Fuel starvation while autocrossing
 

I know oil starvation is a popular problem when people autocross but how concerned do we need to be about fuel starvation? Is it a least likely occurrence or could it easily happen? What can you do to stop it? With oil you can add baffles inside the pan.

The pan and the fuel tank both have decent baffles.

I don't remember seeing any baffles in my Beta 1 oil pan...

No OEM baffles from what people have posted.

I'm having a hard time finding a good picture of it, but YES THERE IS. It is a welded plate about 1" wide all around the oil sump to keep the oil from riding up the walls during hard cornering. In addition, the fuel tank has a secondary "box" around the fuel pump to do the same job. These may not be of the best design, but they do exist and help to some degree.





(I'm talking about the Beta, and perhaps even the Alpha. Other motors have sumpless/dry design.)

I had to modify the brightness/contrast of this pic just so it would show well enough.





Attachment 2380

That's an ineffective baffle design for autocross, at least in the Alpha which is similarly baffled. I had a ton of lateral G oil starvation issues. Coilovers helped a lot because the chassis doesn't roll as far. Running 3/4 quart above full makes 90% of the oil starvation issues disappear with no ill effects for me at least.



If fuel starvation becomes an issue you need to run closer to a full tank. I usually aimed for 1/2 tank. Fuel starvation should be impossible at that level. If it's a problem it's time for a fuel cell.

The problem is not the baffling. It's the empty sump when running high rpm for so long. I've run the motor without a valve cover before and saw that the head holds a lot of oil at high rpm. That's why running an extra quart may help to keep the sump full. However, you may run into oil seal issues of the pan and endcaps.

I'm sure that oil not draining through the head is a problem, but the same oil starvation issues aren't seen when operating near redline running top speed or even when I've run on road courses. It must be a combination of the two issues. I'm planning on installing an Accusump at some point.