Petrol Injection is Here
Page 24
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ELSEWHERE in this issue we give our readers details of a road test carried out With a vehicle powered by a petrol-injection engine. We feel no little pride in being the first journal to give direct and authoritative information relative to the performance of a type of engine which, hitherto, has not been employed in a road transport vehicle.
Development work has taken about 18 months, and has now reached the advanced stage where production of the unit is being put in hand. A feature which is most impressive is that the engine gives 50 h.h.p. more than its oil-engine counterpart, but naturally it is not quite so economical in fuel consumption.
Against this, however, is the higher average speeds which a vehicle so powered can achieve, which means that, in countries where this characteristic can be exploited without fear of retribution, the gross ton-m.p.g. on an hourly basis has been shown to be appreciably greater. The total cost per mile, worked out on the _hourly running basis, is 5.79d. for the petrol engine, and 5.62d. for the oiler.
The increase in power which petrol-injection gives, as compared with a normally aspirated petrol unit of like capacity, is the result, mainly. of the improved mixture distribution, as there is no tortuous inlet manifold for the mixture to negotiate, and hence an improvement in volumetric efficiency results.
From the point of view of public-service vehicles, the quiet-running characteristics of the petrolinjection engine have much to commend it. and petrol-engine smoothness is obtained in conjunction with a power boost of an appreciable nature.
The first fleet of petrol-injection-engined vehicles will probably operate in South Africa, but we shall watch closely the development work which is still being undertaken by the maker, as we are of the opinion that it is a type of power unit that will not always be "for export only."