Performance and race engine specialists are looking increasingly to electrification, which as Lingenfelter Performance Engineering’s Mark Rapson explains is at an exciting juncture right now. Not that his company has abandoned the IC engine: for example, it recently introduced intake and exhaust modifications for the latest Corvette C8, plus a supercharged conversion.
“We have worked with Magnuson on developing a supercharger for that car, with its electronic control,” Rapson told RET. “We created a flashable sensor that goes in the car to allow the supercharger to integrate with the control system; we can’t force calibration into the car; it will self-calibrate with a certain bandwidth.
“What we’re doing is just feeding information to the C8 computer to allow it to accept the supercharger. So we’re monitoring the timing of the mass airflow and the map signals to eliminate any issues. But that’s a big one.
“Just by the nature of how high-tech these vehicles are, we believe there isn’t scope for a do-it-yourself approach, so these superchargers will be professionally installed. They will either be installed by us or we’ll be working with a network of certified installers.
“Another area we’ve put a lot of effort into is working with GM on electrification. We have worked with its Chevrolet Performance division to electrify a vintage 1972 El Camino SS as the very first independent installation of GM’s concept Electric Connect and Cruise eCrate Package.
“We built the validation El Camino, and integrated a factory e-drive system. We created and developed integration ancillary components to make that a full driver car. So it has air conditioning, power steering, all of the normal functions, but it’s electrified.”
The engine compartment of the Chevrolet El Camino electrified by Lingenfeler working with Chevrolet Performance
Later this year, Chevrolet Performance’s Electric Connect and Cruise eCrate systems will be sold through GM dealers and installed by qualified electric specialty vehicle modifiers, Lingenfelter being the first.
Rapson said, “If you look at the future, say the next 5 years, the aftermarket is going to be just as involved in electrification as the OEMs are right now. So to stay relevant and to be around for another 50 years, we’re certainly going to need a portion of our business to be an electrification company.”
What do you see as the scope for electric motorsport? “Drag racing is a fairly easy plat-form to make things work. Beyond that, right now we are concentrating on everyday driving-type conversions; we’ll look at the performance side of it a bit later.
“Electrification is here to stay, so it’s a matter of seeing how the aftermarket side of things evolves. The battery side is the complex side; there are lots of changes going on there. As the battery technology advances, the ability for people in the aftermarket to create different types of high-performance vehicles will become more relevant.”
Do you see yourself developing batteries for performance applications? “I don’t see us as a company developing batteries, but here in Michigan there are two new battery companies that we will have access to. I don’t see us developing stuff but having input into battery development.
“I think there’s a misunderstanding as to how this can actually work in the aftermarket, and that’s why we did the GM validation vehicle. We learned a lot. We understand now that this really is like going back to the early days of hot-rodding. It gives innovators the opportunity to use their creative juices to do things just as they did back in the 1950s. So there’s actually a lot of opportunity in the segment that doesn’t really exist in the conventional segment the way it used to.”