it is said that gold folio is used in formula1 cars to protect driver cockpit from the large amount of heat generated by the engine. in which part of the car of they use gold folio, covering of the cockpit or engine? gold is a good heat conductor so it should not be used to protect cockpit from conductive heat. gold is the best radiant reflector so it may be used to cover the engine bay or the side of cockpit to protect from radiative heat. but i am not sure about the amount of radiative heat an engine could produce. so what do you think about it? how do they really use gold as an insulator? thanks
gold folio for heat insulation
Oct 17, 2006
3 Replies
On a sunny day (17 Oct 2006 06:31:04 -0700) it happened "spolsky" wrote in :
I dunno, but IIRC Raikönen had diamonds in the steering wheel ;-)
Gold is a heat reflector, not an insulator. Between cockpit and engine. AL foil works good too.
Dear spolsky:
"foil" ... not "folio"
Either or both. It must not be in physical (conductive) contact with any surface. More layers will provide more isolation.
Right. It provides a reflective surface, that does not oxidize, and is chemically resistant to anything that might get sprayed on it.
Enough to start a cockpit fire during a race.
A radiative barrier. Just like the metal plate attached to the exhaust pipe on opposite sides of the catalytic converter, "floating" between the converter and any body parts. The plate reaches some termperature between the converter and the body... and stays there.
David A. Smith
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