• Since 2010, Radium Engineering’s goal has been to design and produce high-quality aftermarket automotive performance products within the crucial fuel and fluid delivery subgenre.
• Its fuel cells, which integrate world-class technology into various volumetric footprints are considered a “halo” product amongst serious builders and racers alike.
• Radium Engineering’s FiA and SFI-certified competition fuel cells offer the reliability and safety that racing drivers need, with the flexibility and innovation that race teams demand.
• Optional carbon fiber lids further extend Radium Engineering’s competitive advantage, boasting a 68% weight advantage over its standard, aluminum counterpart.

A competitive advantage is hard to maintain. Race teams have to constantly revise, hone, and pivot to keep their rivals at bay and contend with their own race against time. Builders aren’t exempt from this rat race, either; customization is no small feat, and compromising a project’s overall vision for packaging constraints is seldom permissible.

As a result, both vastly different camps often have one distinct through line: a Radium Engineering fuel cell. Its FiA and SFI-certified competition fuel cells offer the reliability and safety that racing drivers need, with the flexibility and innovation that race teams and builders demand.

WHO IS RADIUM ENGINEERING?

Radium Engineering is the behind-the-scenes hero who has propelled the world’s greatest racers across the finish line and onto the top step of the podium for over a decade. Its commitment to motorsport achievement is only matched by its fervor in real-world testing and product evaluation. This exercise has pushed Radium to invest in the latest computer simulation and modeling techniques to continuously engineer and supplant its own competitive advantage benchmarks.

Today, Radium offers an expanding collection of motorsport parts and accessories for high performance and racing. Its PCV oil catch can systems are amongst its most popular “entry” products, while its competition fuel cells are considered a “halo” product amongst serious builders and racers alike.

WHAT IS A FUEL CELL?

A competition fuel cell is a gas tank replacement that is more proficient at handling impact, spillage, and thermal expansion versus a factory unit. These motorsport-grade fuel cells are generally comprised of three components: the outer shell (the overall enclosure or can), the bladder (where fuel resides), and the foam baffling.

Outer Shell: The enclosure is what we’re able to see from the outside. More than its overall packaging, the enclosure is responsible for preventing a catastrophe by proficiently absorbing damage, g-loading, and thermal expansion. Because of its motorsport intent, Radium Engineering fuel cell enclosures are made from lightweight aluminum to adequately offset any adverse weight gain.

Bladder: The fuel cell bladder is perhaps the most crucial element of a competition fuel cell. Its job is to contain the fuel and act as the protective layer against impacts, punctures, and tears. Radium Engineering uses molded polymer bladders since the material touts favorable chemical compatibility with all fuel types (gasoline, diesel, AV gas, E15, E85, ethanol, methanol, etc.) and still meets all the structural testing requirements put forth by SFI and FiA.

Foam Baffling: The foam baffling is essentially a large open-cell sponge inside the fuel cell. It acts as an absorption and suppression layer in the case of catastrophic failure, giving the driver invaluable time to escape the car. As an added benefit, it helps prevent fuel slosh which can cause fuel starvation. Pre-cut explosion-suppressing anti-slosh foam is included with every Radium Engineering fuel cell, as well as an innovative threaded aluminum nut ring which makes fuel pump installation fast and easy.

PURPOSE BUILT

Radium Engineering fuel cells are proven performers across various types of motorsports disciplines including road racing, time attack, drifting, rally, and off-road racing. Each cell also boasts dry-break refueling capabilities, which saves time and prevents fuel spillage during timed pit stops. But beyond competitive use, its range of fuel cells is a perfect solution for anyone who wants to carry more, or less, fuel than the OEM fuel tank, or change the balance of their car by relocating the fuel storage.

“The 10-gallon variant (20-0610) is by far and away the most popular. It provides enough fuel for most motorsports applications without being too large that packaging is difficult,” says Aaron Suchy, co-founder of Radium Engineering. This fuel cell is commonly packaged with a fuel cell surge tank (20-0992-02), which provides enough flow to support up to about 1000hp on E85.

Ryan Tuerck’s Toyota Stout is a proud ambassador of the product; he pushes this heritage project to its absolute limit time and again, providing first-hand evidence of the fuel cell’s capacity to cope with rigorous g-load and wall taps while Tuerck muscles the truck around the track.

SHOW AND GO

To reduce Radium Engineering’s contribution to strictly motorsport would be an injustice. As we alluded to before, the Oregon-based outfit’s fuel cells offer valuable flexibility to circumvent packaging constraints — especially in the case of engine swaps — that would otherwise halt a build to a stop. As a result, builders are able to execute their vision seamlessly and, in most cases, also proudly showcase the Radium Engineering fuel cell, too. This realization prompted the Radium Engineering boffins to fashion an optional carbon fiber fuel cell lid. This add-on further extends Radium Engineering’s competitive advantage, boasting a 68% weight advantage over its standard, aluminum counterpart, while also improving its aesthetic appeal tenfold.

Radium Engineering’s work all but guarantees one thing, whether that’s on the circuit or the show floor: victory. Indeed, trophies are nothing new for Radium and the countless racers and builders that entrust it to keep moving the bar forward for our industry.

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