Antonio wrote:
As further food for thought, exhaust flow dynamics and octane performance of fuel are not unrelated to one another.
Could they be related to ethanol content ? Was the SP98 used the regular car SP98-E5 used broadly in France ? (with up to 5% ethanol depending on the season)
I know ethanol has a way of corroding joints and hypothetically could be a cause of high oil consumption, and UL91 for sure has no ethanol.
maxbc wrote:
Could they be related to ethanol content ?
Any connection of this issue with UL91 is unrelated to ethanol.
In any case the main issue with ethanol is not octane but the fact that it damages certain non metallic parts: not good for fuel tank sealants, o-rings, epoxy resins and the likes…
I’m no engineer, but it also seems unlikely to me if the engines only operated for 50 hours. Surely that’s not enough time for anything wear related.
It seem more of a design/manufacture/usage problem.
There seems to be some sort of mixed messages about whether these failures are principally on the BRM aircraft or more widespread? If mainly BRM, then it’s more likely a design incompatibility.