The Sting in the Tail

Just as you think you are nearly there, something crops up! For us, this was the bag tank.
This tank was ground-breaking technology in the 1950's but is relatively common in racing cars now. It was a design taken from aircraft manufacturing practice and had the safety advantage of reducing fire risk in the event of a crash as a conventional metal tank could split and lose all the fuel.

So what does it look like?

These views show the top and bottom. The big holes are so you can get your hands into the tank and install the filler, filters and take-off pipes. And you can see the required certification!

And here are some of the components needed for the installation.

The tank fits into an "envelope" constructed in the tail - you can see the tail upside down and the slot. The other pictures show the fasteners: the clips fit through the sides of the "envelope".

And the other ones shown go through the top skin of the tail - you can see 4 small nuts on all D-Type tails - these stop the tank fabric collapsing.

Yes, it does all fit but not easily! - particularly when the regulations now require the tank to be foam filled!!

Just think! - you never see any of this when you see the car!!