I've been asked for my opinion by quite a few folks on last week's announcement that was posted here by New Egypt Speedway with the subject line:"HOLSTEN RACING FAILS POST RACE INSPECTION." While I'm somewhat flattered by people wanting to know what I think, the reality is that I don't have the technical expertise to really offer anything that I feel would really be of value, and at this point, I think we've all had enough "opinion." Over the years, thanks to those introduced to me because of this website, and the folks I have met as a result of my employment opportunities over the past 40 years, I have met individuals who I respect not only because of their engine/technical expertise, but also because of their character. From those I've met that without hesitation I am 100% confident in saying get high marks in each catagory , I decided to reach out to two who I felt not only had the expertise needed, but who were removed from current short track racing/current day short track race teams. The two that I narrowed it down to combined, have over 80 years experience in engine rebuilding/head rebuilding/high performance, with one owning his own Performance Shop for over 20 years in North Jersey, including years working with a SuperFlow flowbench. Neither are in any way associated with the raceteams or the speedway involved, and in one case, even if told the name of the speedway/raceteams involved, they would not be familiar due to their experience mainly being away from circle track venues/in other performance arenas including drag racing and high performance marine applications. For those that didn't see the original post, here is the information copied and pasted as it appeared on 9/9/2021 6:11:15 PM from New Egypt Speedway: HOLSTEN RACING FAILS POST RACE INSPECTION Following a post-race inspection, due to a protest Saturday night September 4, 2021, the Rick Holsten owned #96 was found to have altered heads. As a result of the infraction, all points and money from the September 4, 2021 event will be forfeited. In addition, the team is suspended from any further points races for the 2021 campaign and they will lose an additional 100 points. The heads were shipped to Brodix Cylinder Heads in Mena, Arkansas where the investigation found the heads to be altered to the degree which constituted an infraction of the NES rules.
A post followed on 9/11/2021 12:25:18PM from D.Wolfe-358 that included additional information that was cited as being sourced from Billy Pauch Jr's Facebook page that included a statement, and what appears to be a text(?) from Brodix. For those who did not see that post, here it is (below) copied and pasted as originally posted: Statement cited as being from Billy Pauch Jr Facebook Page:
As most of you were aware we were protested Saturday Night to pull our heads which we gladly did. This motor was a sealed motor by New Egypt's tech inspector. He specifically sealed it himself and no issues were had. When the heads came out they were sent out with no worries. We were notified late last night that there might be an issue. We contacted the individual who we had purchased the heads from and spoke to Brodix. Brodix informed us there was no mechanical advantage and that there was nothing done to the heads. The person who we bought the heads from told us that the guy who owns the track has purchased 3 sets of these heads as well. The owner of the track made the final decision and if they claim our heads are illegal, tracks better be pulling seals and sending heads to brodix after each race or we all aren't on a level playing field. We were very disappointed with how the situation was handled by ownership. The following text(?) with the Brodix sign off was also provided:
I provided the above text (?) with the Brodix Inc. sign off to both individuals I mentioned above with years of experience in engine/head/performance work, because while I felt my opinion would be of no value, I decided regardless of their responses, I would respect both, and would relay them as directly as I could to those of you who have been following this story. Specifically, I asked them to read the text, and let me know if based on that information, if they would conclude that it was possible for someone to have altered the head/heads in an intentional manner. Here are their responses after reading the above text (with the Brodix signature): Response From Engine Builder #1: Based on what appears to be a text comment/response from Brodix, it sure looks like what you would find after a valve job was performed, some scarring. Such incidental markings are sometimes referred to in the industry as “bench scars.” As they said, “only a lightly touched the chamber on one side and the cutter touched the aluminum in a few places.” If this was done deliberately to improve airflow, they would have had to machine each port or bowl identically/markings would be consistent from cylinder to cylinder and in both heads. Since this was not noted by Brodix, then you would have to assume it was random scarring possibly from a previous valve job. Also, to gain enough air flow to make a difference in HP you would need to do a lot more port and bowl work to make any improvement. Why would the owner spend $30 or $40K on an engine have the track inspect and seal it then do something as small as what was found? It would not make sense to do that. In my experience, if someone is going to alter a spec/sealed component, they are not going to do so and face the potential of failing tech, unless the alterations performed would increase performance in a measurable manner. Response from Engine Builder #2: After reviewing the information that you provided (text from Brodix), the immediate question is was the difference noted in all cylinders/both heads? Based on the info (in the text) the markings that were noted would have a miniscule effect (positive or quite possibly negative) even if it was present on all cylinders. In my experience, I have seen marks like that on heads and view it as “overspray on a fender” meaning that although there was no intent, some paint ended up where it wasn’t supposed to go, and did so without consequence. The marks could be from someone moving the cutter incorrectly (again, much like a painter who gets a little overspray on a nearby component.) For there to be any expectation in performance gains, you would need to go around the entire seat on each cylinder. The marks noted in the text could be explained by the tool “kissing it” when it was being placed/set in its fixture. An interesting and conclusive test would be to flow the heads against a set of “known good”. Do the heads in question flow more? Example, if the known good heads flow (potentially flow) 270 cfm at max lift, do the heads in question flow more? Flowing two (2) cfm higher per cylinder, on an 8-cylinder engine would yield about 4 hp. But as noted earlier, this type of gain could only be expected if the work that was done, was the same to each cylinder Please note that the responses were requested and received individually, meaning that the two engine builders that I reached out to had no idea that I was reaching out to anyone else and/or what the response either would be. They also do not know each other.
If additional written information, such as an actual lab report from Brodix/images of specific findings, I will be happy to provide it to the individuals who offered their responses above and will ask them to review any such new material as received. Until then, I respect and accept the expertise provided above by the non-affiliated engine builders in response to my request to review the text (with Brodix sign off) and to provide their thoughts.
|
