'Free' Horsepower?

[Sparky]

What are your favourite low cost/high value speed secrets?

Rather than fit that mega-buck cylinder head, or rebore that block for those forged pistons that you gave your left leg for, what 'free' modifications would you suggest?

I'm talking about such things as effective heat shielding to improve the intake density, air scoops or channelling cold air for the same reason, sending your chosen vehicle on a strict diet, lightening flywheels for throttle response... That sort of thing.

What would you recommend?

[ma]

As much seat time as possible with a good data logging system, and the services of a GOOD engineer to make sense of it all. All the tricks in the world aren't worth squat if you are only capable of extracting 100% of the potential!

[THR]

I would agree with MA,
if u change something and dont know if it improved or disproved the performance. wots the point!

I would add the car has to be reliable and well prepared.
u have to finish to finish first.

[Sparky]

C’mon Guys! I’m not asking what it takes to finish a race, or how much money I need to employ a good engineer!

It was a simple enough question; What low-cost, high-return tuning tricks do you use to maximise your power potential. (Or for the ‘hands-off’ kinda poster, what would you like to see your vehicle preparation outfit use?)
Any racer that turns up to a circuit at the start of the season without having visited a good chassis dynomometer is leaving plenty to chance. This is where you get to see if those tuning parts you did fit are working as well as you'd hoped, and to adjust everything to optimum. And reliability should be a foregone conclusion. Anyone who turns up for a ten-lap race with a car that will self-destruct after six laps is not taking the task seriously.

Take my original example. If you fitted a new, large-bore tubular exhaust manifold, yet forgot to insulate it properly, the underhood temperature would rise, and likely as not, negate any potential performance gains there may have originally been. A data logging system will tell you what the temps are, but you still have to interpret the cause.

I remember I once met an old Mini racer, and he told me that he had his intake manifold chrome-plated. A little extravagant, I thought. As it turns out, on the dyno he saw a 5hp gain due to reduced intake temperature, and the car would detonate less, start easily when hot, and it looked pretty good too!

[Sparky]

C’mon Guys! I’m not asking what it takes to finish a race, or how much money I need to employ a good engineer!

It was a simple enough question; What low-cost, high-return tuning tricks do you use to maximise your power potential. (Or for the ‘hands-off’ kinda poster, what would you like to see your vehicle preparation outfit use?)
Any racer that turns up to a circuit at the start of the season without having visited a good chassis dynomometer is leaving plenty to chance. And reliability should be a foregone conclusion. Anyone who turns up for a ten-lap race with a car that will self-destruct after six laps is not taking the task seriously.

Take my original example. If you fitted a new, large-bore tubular exhaust manifold, yet forgot to insulate it properly, the underhood temperature would rise, and likely as not, negate any potential performance gains there may have originally been. A data logging system will tell you what the temps are, but you still have to interpret the cause.

I remember I once met an old Mini racer, and he told me that he had his intake manifold chrome-plated. A little extravagant, I thought. As it turns out, on the dyno he saw a 5hp gain due to reduced intake temperature, and the car would detonate less, start easily when hot, and it looked pretty good too!

[Racer X]

You cantry changing your oil in your engine. http://www.gr8ride.com/cgi-bin/pm/co...ross&oid=14165
Or a new intake and exuast.

[THR]

umm ok, no need to say it twice tho!

how about putting holes in things, thats pretty cheap, and weight loss is a good anvantage to have...

or for the older racer.. a diet always works well!!

if u wanna spend some cash tho..
im having trouble saying one thing that will make u go faster than any other thing..
every little bit helps. and they all cost bigish bucks for performance gains.

that crome plate, must have cost £120. and the modern better is ceramic coating. which is about the same i expect.

[Langers]

Inlet resonator tuning, direct hits spark plug amplifiers, spark plug indexing washers, racing quality synthetic oil