what would cooling the fuel do? Probably a stupid question.

Does the fuel contract meaning you get a higher density in the fuel, meaning a higher true fuel to air ratio? I'm no engine guy just curious.

 

I'm no engine guy either, but I do know that in general, heat is the enemy.

In a souped-up motor specially under extreme conditions, the heating of the fuel can cause inefficiency within the engine. Normal cars really won't benefit much from cooling of the fuel, because the engine temps are not that high - the engines are not run under extreme enouh conditions. And for the most part, the colder the air and air/fuel mix is, the denser the mix can be - meaning more oxygen and more (slightly) fuel = more power.

Like I said - it's an old-school drag racers' trick - just another way to reduce the temperature of the intake charge (the air/fuel mixture). I'm sure it'd work on most cars - but since it's an ice-based system, only for drag races . And plenty of governing bodies in drag racing have banned the use of the "cool cans" - or so I've read. I'm not a drag racing fan or anything, so I just hapened upon some info on the banning of the ice cans while searching around (for a picture of one, actually - which I was not able to find.)

~HH