Born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1988, the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show has expanded greatly beyond its original raison d’etre as a venue for manufacturers of racing products to present their wares for the following season to the speed shop owners serving grassroots racers across North America. In the intervening third of a century it has come to embrace all forms of professional racing and attained a global dimension.
PRI was back to a busy live event in December 2021 (Courtesy of PRI)
Established this century as a December event in downtown Indianapolis – following a few years’ exodus to Orlando, Florida – it bounced back in 2021 after a year’s hiatus owing to the global pandemic. This year Tim Hailey took on the task of PRI’s chief researcher at PRI. This is what he found in his in search of products and services of specific interest to motorsport powertrain professionals.
PRI 2021
At the Apex Turbo booth, Darren Hunt noted that this was the second PRI for Apex, having debuted its turbo technology in 2019. “We have since grown a lot and we have learned a lot, as we have been transferring what we initially developed for the diesel world to the gasoline world, especially on the drag racing side.”
Hunt remarked that Apex offers the first ever fastener-free turbocharger. “There is no nut on the compressor wheel and no nut on the turbine wheel. We get our turbine wheel cast without a nut and we thread our compressor directly onto the turbine shaft. How we hold it all together is patented technology.
“We run a triple shaft bearing arrangement with two ball bearings on the turbine side and one on the compressor side, and then we run dual piston seals on each end of the centre housing [supporting those bearings] to retain the oil within it. Once everything is assembled you get about 15% more surface area for both the compressor and turbine wheels.”
Having more surface area within a given wheel diameter is clearly particularly beneficial in racing series that restrict turbo size. Hunt reported that smaller turbos appropriate to motorcycle racing classes is a 2022 development for his company.
He added that the patented centre section also offers a shortening of the turbo shaft, which reduces shaft flex and allows for tighter tolerances, which in turn allows for higher rpm operation.
Exploded view of an Apex turbo
Gary Armstrong explained that the newest version of Spintric Technology’s oil-air separator is incorporated within a dry sump tank, so there is no external line needed as an escape passage for the separated air.
In the past, RET has described the Spintric centripetal oil-air separator as ‘disarmingly clever’. It sits in line in the oil system plumbing and has no moving parts. In essence, scavenged oil is fed into the device, which is built to suit the customer’s system fitting size and the flow volumes of their dry sump pump. The Spintric is a totally passive invention, and utilises centripetal force to separate the air from the oil as it passes through its internal channels, expelling the air from the oil, which exit via separate ports.
In the case of the oil tank integration, Armstrong explained, “The air and oil mixture enters the dry-sump tank at the bottom from where it goes up through the Spintric, and separates air from the oil, which goes back into the main body of tank. Meanwhile, the air is exhausted upwards into an air gap formed in the top of the tank. Thus you have oil that functions much better with less aeration!”
Armstrong reported that this new integrated oil tank is being produced for “racing cars of all types – and just about anything else that can benefit from it. The tank is customised for the individual application by size and volume. Spintrics are 100% made in the USA using aerospace alloy materials on our Haas four axis CNC machines. We have seven patents for Spintric.”
Spintric’s new 8 in-diameter tank with built-in Spintric, eliminating the need for an external air return line
At the ARP booth, Chris Raschke described an impressive range of fastener kits for many new applications including the likes of the Ford Coyote, the Edelbrock Big Block Chevrolet, various Cummins diesels and so on. He noted that each such kit is designed specifically for the application rather than being a ‘pick and mix’ solution from ARP’s existing product range.
He explained that in each instance ARP obtains the original engine, takes it apart and evaluates its factory-supplied fasteners using its sophisticated measurement equipment. It then designs a kit of replacement items for higher fastener performance within the context of the given application and the intended level of engine performance. He added that the design process starts with material specification, which is painstakingly tailored and also embraces manufacturing technology.
Many diverse forms of racing are showcased at PRI (Courtesy of PRI)
Rochen Holguin told us of CHE Precision’s new relationship with Elite Motorsports. It has aligned with the latter’s race team and its Elite Performance engine shop in a multi-year associate sponsor deal whereby it will supply valvetrain components as appropriate to the Elite Performance race engines. Those power a number of customer drag race engines as well as Elite Motorsport’s NHRA Pro Stock cars, including that driven by four times series champion Erica Enders.
Holguin added that CHE Performance has been established for over 50 years, during which it has been involved in race engine building and race team operation, as well as developing the renowned line of CHE Precision valvetrain components. “The collaboration of incredible people in this partnership is the icing on the cake,” she said.
PRI is an important annual networking event (Courtesy of PRI)
At the CP-Carrillo booth Pete ‘Snake’ Calvert mentioned that as of late, it has been very hard to keep up with orders – a problem across the industry at this time. “You build relationships with customers over the years,” he said. “You see them at trade shows and you visit them at their shop and they become more than just a customer, they become good friends.
“The racing industry is really a big family. But at this time, throughout the industry there is a problem keeping up with orders, and that is affecting relationships we have with our customers.
“We don’t want to be the ones holding up a major engine build, and we are doing the best we can. We run our facility 24 hours a day, six days a week and have very hardworking employees, we are introducing some robotics for large projects and gathering additional equipment. The components we need are becoming harder and harder to get – suppliers are struggling with the demand and raw materials.
“What we normally got in 6 weeks is now taking up to 6 months. We are adjusting to that as quickly as we can, by being smarter about purchasing and thinking ahead. It's an adjustment and unfortunately at this time we aren’t able to keep the inventory we normally do.”
At the FuelTech booth, Luis de Leon showed us a new fuel injector driver, the FuelTech Peak & Hold PRO Injector Driver. “Our old drivers are crazy reliable but they are dumb. You have 2 A, 4 A or 8 A, and the hold is always a quarter of that. [Selecting one of those three options] is all you can do – the driver receives a signal and it manipulates the current accordingly.
“The new driver doubles the channels from four to eight per box, and it is a smart driver so you can set up what kind of peak and what kind of hold you want: anything from 0.5 to 12 A.
“When this new driver is connected to a FuelTech ECU there are CAN channels to monitor how each injector is behaving. So as soon as you turn the power on you can tell if any injector is disconnected, before you even start to crank the motor. On really high horsepower applications you can have more than one fuel bank – maybe one for idle, one for boost and one for high boost. If you can only tell that all the injectors are working when you are under power, the upshot can be catastrophic!
“Plus, with this new injector you have logging that allows you to see any issue in the data download. This Pro model we are introducing in the form of a range of injectors, so you have 320 lb/hour, 520 lb/hour, 720 lb/hour as before plus a new size of 820 lb/hour.
“That is based on a fuel pressure of 90 psi. If you go up to a base fuel pressure of 135 psi, the 820 lb/h injector is happy with that and it will flow over 1000 lb/hour – a substantial amount for a single injector. And if we are talking about using nitromethane, this injector will flow 15-20% more, so around 1400 lb/h. This opens the window for more people to run nitromethane using EFI.”
De Leon also showed us his company’s new FT Dial Board, which has been designed “to make it quick and easy to display your dial-in when bracket racing”. He explained that seamless integration with a FuelTech ECU makes it simple to adjust dial-in on the fly with a few clicks on the ECU screen.
New from FuelTech is the Peak & Hold PRO Injector Driver
Jason Levitt of performance lithium battery manufacturer Full Spectrum Power told us that at PRI his company was introducing new CAN-enabled and Mil-Spec connected 16 V batteries. He noted that CAN connection is important, “as having good data from your battery is every bit as important as having good data from your suspension travel sensors, your engine sensors and so on. We have taken what was already the most energy-dense battery available in the racing market and added this additional [CAN] capability.”
He noted that one feature of the new 16 V productions is the option of a direct feed to the ignition coils, avoiding passage of the current through a relay or suchlike. “We have found that engines have become so powerful thanks to an enormous amount of boost that igniting the spark is increasingly difficult. That being the case, we are doing our part in trying to offer improvements in spark energy through increased voltage stiffness and stability. This is a time when marginal gains can make a large improvement, and we think this is one of them.”
Levitt added that Full Spectrum Power’s batteries are semi-bespoke productions. “For example, customers have different preferences in terms of connector locations and so on,” he said. “We can tailor for any application, and our prototyping to production is usually less than a week.”
New from Full Spectrum power are CAN-enabled 16 V batteries
At the Jesel booth, Tim Fodor showed us a new belt drive for the new Ford Godzilla [the company’s latest Big Block V8]. “This is a bolt-on replacement that can still use the factory cam; it comes with an insert to replace the stock VVT bolt,” he said. “It includes a timing wheel that matches the factory timing pattern, and it can take the factory cam timing sensor, which means it can be used with the factory ECU.”
Fodor mentioned that Jesel has in the works an aftermarket valvetrain components for the Godzilla.
Fodor’s colleague Grant Holcombe introduced us to some of Jesel’s new products for diesel engines. “We have a direct bolt-on – no modification required – shaft rocker kit for the Ford Powerstroke 6.0, 6.4 and 6.7 engines, with kits for 24-valve Cummins diesels and Chevrolet Duramax diesels to follow.
“In the case of the Powerstroke kit, a plate bolts onto the cylinder head such that each cylinder has an individual stand and rocker bolted to that plate. The 24-valve Cummins kit will retain the factory oil feed and will spray through two nozzles to each adjuster to keep it and the pushrod oiled in the factory fashion. All these diesel conversions retain factory-length pushrods.”
Jesel’s latest Ford Powerstroke kit
At the Kinsler booth, Greg Murchison introduced us to a new mechanical fuel injection kit designed for the sealed V8s used in the RaceSaver 305 ‘economy’ Sprint Car series. “We developed this for the best added value,” he explained. “It is precision-cast aluminium so the racers don’t have to worry about corrosion from the methanol fuel; we designed a linkage with a transverse throttle shaft that allows better and easier synchronisation.
“The nozzles and lines are designed to make it easy to clean the nozzles after every race. The manifold is CNC-machined to keep all the runners identical, and O-ring seals are used to help keep dirt out of the engine. We make valley plates to suit the GM and Dart blocks used in the series.”
Also new from Kinsler was a Porsche flat-six ‘GT’ intake offering individual throttle bodies and designed for port fuel injection. Versions are available to cover a wide range of Porsche flat-six engines, and there is the option of Kinsler’s proven drive-by-wire technology rather than a progressive mechanical linkage for further enhanced driveability. Other options include carbon fibre trumpets, while Kinsler also offers a billet aluminium plenum with billet runners for Porsche flat-sixes.
Kinsler’s Porsche flat-six ‘GT’ intake
At Mahle Motorsport, Joe Maylish talked to us about the evolution of piston design over the past decade and the move a few years ago from a 1.5 mm (axial height, top) – 1.5 mm (intermediate) – 3.0 mm (oil control) ring pack to a 1 mm – 1 mm – 2 mm ring pack for most three-ring Small Block applications.
“The reason we did that was partly to gain piston skirt cushioning area against contact with the cylinder wall and to gain strength overall. Also, the thinner steel rings are more flexible, the sealing is better and more consistent and there is less ring material to potentially hit the cylinder wall. So less contact – meaning less friction and less wear – and less weight. And you can see an improvement in engine output on the dyno.”
Among his company’s newly released pistons are a design for the VW TSI EA888 2.0 litre I4 turbo that is forged from Mahle’s proprietary M142P aluminium alloy. “This is a unique alloy that has the properties of 2618, so it can take a lot of horsepower, but you are not going to have a lot of initial piston slap, so in that respect it is like 4032, which tends to run quieter than 2618.”
His colleague Tim Golema noted that where these days OE bearings tend to be aluminium, Top Fuel motors still use Mahle’s long established tri-metal bearings. “We believe that for those motors there isn’t horsepower in the choice of bearing – what counts is reliability. The tri-metal bearing is extremely reliable under extremely high thrust loads, and if a Top Fuel motor should smash one of these bearings, at least it will protect the crankshaft from damage.”
Mahle tri-metal bearings
Trevor Manton told us his company has been expanding its line of valve return springs to include conical springs for Ford 6.7 litre PowerStroke performance turbodiesel engines. He noted that these conical springs are less prone to cause valve guide wear, as the valve opening and closing event has less valve oscillation being caused by the reduced spring oscillation (compared with the operation of straight-wall springs). He also noted that they centre themselves better relative to the valve stem, due to each wire stacking just to the inside of the wire which is stacked below.
He added that each ring of the coil has its own resonant frequency. “There is a resonant frequency of the valvetrain, and if that matches with that of the [straight-wall] valve spring you have a problem. With a conical spring [since it has a range of frequencies] you avoid that danger.”
Cale Risinger of Melling Engine Parts noted that the company’s biggest story of recent times is that it purchased Performance Springs Limited, which consequently is now known as Melling Performance Springs Limited. He added that before the acquisition the UK based company “was one of Mellings’ best suppliers, owing to the high quality of its spring manufacturing, backed by exceptional r&d work”.
He said, “A lot of what we are doing these days is looking at spring development for OEM performance applications, both in terms of materials and the process of manufacture. We spend a lot of time looking at the current designs in the market to see what we might be able to do to improve the design, functionality, and in many cases ease of manufacturing, thus creating a better spring. It is all about improving design, including through processes.
“In other news, we have added many new GM LS high-performance camshafts in recent months. We are looking at developing our overall performance line, including spring retainers, spring seats – both titanium and chrome moly – and other such items.”
Known as ‘Mr Race Oil’, Tim Miranda spoke to us on his booth. He is a chemical and mechanical engineer who, ex-Castrol, founded the Mr Race Oil brand in 2008. He brought to our attention his company’s engine assembly gel.
“This is innovative, cutting edge and unique,” he said. “When you are building an engine you put assembly lube onto the bearings and so on to ensure you have a film of lubricant for when you start up the engine. The problem with regular assembly lubes is that they tend to run off the parts they are intended to protect. That led to our development of assembly gel.
“I must emphasise that this is a gel, not a grease. You can find assembly grease on the market but the use of grease is a no-no because greases are made with solid matrices such as clay or calcium, and that can scratch bearing surfaces. You don’t want to start interfering with those surfaces on start-up!
“Our assembly gel does not have solids, it will stay on the parts you put it on. It won’t go away even if you spend a month assembling your engine. I have an example of a bearing we applied it to 5 years ago and [unused] it is still on there, with the same consistency – it hasn’t flowed off the part.
“Tim Kulugian has been using it on the White Alligator Racing Suzuki NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle bikes since 2016. It is also used nowadays by NHRA Pro Stock, Top Fuel and Funny Car teams and circle track guys. It was originally designed for Top Fuel engines so it has a very high load-carrying capability. It is also very low friction, which is another reason why Cummins uses it for their diesel engine builds.
“We also offer an extreme pressure lube for pushrod ends and other valvetrain high-pressure points. We originally designed that for Jesel, for their race applications. We also offer roller bearing lube for roller rockers and roller lifters; it has very high load capability and offers very low friction.
“A lot of times, roller rockers and lifters come from the factory without any lube. We have seen teams put them in a bucket of heavy oil and hope that migrates in there. It might but only if you leave them in the bucket for a couple of weeks. Our lube goes in immediately. All these things are what people building race engines need.
“We also have very specialised products. For instance, here on the booth we have Pro Stock break-in oil blended specifically for Frank Iaconio. That is an example of something we develop for a race team’s specific application. It isn’t high volume but such a special blend is high halo!
“While we can work with people on a custom application, they should bear in mind that it takes time as it is specially blended, and in some cases we have to do development work and testing with the team and even work with them on oil analysis. These are very highly engineered fluids. Such blends can be proprietary, such that no other team will get the same oil without the permission of the team we developed it for – as in the case of the Iaconio Pro Stock blend.”
At the Total Seal booth, Lake Speed Junior was keen to emphasise consideration of oil ring tension early in the piston design process. “Oil ring tension isn’t one number for a given bore size. We can fine-tune tension via the application of gas nitriding and by changing the length of the expander – making it longer for a given bore size increases tension.
“So we can offer a specific ring tension to suit a particular application. It is part of a custom-designed ring package for that application, and we can get that right before the piston is designed. We can use a lot of sophisticated tools to define the optimum ring package, and then the piston supplier can machine the grooves to fit that package.”
Total Seal Ndurance oil control ring