IC water sprayers - what is the rule/etiquette?

I think im going to have room in the challenge budget for an extra plastic nozzle. Probably from a sprinkler system. I already have a pump and switch and hose built into my car that is for spraying the headlights with washer fluid. I can easily make it spray water on the intercooler instead.

I'm sure it will help bring temps down in between runs, but is there any bad juju about spraying during say a drag run? I know fluids on track is a no-no, but a tiny bit of water (equivalent to running your windshield wipers)? heck most fast cars drive through a giant puddle before burnouts, and at least some of that water has to be making it onto the track.

sorry if dumb question, no experience with drag strips except last years challenge.

The spray is for cool down, right? It would seem to me if you do not use it on the strip them there will be no foul.

Make a pass then once you are off the track, get your time slip. After time slip it would seem okay to use all the water you want when returning via parking lot.
Once truly on the strip again it would be wise to have no running/leaking fluids.

How about using it to spray ethanol into the intake track? Same cooling effect, added octane boost, and no worry about fluids on the track.

Stampie wrote: How about using it to spray ethanol into the intake track? Same cooling effect, added octane boost, and no worry about fluids on the track.

This sounds like a good idea, except that I would be really wary of "injecting" it pre-turbo (don't want ethanol to hit hot compressor), and I don't think the windshield wiper pump could easily overcome the boost pressure if injecting post turbo...

I'm not sure about drags, but at autox people are frequently spraying water on coolers and tires.

I've run water spray on an IC on the track. Very effective - the IC used to be cool at the end of a session. If your IC is big enough, it'll just absorb the heat over the course of a drag run so I can't see it helping there.

If you're spraying so much it's dripping, it's not doing you much good.

Or put alcohol in it and hit the switch as you leave the line. It would evaporate be for it hit the ground.

I think you'd actually want to spray it on beforehand. I doubt it'd do a whole lot in the few seconds of a drag run, but evaporative cooling is a real thing. Ideally for a drag strip you'd have a water/air intercooler and you'd toss in a bunch of ice before you set off. Would probably work great for an autocross, too, but over the course of more than a couple laps around a track, you'd be right back to hot water again.

dean1484 wrote: Or put alcohol in it and hit the switch as you leave the line. It would evaporate be for it hit the ground.

I thought it was humid in Florida.

Side note: The local dragstrips have a rule against using your A/C in the staging lanes, so the evaporator drain doesn't get water on the track. Even if you think it's fully drained, accelerating off the line might slosh some around and make a little puddle.