Tuned In

On this episode of Tuned In, we get a rare peek inside the ultra-high-stakes world of Formula 1 engine development thanks to this week’s guest, Micah McMahon of Redbull Powertrains.

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Micah is an American mechanical engineer based in Red Bull’s Milton Keynes facility where he works as the Performance Design Team Leader for the Formula 1 powertrain side of the operation.

As you probably rightly assumed though, Micah didn’t just walk into this job straight out of high school. We chart his path from studying mechanical engineering at university, to starting his own business focusing on high-performance Subaru applications, to working on the Ford GT powertrain at Roush Yates, to finally moving across the pond to continue his career with the world championship-holding Red Bull team in the UK.

Although much of Micah’s work is confidential and some questions need to be sidestepped, this episode still goes very deep into all aspects of both the current 1.6-litre 90-degree V6 turbocharged power units, as well as the upcoming 2026 regulation units that all teams are also quietly working on in the background. Expect to gain a better understanding of how these incredible feats of engineering operate, as well as a closer look at complicated components like the MGU-H and MGU-K systems that are utilised to extract every tiny bit of performance from the package. 

Micah spends his time at the very top of the motorsport industry — a cut-throat world in which every single horsepower counts. It’s not too often we get access to someone currently working in this very technical world, so this is one episode that definitely shouldn’t be missed! 

Follow Micah here:

IG: @gingermicah, @3miracing

LI: Micah McMahan

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Air-to-water vs air-to-air intercooling, driveline modifications, torque-based traction control and much more!

Tony Palo of T1 Race Developments gives us a rundown on a customer-owned R35 GTR that is working towards a 6-second pass which would make it the fastest Nissan R-35 with stock location turbos. At the time of filming the car had run a painfully close 7.01 pass at 205mph.

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This VR38 has a GT1R Race Stage 6 long block running the factory 3.8L displacement and also the factory cast aluminium block. With a MoTeC M1 series ECU in charge, this engine is fitted with GRP aluminium rods, Manley Pistons, 12 x Injector Dynamics injectors, AMS intake manifold, Sonny Bryant Racing crank Tomei cam, Ferrea valvetrain, ARP625 head studs and T1 Race CNC cylinder heads. All this and the ETS Turbo Pro 2100 kit which includes 2 x Precision 7675 Gen II turbos push the car to 2280WHP on a Mainline hub dyno.

With the car now being turbo limited nitrous injection is also being used to try and shave those last few milliseconds off, and Tony also indicates what other turbos and power levels would be an option if keeping things in the stock location was not a factor. Also discussed are the limits of the factory block, how the crank is the weakest link and why a dry sump is needed once you go over 1600HP.

An air-to-water intercooler setup is preferred by Tony and his team for this application, and the pros and cons of air-to-water vs air-to-air are mentioned, along with what has been done to the GR6 transmission and how launching becomes much harder as you go up turbo size which also needs an increase in tyre size to match.

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Nelson Racing Engines produces some of the greatest aftermarket V8 engine packages on earth, and in this week’s episode of Tuned In, NRE’s founder, Tom Nelson, is here to talk us through the process from design, to fabrication, assembly, and finally, face-melting dyno runs. 

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Even if you don’t recognise the name, you’ve probably seen Tom’s work in films like Furious 7, in which Vin Diesel’s character, Dom Toretto, drives the Nelson Super Cars 1968 Dodge Charger, ‘Maximus’. That impressive machine was built in-house from the ground up, and features a 9.4-litre 2200hp twin-turbo Hemi motor — one of many incredible V8 packages that Nelson Racing Engines offer.

In this episode, Tom looks back over his career, discussing his early days building fences in order to save up and buy a machine shop, through to his move into building complete turn-key cars costing upwards of a million dollars, and to his pumping ultra-high performance engine package business. 

Tom was one of the first in the V8 scene to recognise the potential of turbocharging over supercharging, and as such, he also has a huge amount of experience in not just building turbocharged V8s, but designing and fabricating the turbochargers themselves. 

Podcast host Andre Simon and Tom also dive into the ultra-high performance engine building world, discussing what it takes to make huge power reliably, and how to balance the aesthetics that NRE is so famous for with performance and serviceability. 

Lastly, Tom also talks business, discussing what has and hasn’t worked over the decades, and exactly why his products — whether that be engine packages or full turn-key, Riddler-level builds, cost what they do. 

Follow Nelson Racing Engines here:
IG: @nelsonracingengines
FB: @Nelson Racing Engines
WWW: nelsonracingengines.com

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It's hard to nail form and function, but Carl Thompson has it down to a fine art when it comes to drift builds between his old 1300HP 26B 4-rotor Aristo/GS300 build and this high compression 'small block' @Mast Motorsports 454ci (7.4L) LSX based V8 Nissan S15 Silva one that is another work of art. Even if you are a solid rotary fan it's hard not to appreciate the same level of detail and perfection that has gone into this LS-based S15 build.

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We'll discuss why Carl moved away from his 4 rotors (one of which now powers Rob Dahms AWD RX7 build) and towards the MoTeC M130-controlled LS V8 platform as he has gotten more serious about competing and doing full-season campaigns along with why he chose a naturally aspirated setup despite having a procharger bolted on at some point in time.

The difference in power levels required for D1NZ and US series also pops up as well as the performance increases gained from his Dailey Engineering dry sump system and what the main driver displays and warnings he pays attention to during a competition run and interestingly why he went with a cast-iron LSX based block over the aluminium LS(x) blocks that are also able to handle sizeable power figures. 

To get power to the ground the car runs a Holinger Engineering RD6 sequential, Tilton bell housing, flywheel and triple-plate carbon clutch leading to the Winters 25cm IRS quick-change and 35-spline stub axles.

A MoTeC M130, PDM30 and C125 logger/dash display and EMtron ETC4’s (for individual cylinder monitoring) round up the electronics side of things and giving Carl the ability to clutchless shift off the line.

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Why should you be concentric-twisting your wiring? What tools should you buy if you’re looking to build a harness? And when is it actually OK to use a soldering iron? This week on Tuned In, Matt Sanderson from Level Motorsport Wiring aims to answer these questions and many more. 

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Matt is a seasoned expert when it comes to professional-level motorsport wiring — his work is so good, we’ve been using his Instagram as inspiration for our own projects for a good while now. 

Based in the UK, Matt has a background in general mechanical work, which eventually transitioned into auto-electrical before the decision was made to start a company — Level Motorsport Wiring — that specialised in the high-end side of the wiring game.

In this conversation, Matt and Tuned In host Andre Simon explore the ins and outs of designing and building a high-end motorsport harness, following the process from start to finish. There’s a lot that goes into the planning and documenting side of the job that may not be immediately obvious. That, combined with some great wiring tips and tricks, make this an unmissable episode for anyone that has an interest in wiring, PDMs, "milspec", and motorsport electronics in general. 

Follow Matt here:
IG: @levelmsw_
FB: Level Motorsport Wiring
TK: @LevelMSW
YT: Level Motorsport Wiring
WWW: levelmotorsportelectronics.co.uk

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With teams now pushing 100PSI of boost to hit power levels of 3200HP and more from existing setups, we’re excited to see what Bullet Race Engineering's new RB hybrid block can do.

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Darren Palumbo is no stranger to Nissan RB26s, RB30s, or Toyota 2JZ engines with Bullet Race Engineering having produced billet blocks for each many times over the years and using this knowledge the team has gone one step further to try and remove some of the weaknesses holding the RB back, specifically the crankshaft. 

Traditionally more torsional twist occurs in an RB crank taking power away from the wheels by comparison to the 2JZ setup due to having a journal diameter that is 7mm smaller. Realising 2JZ main shells would fit into an RB configuration it was just a matter of adjustments to tunnel size, stud location and designing a crank to suit from there which has been done via a Callies Performance Products Ultra Billet range crankshaft using Timken alloy steel.

Along with these changes Bullet and Callies took the chance to make a few other changes including a longer snout with a greater diameter and wall thickness, bigger keyway and smaller big end journals which will take a Honda bearing shell helping to keep costs and parts sourcing for maintenance a little cheaper and easier. The flywheel flange has also increased in size by 10mm and gone from 6 to 8 bolts with the threads matching those used by many small and big block Chev flywheels, again just for easier sourcing of parts.

For now, the power limitation of the RB going forward now rests squarely on the current cylinder head which Bullet is also working on, but even before they are available it will be interesting to see what a difference these changes have made when it comes to getting the maximum amount of power to the ground as possible.

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Remember when BMW said the E90's ECU was “unmodifiable”? Remember when Nissan said the same about the R35 GT-R? The aftermarket has always met new challenges head-on, and reverse engineering and modifying any factory computer system with software like WinOLS has become not just a viable solution, but a popular one, too.

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As factory engine management systems increase in complexity, replacing them with aftermarket standalone ECUs has turned into a more and more of a difficult and expensive task. Looking towards other options, this week we’re joined by a master of the WinOLS world, James O’Connor from The File Service. 

James has a long history in tuning cars and has been dealing with remapping factory ECUs since the early 2000s. His company, The File Service, deals exclusively in this realm, providing ECU map packs and software, as well as teaching others how to work with programs like WinOLS, which is the main focus of this conversation.

This episode goes deep into the fascinating world of reverse engineering factory ECUs, as James explains how it's done and what’s involved. He also takes an eye-opening trip down memory lane to talk about the early days of remapping and all the slightly terrifying things that needed to be done in order to gain access and modify factory tables.

While a lot of this subject matter does cater to our more advanced listeners, James does a good job of explaining this interesting, very technical part of the industry so, at the very least, we can all have a better understanding of ECU remapping and powerful software like WinOLS.

Want to know more? You can contact James and his team at:
www.thefileservice.com.au

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This 1100KG 900HP SR20 powered Nissan S15 Silvia was easy to pick from the crowd as one of the standouts at the latest World Time Attack Challenge as not just being good from afar, but even more exceptional upon closer inspection.

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Owner and builder Charles Warland took some time out on race day to chat to us about the Dream Projects S15 Silvia build including some of the reasoning behind its 2.2L SR20VE power plant over other options like the RB which Charles is also familiar with via his RB260Z build. Sitting 51mm back from its original location as per the Open Class rules, the SR20 runs the Nissan P12 Primera head and a billet block to produce 900HP from 34 PSI of boost via a BorgWarner EFR 9174. PMC Race Engines have been on board with this great package, and internally CP-Carrillo pistons, a Kelford Cam and Nitto 2.2L stroker kit handle the beating flawlessly which is an impressive feat for a new build and testament to the quality of the build.

Charles also discusses why the GT Auto Garage prepped S15 uses a smaller turbo than what it could handle, and how Time Attack design legion Barry Lock (Of MCA Hammerhead and Mighty Mouse CRX fame) planned the build with Charles along every step of the way to make sure things were done right and done once in regards to chassis and aero setup. Driving the car to 3rd place in the Open Class with a time of 1:29.174 was FWD lap record holder Rob “Mighty Mouse” Nguyen who will be looking to crack that 1:28 mark in the RWD next time around we’re sure.

At just under 1100KG with 1000KG of downforce at 180kph the SR20 setup is certainly pulling its weight to keep momentum. With that said, a focus on the overall balance of the car and not just outright power it is well capable of the task and the change in rear suspension from a multi-link setup to a double-wishbone one helps ensure traction is maintained where required via the Hollinger RD6 sequential gearbox. A good range of sensors have been fitted for data logging purposes and with the help of the MoTeC M150, PDM30, and C127 dash help dial the car in to achieve faster and faster lap times.

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If you’ve spent any time on the internet recently, you’ve probably seen images of an incredible, mind-bending triple turbo SR22-powered tube-frame drag car that’s been doing the rounds. On this episode of the HPA Tuned In podcast, we talk to the guy who built it. 

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Fabrication extraordinaire and master of the TIG torch JT Oliver of JTO Power joins us this week, and he’s ready to lay down some great insight into the motorsport fabrication game. 

JT first discusses his entry into the industry, covering how he got started, and what led him to start his successful one-man-band fabrication business. 

JTO Power is best known for the internet-breaking Mazworx SR22VE triple compound turbo-powered drag car that, as you can probably tell by just looking at it, requires some serious talent in order to fabricate. With the legendary Shane T steering the ship on the mechanical and tuning side, JT has poured hundreds of hours into this build, starting with the chassis all the way through to the insanely complicated intake and exhaust tracts. 

JT also discusses the importance of 3D CAD modelling in any fabrication project, as well as advances in 3D printing, including his experience in printing a complete aluminium intake manifold for the drag car — something that would have been near-impossible using traditional methods. 

There are a lot of great tips to be found in this episode for any aspiring fabricator, covering everything from time-saving secrets, the importance of proper preparation, which materials to use, how to worth with Chromoly, and even what it takes to successfully run a one-man business without falling apart at the seams. 

The interview with Shane T discussing the drag car can be seen here: https://youtu.be/1pV_tLbZY0A

Follow JT here:
IG: @jto.power
WWW: jtopower.com


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How to develop a 2L four-cylinder to handle 46 PSI, and 700lb/ft of torque at low RPM.

Originally based on the 1972 Ford Pinto platform that would have been lucky to hit 100HP, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed we spent a bit of time chatting to Julian Godfrey who you may recognise as engine and electronics mastermind behind Ken Block’s ‘Cossie V2’ build to find out what it takes to develop the now legendary 2L 4 cylinder YB Cosworth engine to produce 600-700hp reliably and even surpass that magic 1000hp mark.

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With most of Julian's builds being used for rally and rallycross racing which employs the use of restrictor plates, a lot of the power and torque developed needs to be low down in the rev range which can essentially double the amount of time the engine internals are required to withstand the incredible pressures that a high output of torque produces. To give some figures, around 700lb/ft (949Nm) of torque and up to 46psi (3.2bar) of boost will be produced low in the rev range.

Cylinder head sealing is discussed and how a Coopers Ring (aka Wills Ring) works along with the use of Nikasil and titanium nitride coatings, aftermarket sleeve technology and the pros and cons of both ductile iron and steel liners including their limits. The inconsistency of factory castings, how Julian entered into the motorsport industry and got involved with the YB Cosworth platform via Ford Sierra rally cars and then, of course, the Ford Escort.

Also covered are some of the major design changes that are required to the YB block and set up to handle the 200lb/ft to 700lb/ft torque jump including the use of a billet sump that helps improve and spread the clamping load required to keep it all together along with some of the major differences between the areas of focus on a road vs race engine.

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