A question about refuelling

[wodonnell]

2 quick questions which I am sure someone can answer.

1. What are all the pipes which are put in the car for refuelling?

2. When the pipes are pulled off, sometimes there looks to be something squirted onto the side of the car. What is this for?

[KC]

I'm sure you know that the CART and IRL cars use methanol for fuel. As the fuel hose is disconnected there is some spillage onto the bodywork of the car and a crewman will spray water onto this area to dilute and wash away any spilled fuel. The reason behind using methanol is that it can be diluted quite easily with water. Just a little water added to methanol and it won't burn, whereas gasoline will float on top of water and continue to burn.

The hoses you see the fuel man and jack man connect consist of three lines. The fuel man uses a dual hose rig. One hose carries the fuel via gravity from the fuel tank located behind the pit wall, the other hose draws out the fuel vapors present in the fuel cell to speed up fuelling and reduce the chance of the vapors being ignited. The third line connects to the cars onboard air jacks and raises the car up. When the hose is disconnected the air pressure bleeds off and lowers the car.

Hope this helps.

[wodonnell]

Thats great, thanks.

Now I can watch Indy pit stops without that nagging feeling that I am missing something :-)