardboard and put it in front of the radiator so things warm up faster and stay warmer. If you find the right box you can advertise your favorite beverage company at the same time. Juat make sure the kogonis up side right. 

Lol.

That doesnt help the fans tho.

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

Fans used to show up in cold weather, now its easy to stay warm and watch a race from the comforts of your home. Things aint what they used to be. Its called progress.

After the first few races of the year, if it stays in the 40's the fan count goes down dramatically in PA.

Let's go Sprint Car Racing!

Knoxville - Best Track In the USA!
Eldora - 2nd Best Track in the USA!

Luckily in PA though, once the weather gets warmer the fans return. The Grove crowd on Friday while nothing to write home about at least looked okay, and I think that had a lot to do with the nice weather on Friday. 

If you notice, I didn't mention anything about fans in my question.  I was asking from a mechanical stand point only.

I understand all about fan comfort/discomfort, the effect on crowd size, etc.  I just wanted to know the effect, if any, on the motors.

Its also hard on rears when its cold . 40 is about the lowest temp they should try to race at.

Sorry to hijack the the thread as it has nothing to do with the original question.  But shockingly you are correct at least the way I understand it.  The leaner you run the engine the hotter it will run.  So many people (including me at one point) would think that the colder the air temperature is the leaner you can run the engine.  However (at least the way it was explained to me) is when the air gets that cool there is more oxygen in the air or I would assume this is the air density or has something to do with it?  so when it gets cooler you also need to add more fuel because there is more oxygen in the air.  I could be completely wrong here but that's how I understand it.

My Neighbor runs at Knoxville and about a week ago today I run up to chat with them and they said they were not going this weekend (meaning the 16th) Because of what somebody else in this post said, They didn't want to risk hurting an engine from various reasons related to the Cold weather. Knoxville cancelled anyway because of the Cold so they did not miss out.