Airfilters ,Do you need them for the track?

[deoxford]

Every time I see a race car or pics of race car they don't have a airfilter. It's just open.
Can I run my car at the track with out the air filter.


MFI really sound good without them!

[Zeke]

I think the track is actually dirtier than many roads. You'll wish you had them if you go off in a drity area. And, if you read the study on the Early S Registry, the stock air plenum did nothing to inhibit performance and was better than at least one other common alternative.

I'll see if I can find that for you.

[Dantilla]

A race engine's life is measured in hours. A 911 street engine will go for 200,000+ miles, but not if there's grit wandering around.

[emcon5]

Why you want an air filter at the track. (3MB WMV file)

Tom

[Steve@Rennsport]

Originally posted by deoxford
Every time I see a race car or pics of race car they don't have a airfilter. It's just open.
Can I run my car at the track with out the air filter.


MFI really sound good without them!

Derek:

Great input here,...

Without question, the sound track of open stacks is music to the ears and you can still have that by installing a set of either K&N air cleaner assemblies or some ITG filters on your MFI stacks.

Unless I had an unlimited engine budget (or a good sponsor), I'd strongly recommend using air cleaners on ANY street or track engine.

However,........on the engine dyno, street-type MFI engines make best overall power with the factory airbox in place since that acts as a resonance chamber and smooths the torque curve and A/F plots.

[Wayne 962]

Right - I think what everyone is saying here is that most real race motors are torn down after a few races, so the wear from a few specs of dirt are not that important, compared with potential power losses. However, if you have an engine that you'd like to keep around for more than a few race hours, then I would suggest running air cleaners...

-Wayne

[911pcars]

Typical air/fuel ratio is maybe 13:1, richer under load.

That's 13 parts of air to 1 part of fuel ....... by weight. Thirteen (13) pounds of air is a tremendous volume of air ingested into the intake tract. The less grit, the better for engine longevity.

Sherwood