1 litre of air weighs about 1.25 grams (at room pressure).
1 litre of Helium weighs about 0.17 grams
Assuming that there's ROUGHLY 4 litres of air in a rear tyre (when pumped up) that would make about 4 grams lighter between a tyre with Helium a tyre with 'Air'.
Obviously, a cadet tyre contains LESS gas than a
'senior' tyre and thus the effect would be even LESS!
How confident are you that you could tell the difference in weight between a wheel with a newish tyre filled with Helium and a 20-lap-old wheel/tyre combination by WEIGHT alone......? If you couldn't feel the diffrerence when holding it in your hand.....
4 grams could probably be saved by using lighter wheelnuts, shorter stubs, shorter valves..... or no valve cap..... and so on.....
This is a CLASSIC..... people are TOLD that "XYZ works" and they are TOLD: "it's becasue of ABC". All I E*V*E*R ask you to do is to T*H*I*N*K about the explanation you are given and see if they makes SENSE! Most of the explanations turn out to be LAUGHABLE when you look at them!
Does a difference of 4 grams being the cause of better acceleration from corners make SENSE to you?
So.... if it's not likely to be the weight (mass) of the gas.....then what IS the benefit?
(To be honest, I am hoping someone tells me it's the 'dryness' of bottled gasses rather than the 'chemical make up' that makes it lighter.... come on someone.... DO it!)
The humidity of the gas CAN make a difference ..... but not always for the 'obvious' reason!
Ian
|
|
