Tuned In

Have you ever dreamt of climbing to the very top of your chosen motorsport and beating the world’s best? That’s exactly what Hayden Paddon, this week’s podcast guest, has done. As a past WRC round winner and current European Rally Champion, Hayden is a wealth of knowledge on all things rally, and spends some time in this episode talking through us through what life is like at the highest levels of the sport, what the future of rally might look like, and much more. 

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Born in a little town in the South Island of New Zealand, Hayden Paddon was introduced to the world of motorsport early thanks to his rally-driving father. Racing karts and rally events growing up, Hayden went from strength to strength before claiming the first of five national rally titles in 2008. Hayden then burst onto the world stage, becoming the PWRC world champion in 2011, and soon found his way into the big leagues with the factory Hyundai WRC team, claiming a hard-fought win in 2016’s Rally of Argentina.

For any driver outside of Europe to get a seat in a factory WRC team is impressive — let alone a round win. It sounds like a fairytale, but the reality is of course very different — it’s been far from all rainbows and unicorns, and Hayden opens up in this episode about just how hard the journey to the top is. And then staying there? Well that’s even harder still.

Hayden talks us through the various machinations, politics, and extreme levels of pressure at this elite level of motorsport — and this includes some really good advice around getting and, more importantly, keeping sponsors.

These days, when he’s not dominating the European Rally Championship, recently becoming the first non-European to win it, Hayden spends as much time back home in New Zealand as possible, developing his own take on the possible future of the sport in his Hyundai Kona EV rally weapon. Hayden breaks down the build, explaining how it all works and what advantages and disadvantages an electric vehicle has over the traditional ICE-powered rally car.

This episode provides a fantastic look inside the world of WRC, covering everything from the insane stress of leading a rally with a seven-time world champion only two seconds behind, to how a co-driver and driver relationship actually works, and much more.

*NOTE* At the time of recording, Hayden was yet to secure this year’s European Rally Championship.

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Follow Hayden here:
IG: @haydenpaddon
FB: Hayden Paddon
WWW: haydenpaddon.com

The legendary title-winning GT300 350Z Nissan hits the Time Attack scene. Get some insight into a factory race car setup including BoP restrictions & more in this [TECH TOUR].

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Restricted to 300hp for class rules, this VQ35DE powered JGTC (Now Super GT) Z33 350z interesting sees up to 480hp due to some clever intake work by Nismo according to owner and driver Dale Malone of DM Motorsport with a maximum output of 580hp being a potential, but only for a short period of time mainly due to harmonics being an issue at high RPM.

The car runs an older Pectel Cosworth electronics package with Windows 95 still being the required OS to run the tuning software. While it's great to keep things original, complications like this are one of the reasons why we see many people update the electronics in older racing platforms in order to give more flexibility and even increase reliability with the modern crop of ECU's and sensors we have available nowadays.

One of the interesting aspects of this car is the 28l intake and airbox which allowed for an extra boost of power coming out of the corners before the intake restrictors, the size of which was dictated by the circuit back when it was a factory race car with teams having a range of engine maps to suit.

Common to motorsport applications a Hewland split shaft transmission which allows for individual gear ratio adjustment and a PI Research data logging system is in place however other than the general engine inputs for the World Time Attack Challenge, shock potentiometers are the only added extra for the moment along with a GT500 aero setup, GT500 being a less restrictive class in the same series at the time.

With enough effort and development time, where's the limit on how much power you can extract from an engine? On this episode, Mark Mazurowski of Mazworx is here to talk about his own experiences in doing just that with Nissan’s iconic 90s workhorse, the four-cylinder SR20.

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Mazworx is a well-known name in the industry — particularly if you have an interest in imports, but prior to starting the company two decades ago, owner Mark Mazurowski was about as far from the Japanese performance scene as you could get — being way more interested in classic domestic muscle.

That all changed after enlisting in the US Marines, which eventually saw him posted to Japan, where he was exposed to the JDM sports car scene in what was inarguably its golden era of the mid-nineties. When the time came to leave, Mark was able to ship his personal S13 back to the States just in time to catch the explosion of US import culture. One mechanical engineering degree later, and Mark waded into the deep end by starting his own business.

In this episode, Mark talks about how Mazworx quickly became the go-to outfit for all things Nissan SR20, as well as the many business successes and failures he’s seen over the years and the lessons he’s learned along the way.

As we run Mazworx products on our own SR20VE-powered Toyota 86 endurance car, Andre couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pick Mark’s brain and extract plenty of hard-to-come-by SR knowledge. As you can imagine, this means the conversation goes way deep into Nissan’s best-known four-cylinder, and there’s a lot of wisdom to be found.

Mark also discusses his SR20 billet blocks, as well as his own drag car, which runs a 2000hp version of the billet motor and was once the world’s quickest and fastest four-cylinder. Times have moved on since, and the car is now sitting in seventh place… but there are plans afoot to take that record back by pushing boost way up to figures nearing 200psi, which should see somewhere north of an insane 3000hp using a compound turbo setup.

With some great insight into what makes a tuning shop actually profitable instead of perpetually treading water, as well as an interesting comparison between the SR20 and the new gold standard Honda K20, there’s a lot to chew on in this great episode of Tuned In with Mark Mazurowski of Mazworx.

Don’t forget, use “MAZWORX50” to get 50% OFF our HPA Engine Building Starter Package: hpcdmy.co/enginepackageb

Follow Mazworx here:
IG: @mazworx
FB: Mazworx Racing Engines
WWW: mazworx.com

This 1973 Datsun 240Z (S30) is an excellent example of modernising an older vehicle for competition motorsports, and still driving it home afterwards complete with aftermarket ABS!

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

With double the stock horsepower via a 3L Nissan L28 with custom pistons, rods, cam, and a ported N42 head care of Datsun Spirit Inc, Darren Garvin's 240Z (aka Nissan Fairlady Z) was a standout from the crowd at the 2022 OPTIMA street car challenge.

An Electromotive electronics package has been utilised to help take the car from its factory 150hp (at the crank) carbed output to 300hp at the wheels, with the ATI harmonic damper holding a hall effect trigger setup and the TPS and MAP sensors being used as load inputs and a Jenvey Dynamics 50mm ITB setup on intake duty. Also discussed are other considerations around a carb to EFI conversion.

A faster car needs better brakes, with the factory setup, including drum brakes on the rear, being retired in favour of an Arizonzacar brake package that includes Willwood 4 piston callipers and 12.5" rotors. The car also utilises an ABS system from an E46 M3 BMW, and Darren runs us through the requirements, including yaw, pressure and speed sensors.

The drivetrain sees a 240SX gearbox mated to a 280Z bell housing, Quaife diff and CV axles to put the power to the ground, and a shortened driveshaft and Techno Toy mount kit to help get and keep it all in place.

With most owners ditching their L series in favour of an RB26 or LS V8, it's nice to see this 240Z chassis simply modernised vs radicalised and with 40-50hp more as planned, this car is undoubtedly going to be even more of a weapon on track.

There’s no denying that the C6 Corvette is an excellent sports car platform, but it’s probably not the first option that many people reach for when looking to put together an ultra-competitive top-level time attack car. Feras Qartoumy clearly understands its potential, though. He’s not only built a competitive Corvette — he’s built an absolute monster that doesn’t just take podiums, it smashes plenty of outright lap records too.

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If you’ve been following time attack in the US at all, Feras Qartoumy is a name you’re probably already familiar with. Along with his trusty Corvette, Feras has set and reset many lap records on circuits around the US, consistently proving to be the man to beat.

In this episode, Feras first talks us through how he built up the skills he uses to build and improve his rapid Corvette, before diving into his racing history that started with karts and pro-touring muscle cars.

The sport of time attack is next on the table, as Feras breaks down the format, explaining how it all works and the differences between time attack in the US versus locations like Australia and Japan.

The conversation next dives deep into Feras’ dominating twin-turbo C6 Corvette. All aspects of the car are broken down and explained, from the powerplant to the suspension, to the aerodynamics package, and much more. Feras goes into an excellent amount of detail in explaining why he made the decisions he did when putting this build together, and just why he thinks the car is as fast as it is. To be clear, although this definitely isn’t a super cheap build, it’s also not an open-chequebook project either, and there’s some great insight in this episode when it comes to getting the most speed out of your dollar.

This conversation also covers the centrifugal blower vs turbo argument, building engines for time attack racing, motorsport traction control, how Feras fabricated his own aero package for the car, and a whole lot more.

With the Corvette currently on its way to Sydney for this year’s World Time Attack Challenge, we’re looking forward to seeing just what this all-American record-breaking machine and its driver can accomplish on a world stage.

Watch our SEMA 2022 interview with Feras here: youtu.be/xhcPXKrw1aw

As mentioned, you can listen to our episode with Andrew Brilliant here, and our episode with Paul Lucas of Verus Engineering here.

Don’t forget, use “FERAS100” to get $100 OFF our HPA Track Day Package: hpcdmy.co/trackdayb

Follow Feras here:
IG: @feras_qartoumy
YT: Feras Qartoumy

What do you know about rocket antilag systems? Not much? Good, you're going to love this then.

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Sporting a 1200hp LS7-based engine, Mike DuSolds 1967 Chevrolet Camaro has been 'slightly' modified for competition motorsport anywhere from sea level, to 14,000ft (4,300m). Time attack, hill climbs, street car challenges, this car does it all and more. With power at altitude a major focus of the current specs, the Dart Machinery block, 6 bolt GM Performance Parts LandSpeed Developments ported cylinder head and Shauns Custom Alloy intake are just a few parts that help the car produce torque low down and keep the 88mm Garrett turbo forcing air as it should. A MoTeC ECU is used with a custom Motorsport Electronics firmware package is used to control this race cars somewhat unique setup.

Some clever suspension design and adjustment points which allow quick motion ratio changes that don't impact on overall car setup is just one feature the custom tube framed chassis offers with a transaxle rear (SADEV and Corvette combo) and approx 1450kg total weight.

Mike also gives a great explanation on camber gain and their prototype/simplified rocket antilag system (ALS) that has been so successful there has been no need to produce the 'real' version just yet with some more testing and insight required to understand what makes what shouldn't work on paper amazing in reality. Another surprise discovery in the quest for peak performance racing up the side of a mountain was the exhaust size and pressure ratios seeing the setup run what a N/A engine normally would with again the real data tearing up the notebook.

Drive nearly a thousand miles cross country, sit in traffic for hours, and spend your days laying down five and six-second ETs at the drag strip for a week solid? ‘Drag and drive’ events are a unique form of torture for some of the world’s fastest street cars. In this episode, Steve of Steve Morris Engines is on the podcast to tell us how he builds a 4500+hp motor that can handle that kind of punishment.

Use “STEVEMORRIS100” to get $100 OFF our HPA Engine Building Starter Package: hpcdmy.co/enginepackageb

Steve Morris is one of the true legends of the drag engine building scene, and in this episode, we start by getting an interesting look into the convoluted path that his career and business took to get where it is today.

That business is best known for its extremely high horsepower boosted V8 packages — especially the all-billet SMX and SML engines. One of the biggest selling points of these insane engines is that they’re street-capable, and have proven themselves time and time again in tortuous drag and drive events across the States.

These events require a car to be able to carry all its own spares (usually by towing a small trailer) and drive large distances between race venues within a one-week period — occasionally sitting in traffic for extended periods of time. Steve goes into detail on the unique challenges this form of racing presents and how he builds engines for it that are up to the task, giving up some tasty engine-building insight and knowledge carved from years worth of research and development.

With some great conversations around the age-old superchargers versus turbochargers debate, favoured ECU options for this type of racing, the usefulness and reliability of electronic wastegates and more, this episode is well worth a listen.

Don’t forget, use “STEVEMORRIS100” to get $100 OFF our HPA Engine Building Starter Package: hpcdmy.co/enginepackageb

Follow Sam here:
IG: @stevemorrisengines
FB: Steve Morris Engines
YT: Steve Morris Engines
WWW: stevemorrisengines.com 

DCT considerations, GT-R vs Huracan, horsepower vs car setup, this interview has it all.

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Competition between the Audi R8, Lamborghini Huracan and long-established Nissan R35 GT-R platforms has been heating up in the drag racing world for some time, and our next guest is no stranger to being at the pointy end of the time sheets in more than one of these packages.

Jordan Martins Prime Cuts Chop Shop Lamborghini Huracan, the @AMSPerformance  Alpha Omega 'dragbo' is an impressive car, and at @semashow he gave us some insight into this specific package which at the time of filming saw it being the 2nd fastest Huracan on the 1/4.

Sporting twin @GarrettTurbos G42-1450 pushing 37-39psi of boost through the 5.2-litre @Lamborghini V10 has gone from 600hp (naturally aspirated) to well over 2000hp while retaining the stock block, and bores with a factory rotating assembly even seeing solid reliability up to the 1200-1300hp range. Some comparisons around this and the VR38 in the R35 platform are discussed along with when a billet block might be considered down the line.

Also touched on is the importance of the @MoTeCAustralia traction control setup for helping launch the car, ideally without wheeling which this platform is inherently prone to doing, along with the chassis, tyre and JRZ suspension setup vs just dumping more and more power into the equation in the quest for faster passes. Drag racing with a dual clutch transmission (DCT) is also a topic we get into again drawing some comparisons to the R35 platform with a nod to John Reed Racings polished development in this area.

The goal for Jordan and the team are to get into the 6's with this platform, and we have no reason to believe they won't reach this goal and beyond.

You might not know the name, but you’ve probably seen Sam Albert’s Subaru WRX online. Powered by a screaming 4.3-litre Ferrari V8, Sam’s flame-spitting AWD rally car is fast, it’s cool, and it sounds amazing … But why go to all that trouble when Subaru’s own EJ drivetrain — the one that this car uses from the factory — has proven itself a capable championship-winning setup since the late eighties?

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This episode of Tuned In kicks off with a look into Sam’s history with cars and rallying — something he first competed in back in 2010. He’s also spent time as a driving instructor for DirtFish, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to discuss driving techniques like weight transfer, left-foot braking, handbrake turns, and much more. Sam also gives us some key tips on how someone new to the sport of rally is best to get into it and start building their first race car.

We then get to the meat and potatoes of the episode, as Sam gives us a full rundown of his incredible Ferrari-powered NA-AWD class build. This conversation covers all aspects — starting with why he decided to go down this route — with a car he bought off the lot brand new, no less — in the first place. Sam then discusses what led him to the Ferrari V8, how he worked around the rule book to build something unique, as well as the many challenges that came with fitting a motor like this into his Subaru shell.

It’s important to note that Sam doesn’t actually work in the automotive industry as a professional but instead learnt how to do things himself, including using HPA’s courses to learn how to wire his car. He’s also learning 3D modelling in order to design one-off parts for the Subaru — something that comes in handy for a one-off project like this.

With some informative conversations covering tuning around inlet restrictors, the pros and cons of other engines that were also considered, as well as a great explanation of what the car is like to drive and what gives it an edge, there’s a whole lot of interesting topics to dive into in this episode.

Don’t forget, Use “SAMALBERT50” to get 50% OFF our HPA Race Driving Fundamentals course: hpcdmy.co/driverb

Follow Sam here:
IG: @samalbertrally
FB: Sam Albert Rally
YT: Sam Albert Rally
WWW: samalbertrally.com  

CAD is the future, and the future is here, but is an engineering degree a necessity to break into this world for your own projects or even professionally?

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

As the man in charge of this side of the business, Dmitriy Orlov of BBI Autosport is no stranger to computer-aided design (CAD) and the manufacturing processes that take things from screen to 3D printer, CNC machine or even paper template.

Leaning on his years of practical experience in the industry Dmitriy covers a huge range of valuable topics to anyone interested in learning how to use tools like CAD themselves including where to start (small) and when you should be creative vs pragmatic in relation to design vs manufacturing as well as dealing with the old 'you have to be an engineer to make parts' statement many love to make.

Also discussed is some insight into the Hoonipigasus project which saw multiple people working on a range of software including Autodesk Alias & Fusion 360, SOLIDWORKS, & Siemens Solid Edge, all at the same time and in a very short time frame.

Tools like generative flow, generative design and the ease of adding constraints to match manufacturing restrictions as well as 3rd party manufacturing options are touched on as well as the general excitement of what is to come in the future. Remember, the best time to start learning a skill you are interested in is now, and the best applications are projects you are interested in finding solutions for/on.