Glycol in cars used on the track

StillIC · Postby **StillIC** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:34 pm

As some of you know when I was at Fan Fest at Sandown I dropped some glycol/water coolant on the track, at the end of the back straight where the downhill sweeper starts, through the sweeper and down through the next chicane. It was a multiple cooling system failure, and the coolant escaped from the heater hose that runs closest to the exhaust manifold. Yes, the hose was degraded from the heat of the exhaust.

Anyhow, three corners later I spun off the track in my own coolant and in a cloud of vapour, having not quite made it to the track exit. After taking to fellow drivers from my own run group after I was towed off, 3 of them said to me that they had a scary moment on the sweeper where they suddenly lost traction. I am fairly sure this was due to the super slippery glycol/water coolant I dumped. I apologised to the three drivers and would have felt absolutely awful if one of them had put their car in a wall due to my mistake. I feel so fortunate that none of them did crash. I apologise to any other drivers reading this who may also have had a sudden loss of traction due to my mistake.

So, I have made the decision never to use glycol coolant in a track car again. I am draining the system as part of the repair process and plan to use plain water with an anti corrosion additive which amounts to a single digit percentage of the overall coolant volume. I imagine some of you have already made this decision and I urge those of you who haven't to also remove the glycol from your track car. Please.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 3:49 pm

Motorcycle riders fear that stuff as well! Thanks for the reminder as the coolant I use is glycol based.

There are a few products available that are non glycol based.

rossint · Postby **rossint** » Sat Jan 28, 2017 6:42 pm

I use Penrite Race Coolant, seems to work well.

MattR · Postby **MattR** » Sun Feb 05, 2017 12:57 pm

For a track car penrite race coolant inhibitor or redline water wetter are pretty good solutions for replacing glycol based coolants.

Tim_cyc03 · Postby **Tim_cyc03** » Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:42 pm

I could be wrong as I don't know much, but I would still run a coolant of some description... If you run pretty much only water your boiling point will be 100 c instead of the 130 c or the likes when you have a coolant.

In hot weather I am sure most cars run around 92 c if not hotter (very general), so that doesn't leave much room for error.

A better plan would be to have a regular check of the hoses maybe?

Again I reiterate that I really don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm sure someone else has a better idea.

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Wed Feb 08, 2017 7:38 pm

The boiling point of water in a presurized system like a car cooling system is above 100deg.
Fortunately it doesn't usually get cold enough even here herein Melbourne (if you live by the coast) to freeze water so that's a bonus.

Sent from my LG-H815

Locutus · Postby **Locutus** » Wed Feb 08, 2017 7:42 pm

Tim_cyc03 wrote:I could be wrong as I don't know much, but I would still run a coolant of some description... If you run pretty much only water your boiling point will be 100 c instead of the 130 c or the likes when you have a coolant.

That isn't how coolant works. Coolant only has anti-boil properties because glycol is a considerably worse conductor of heat than water.