Header flame height difference between left and right side of engine

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While going through some of my photos from this past season and comparing them to other shooters I noticed something kind of interesting, but don't know the answer.

Why is it that in nearly every shot of a nitro car the flames on the left side of the engine are slightly taller than the right side of the engine? A perfect example is at 42 seconds into this video of Tom Motry's Drastic Plastic fuel altered. https://www.facebook.com/joey.haas.90/videos/892989417450534/

And here's one of my shots:

 

[stitcherbob]

this link discusses some of the technical aspects of taking photos of header flames http://wediditforlove.com/techtalk1.html



http://www.darkside.ca/node/140

this link deals with TF and TAD Hemis and their fuel distribution and firing orders which might make the left bank (where #1 cylinder is ) fire more cylinders before the right side does so the camera freezes the action with most of the combustion occurring on that side (such as 1 on the left followed by 8 on the right and then 4 and 3 on the left before switching back to the right .....leading to combustion by-products flying out of the left side first during the photo,meaning the right bank is late to the party!)

 

[FC138fan]

Isn't it because the engine torques (facing forward) clockwise in the chassis, literally making the left header point a few degrees higher then the right? Notice the left wheels are always higher then the right ones on a TF wheels up launch too.

 

[turbo ken]

 

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Bob and Nick, thanks for those links, I'd never seen either of them before. You'd think that no matter the firing order the flames should be equal height though. Maybe the chassis flexing has more to do with it than I thought it would.

I've definitely noticed how shutter speed affects how the flames look. On many shots it's not unusual to have one side with big flames and the other side of the engine look like nothing is happening.

 

[flapjack]

Bob and Nick, thanks for those links, I'd never seen either of them before. You'd think that no matter the firing order the flames should be equal height though. Maybe the chassis flexing has more to do with it than I thought it would.

I've definitely noticed how shutter speed affects how the flames look. On many shots it's not unusual to have one side with big flames and the other side of the engine look like nothing is happening.

They do a fire order swap so one side fires then the other side fires, sink am not surprised based on shutter speed one side looks consistently higher. I bet a shot a moment later the other side looks higher.

 

[.]

They do a fire order swap so one side fires then the other side fires, sink am not surprised based on shutter speed one side looks consistently higher. I bet a shot a moment later the other side looks higher.

That happens too, but watch that video I linked in the first post. You can clearly see the left-side flames are higher all the way down the track.

 

[stitcherbob]

 

[stitcherbob]

 

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On this one you can clearly see the flames are higher out of the left bank.

 

[stitcherbob]

plus, even @ 2am they are just so much fun to watch!

 

[t-roy]

The best part about looking at Toms header flames compared to the rest...
1 mag
1 pump
His data recorder is a oil pressure gauge.

 

[FC138fan]

I guess I don't understand how firing order effects flame height. The plugs are firing at all times when the engine is running, even at idle. Makes sense to me that which ever side sees the header flame first would be dependent of what part of the cycle the engine is on when the driver presses the throttle.

Also if firing order somehow produced a higher flame on one side vs the other, this would need to be corrected as to me this would indicate an imbalance in the engine. Symmetry is necessary otherwise you'd get a vibration.

These are just my thoughts on how a 4 stroke engine works. I could be wrong, I don't know how a TF engine works, I assume its fundamentals are similar to any 4 stroke engine.

I haven't taken hundreds of pictures of header flames though, so I don't doubt what you're seeing.

 

[nwspeedshots]

 

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View attachment 3431

Both cars have taller flames out of the left bank in this shot too, but more noticeable on Tony's car.

 

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Here's an example of how shutter speed makes the flames look weird.

 

[none]

Certainly higher on the left than the right!

 

[funnycarguy]

Now I will throw in a topfuel harley....the front cylinder has a longer flame than the back header.... so it doesn't have anything to do with firing order. It has to do with engine rotation

 

[sdwarf36]

I'd put my money on engine torquing over + engine rotation.

 

[ScojoDak]

His data recorder is a oil pressure gauge.

And most importantly, his spark plugs.