Why pre-heat your race Engine
Why pre-heat your race Engine
Get engaged and warm up to the engine heater, preheating process and the many benefits of preheating. Before we hit the start button here, let’s explore where you and your race engine fit into the wide ranges of reasoning for preheating. Reading this should help you answer the big quesion… how much do you and your engine really need this.
How will you benefit?
Budget minded racers
Crew chiefs
Team owners
Budget minded racers spend less money on expensive fuel and maintenance
Warming your engine up several times during an event can total up to several gallons.
Customer feedback from Drag racers (K&N) and Dirt Late Model, multi-car teams say “at $15.00 a gallon we’ve paid for the car engine heater in our first season”
Granted, fuel hungry dragsters and Stock Cars may be the extreme example but budgets for “small engine” racers can also be stretched by reducing “warm up” fuel costs. You may say “insignificant” but pocket this for later when we talk about the huge savings of increasing the service life of your sealed or unsealed engine.
We often hear “well sir, we can’t afford the cost of the system right now…” My response is “how long do you plan on racing? Only one or two seasons”?
Typically, a customer’s plans are indefinite so I say the cost for well-built unit will eventually be recovered. In fact, it gets better than just breaking even! We had a Super Comp champion join us in the booth at the PRI trade show and here is what he announced to the crowd in front of our booth.
“Hey look at this Hot Head Pro, it’s the only thing you can buy in this whole building that will pay for itself and then make you money”.
I winced while listening to him as he pointed at other booths, “those tires, that chassis, those injectors and graphic kits over there don’t pay for themselves. Since then, I’ve used this claim with no challenges. Can you think of any exceptions?
How does the Crew Chief Benefit?
Crew Chiefs responsibility and reputation are reflected in the car’s speed.
Racing engines are tuned to run at temperatures above 180°F so it’s a no brainer to eliminate the most impacting negative variable, engine temperature. Being at the ready with perpetual heat frees you up for making race winning set-up decisions and track studies. Maintaining engine temperature eliminates the whole start up procedure along with that elusive timing window that’s just right for the revving ritual. Is this you?
Peace of mind is guaranteed when the engine warmer “soaks” heat deep into the entire block. The mass of heated metal and coolant acts like a battery that carries the engine through staging far better than superficial start-ups.
Why would a car owner care?
If you are a car or team owner you may only spend the money on bare essentials. Maybe your one of those owners that rely on a reputable engine and chassis choices. Add a skilled driver and finish off your program off with skilled chassis set-ups. After the essential expenses and work would you spend another 1% for a tenth in qualifying? How about paying for that tenth and you get that investment back over the next year or so.
As I mentioned. If you are still riding the fence, the most cost saving consideration is insurance, insurance against blowing up an engine. Here convincing testament for using a engine coolant heater. In the Late Model and Modified world Gypsum Express’s https://www.facebook.com/GypsumRacing/ engine shop is a highly respected engine builder. They log on-board engine information to see what the temperature was should there be a problem. They realize that start-up, qualifying and initial racing temperature reduces failures.
Buying speed…
I had a USAC https://www.usacracing.com/ racer interested in our HotHead preheater. He was a fast guy, a real “influencer” so I made him a deal to give me a check for one of our Hot Head PRO4 units and I’d refund his money if it didn’t improve his qualifying time. He blew away the track record, we kept his check. Darren Pittman, an early adopter made a memorable claim;
“Preheating my Sprint Car engine makes a huge difference. In qualifying, my pre-heated engine can gain me one tenth of a second, which can put me 10 spots further foreword in the line-ups”.
As an owner/racer, the feeling of heat pounding through the fire wall in staging instills confidence to jump onto the track and
Punish the engine to build heat in the tires
Test the track for bite
Charge the flag in qualifying
Be a sheep
Technically, the basic engine preheating process is just about one step below making coffee.
Maybe just dismiss the benefits and return on investment, just do what Formula 1, F3, Le Mans, Indy Car, NASCAR, USAC and even Ford Racing race teams do.
They know what they are doing. Today you can copy them because days past, only these “white collar” teams could afford the equipment but today, complexity and cost have been driven down. 15 years ago we studied Europe’s flow-thru (on demand) water heating technology, enabling efficiency at a affordable cost. Hot Products Engineering has supplied all the above (except for F1) series with heating systems and technology.
