Exhaustive Research – When It Comes to Exhaust Outlets, Racecars Adhere to the Rule That Form Follows Function

Exhaust tips are a strange thing to take pictures of, you might think. To be honest, I admit that it is kind of strange, but whenever I go out into the field, with camera in hand, I end up taking at least a few pictures of the race exhaust setups I see. I’m drawn to them, and over the years, I’ve ended up with a bunch of them in my files.

If I think about why I shoot them, I’d have to say it’s for a few different reasons. One, the exhaust outlet of every car performs the same function, to evacuate the engine of its spent gases and release them into the atmosphere. Yet, depending on the application, the car on which it’s found, the kind of racing the car was designed for or even the track at which it is racing, the exhaust can take many different forms. It’s

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Build Your Own Cold Air Intake

One of the quickest and cheapest ways to gain some performance for your racecar is by ensuring the engine gets as much cold, clean air as possible. A quick search on eBay or Amazon will net you hundreds of products for almost every car that claim horsepower gains from simple intake tubing. Admittedly, some of those stated horsepower gains from these products are a bit optimistic. However, from considerable chassis dyno sessions, our team has found success with different air intake pieces. Did we find 20 horsepower? No, but we did go in the correct direction toward finding power.
AEM makes a bolt-in piece for a 90-93 Acura Integra, but it is designed to miss things in the engine bay that we don’t have in our racecar anymore. We wanted to build our own system with fewer bends in the tubing and with some larger diameter tubing.
We have tried the high-end

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Training Your Eyes

What’s the most effective way to achieve faster lap times?
There is no silver bullet to bring big gains in performance. One driver benefits from being smoother while another gains with quicker inputs. Practicing alternate lines also can yield faster laps. Of course, data analysis is fundamental to pick up speed and time. Nonetheless, the most common limiting factor is how a driver uses his eyes.
You can’t get around the track without your eyes. You look for references on the track, for traffic, for passing opportunities, etc. Yet do you pay attention to where you direct your eyes? Ask yourself how far ahead do you look? How long do you focus on one reference before moving to the next? Generally, drivers don’t look far enough ahead.
This has consequences in speed and safety. A driver not looking through the corner may be surprised by debris or a spun car. A driver caught

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