Tuned In

Darren Palumbo of South Australia's Bullet Race Engineering joins us for this episode of the High Performance Academy Tuned In podcast.

Specialising in billet blocks and heads, Bullet Race Engineering is a leader in near-indestructible engine components, and Darren takes us on a deep dive into his world of Solidworks and CNC mills.

Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in

Designing and creating an engine block out of a solid chunk of alloy is absolutely as complicated as you think. There's a huge amount of time and money that goes into just getting one product to market — Darren breaks it all down for us and also makes a good case for why going billet sooner rather than later can often be the best move for anyone looking to go seriously fast.

With ultra-desirable engines like the RB26, 2JZ, or even SR20 becoming rarer and more expensive by the day, is there going to come a point where it makes more sense in the long run to just go billet instead of building from a factory motor?

There's also a very interesting breakdown of why simply swapping to a billet block will result in a substantial bump in power, with no changes to any other components.

Andre and Darren lastly talk about the interesting path he's taken to get where he is today with his business, and that includes the big mistakes that he's made along the way. As Darren explains, finding a gap in the market, dropping the big bucks on equipment, and having the right amount of knowledge is only part of what goes into making a business like Bullet Race Engineering successful.

Check out Bullet Race Engineering here:
IG: @bulletraceengineering
FB: Bullet Race Engineering
WWW: bulletraceengineering.com.au

Learn more about Performance Engine Building by coming along to the next FREE lesson: https://hpcdmy.co/engineb

This 1200HP RB26 powered R34 GT-R Skyline is always one of our favourites at the World Time Attack Challenge.

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It’s easy to talk about the likes of this 1200HP RB26 power plant and just assume it’s going to be quick, but in reality, there is so much more to putting in a fast lap time than a few high power dyno runs and Mark McCoy of MoTeC is here to help explain where some drivability and pace is recovered using the R34’s 4WD system.

With the factory Nissan Attesa controller removed a MoTeC dash takes over control of the setup allowing to start dialling in the basics via throttle position and speed through to enabling the team to dial in the system for every corner on the track according to lap distance.

The advantages of lap distance vs GPS/GeoFence technology is discussed along with what data is used to help tune the setup along with how it all operates in the first place.

From the very infancy of import drag racing through to the current high-stakes, big-dollar world of professional Formula D competition, this week's Tuned In podcast guest has been at the forefront of it all.

Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in

Stephan Papadakis joins us from Los Angeles for a great, in-depth conversation on a wide range of interesting topics, starting with his origin story that begins with a gig sweeping floors at an engine building shop.

Stephan then goes on to discuss the very early days of import racing  — a time that saw his fledgling business, Papadakis Racing, go from complete unknown to household name within the burgeoning scene. Predictably, that means talking about fast Hondas.

After a few years spent setting and resetting records on the quartermile, Stephan and his team saw an opportunity to jump into something entirely different when the US drift scene began to explode. The Papadakis Racing team was at the very crest of the wave, pushing just what was possible further and further, and Stephan talks us through that progression from glorified street car to the current crop of 1000hp+ grip monster FD machines.

Host Andre Simon hones in one particular topic of interest — the development of Toyota's humble 2.5-litre 4-cylinder 2AR engine and its use in pro-level drifting. This turns into a pretty deep dive into the long process of taking an everyday motor and turning it into not just a competitive FD engine, but a championship-winning one too. How did he make the power, and more importantly, how did he make it reliable?

Learn more about Performance Engine Building by coming along to the next FREE lesson: https://hpcdmy.co/engineb

Finally, the discussion then turns to the BMW B58 straight-six, as found in the Papadakis Racing Toyota GR Supra piloted by Fredric Aasbø. Stephan was one of the first guys in the aftermarket to get his hands on — and tear down — one of these motors and he has a lot to say about the B58's general design and construction, as well as how to extract big power from it.

This episode is an excellent dive into the world of Papadakis Racing, and there's a whole lot of in-depth knowledge to be found for anyone who's interested in making cars go fast, reliably.

If you haven't already, check out our episode with Stephan's driver Fredric Aasbø here: https://hpcdmy.co/aasbo

Follow Stephan here:
IG: @stephpapadakis
YT: PapadakisRacing
WWW: papadakisracing.com  

Is this the greatest 8 second 1970’s sleeper ever? At the latest World Time Attack Challenge Christian Goleby of Golebys Parts gave us a rundown on his daily driven 800HP KE36 Toyota Corolla which is one of the coolest sleepers we’ve ever seen, complete with steel rims!

Want to learn how to EFI tune? Start with some free lessons right here: hpcdmy.co/tuneb

Powered by a 1jz due to experience and strict Australian road legalities, discussed are some of the advantages and challenges of the VVTi setup Christian is using along with why they are using a 4 speed automatic that you don’t often see pulling 8 second passes.

Interestingly the setup is only limited by the injectors which are at 98% duty cycle by 810WHP, which is a self-imposed restriction to just to ensure things don’t get any further out of hand. With Christian experimenting with increasing the Nitrous/NOS dose at launch until he could scrape the bumper, just the once for fun, we can completely understand the self-control pressure he is under with this monster 

Have you always avoided messing with late-model European vehicles? Does the idea of strapping a modern Audi, Merc, or BMW to the dyno sound like a bad one? Does the mere mention of WinOLS make you turn the other way?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, bFlash's Aurélien Turban is here to help clear some things up.

Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in

Based in Paris, Aurélien joins us for an interesting and in-depth conversation about the European side of the tuning market — admittedly not something that there's a lot of information out there about, nor something we get the opportunity to discuss very often on this podcast.

Aurélien works as the Technical Director at late-model Euro reflashing specialist bFlash, he's spent years working with the incredibly complex factory engine management systems found in modern European vehicles, and dives into what's involved in gaining access in order to reflash them as security gets better and better.

Aurélien works as the Technical Director at late-model Euro reflashing specialist bFlash, he's spent years working with the incredibly complex factory engine management systems found in modern European vehicles, and dives into what's involved in gaining access in order to reflash them as security gets better and better.

Naturally, the conversation turns towards the increasing difficulty of using an aftermarket standalone ECU in these cars and the many advantages that reflashing the stock unit offers instead. Most of these OEM ECUs now use torque-based systems, and the guys spend some time discussing the ins and outs of working with this kind of setup.

This episode is an interesting look behind the curtain of the late-model Euro reflashing world, and there are a lot of technical discussions around WinOLS, overcoming OEM security measures,  how the bFlash interface works, and much more.

Follow bFlash here:
IG: @bflash.eu
FB: @bFlash.eu
WWW: bflash.eu

Want to learn how to EFI tune? Start with some free lessons right here: hpcdmy.co/tuneb

An F20 powered 960HP Honda S2000 work whip/drag car. This man is living the dream.

At the latest TX2K we caught up with Stuart Leiby of T1 Race to talk about his excellently presented, Nyan Cat approved F20 Powered Honda S2000 drag car, that he also drives to work a few days a week.

The car runs a ‘beefed up’ Honda F20 that had a casual 120,000 miles on the block before modification. The block has Golden Eagle Mfg sleeves to ensure it survives the 960HP output at 42 PSI of boost from the Precision 64-66 turbocharger along with Pauter Rods, CP Carrillo pistons, Brian Crower cam, Ferrea valve train components with copper valve seats and head work done by Watshop? A factory Honda crank and head gasket are used, but Inline Pro 12mm head studs are used to help it all stay together.

A MoTeC M130 and C127 dash take care of the engine management and monitoring while a Quaife 6 speed sequential box helps get power to the ground along with the RPS carbon clutch, Magnus Motorsports flow control valve, RSS 5.9 axles, carbon driveshaft and Nissan R200 rear end. Ignite red, an E90 ethanol fuel blend is fed to the F20 via a set of Injector Dynamics ID1000 primary injectors and ID1700 secondaries via a brushless fuel pump.

Stuart talks to Andre about how he can double the boost pressure on a prepared surface like that at Texas 2K compared to what can be run on the street, and traction control is also discussed along with his clutch slipper system. Also touched on is how the Honda 6 speed was stubbornly held onto until 600HP before switching to the Quaife box in order to maintain some reliability. Solid effort!

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Drivetrain systems are getting more and more complex, and that makes modifying them increasingly difficult. Thankfully, there are people out there like this week's Tuned In podcast guest, Jake Hershorin of Motiv Motorsport, poking and prodding in order to gain control and unleash all that potential power hidden within motors like BMW's B58, as used in the A90 Toyota Supra.

Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in

Jake, along with his partners Ty Sayman and Chris Kontos at Motiv Motorsport, is leading the charge when it comes to working with (and sometimes around) the complex control systems found in modern performance cars, and is currently producing a popular 'Reflex' standalone controller that allows for the addition of port injection to the direct-injected BMW B58.

In this podcast, Jake and Andre get deep into how the controller works, as well as why you'd even need to add port injection to a capable motor like the B58 in the first place.

Jake also details how — even though it wasn't the original plan — the tuning bug bit and he got into the business, as well as how that business has changed over the years, and his eventual migration from Japanese vehicles towards BMW platforms like the always-popular N54/55 turbo straight sixes.

The pros and cons of 'e-tuning', AKA remote tuning, are also discussed — as are the finer details of direct injection, FlexRay, and the A90 GR Supra.

If you're wanting to stay ahead of the curve as the automotive scene continues to grow more advanced every year, this discussion is one that'll be well worth listening to.

Follow Motiv Motorsport here:
IG: @motiv_motorsport
FB: @motivmotorsport
WWW: motivmotorsport.com

Want to learn how to EFI tune? Start with some free lessons right here: hpcdmy.co/tuneb

With a power range of up to 3500HP and the possibility of 200PSI of boost, this Cummins based diesel engine is producing more power than anyone can yet get to the ground efficiently.

At PRI, Drew Pumphrey of D&J Precision Machine gave us some insight into what goes into tuning a high performance diesel engine using this 410 cubic inch Cummins based billet application as an example. Drew and the team around him have so far produced 3214 hp and 3351 lb/ft of torque with plenty left in the tank since this interview.

Drew gives some tips on safe EGT temps for drag racing and towing rigs, along with an explanation on what starts to fail first when you start to push temperatures too far. The use of 1000HP+ of nitrous to get the most out of the 98mm turbo used in this application, and why you see tractor pullers using compound setups instead of nitrous is covered too 🤘

Also discussed is how some racing setups prefer to keep things cool with more fuel, similar to a gasoline application, with AFRs around 12:1 to 14:1 however this carries more risk and as a by-product produces more smoke. For drag racing examples it is easier to use airflow to help reduce temperatures and keep things on the learner around 19:1 to 20:1 which gives a better safety margin and more control along with the ability to run nitrous setups from the likes of Nitrous Express.

Learn more about performance diesel engine tuning. Start instantly with 4 free lessons: hpcdmy.co/essential-diesel

How do you dyno tune an F1 car and how hard is it to replace their specialist electronics in order to keep the cars running?

Originally touted as a 740bhp at 17,000 RPM 3L V10 engine, Milan of PerSysTec gives us a rundown on the 650HP, 16,000 RPM 1997 Williams FW19 car that helped earn both the constructors title plus first and second places in the driver's championship for Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Discussed are how the electronics on what is now a classic F1 car can be modernized, the level of integration that involves along with some of the reasons this was required.

Despite the car still being an impressive piece of kit and well ahead of the technology trend that we see filtering down to our own personal cars, unsurprisingly, there is not much on the Williams FW19 that was ever mass-produced to supply the car with spares 20+ years into the future. Combine this with the fact that computer technology from the time now has legacy status and many of the talented people who worked on tuning the original Magneti Marelli ECU have long since changed careers or retired, it’s only natural a modern Cosworth ECU that is used at professional levels of motorsport today such as LMP1 and LMP2 is instead utilized.

The original Williams VCM that controls the cars remaining hydraulic systems (clutch, gearbox) has been retained due to the fact parts and support are still available from the team. Interestingly, the latest version of CAN Bus was published in 1991 (CAN 2.0B) and utilized in F1 shortly after so it is surprisingly easy to integrate this into the modern Cosworth ECU right back to the 1992 FW14B. While capable of a lot more, in this application the Cosworth ECU is in some cases left in the backseat simply as a failsafe to shut down the engine if any other systems run into trouble.

While all of this electronic work is essentially irreversible, it does mean that with some RPM limits and ignition cut safeties in place the car can still be driven by a professional driver at events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Hearing the V10 Renault RS9 run is certainly something we enjoy a lot more than staring at a static display piece personally.

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