Product R&D: Ryco Filters to help drive Supercar Championship into new era

RYCO TO HELP DRIVE SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP INTO NEW ERA

RYCO Filters is the ‘Official Filtration Partner’ of Supercars, having its oil, air, and fuel filters fitted as ‘Control Parts’ for the category’s new GEN3 race cars

Achieving success in motorsport is not only about having the fastest vehicle. Behind the scenes, there’s a fine balancing act taking place that sees competitive teams juggling outright performance with reliability while at the same time being constantly shadowed by budgetary constraints. While touring car competitions originally began with vehicles driven off the showroom floor before being ‘tweaked’ for the racetrack, the current breed of Supercar race vehicles are very much purpose-built for competition in one of the world’s most competitive racing series. Evidence of this can be seen in the Repco Supercars Championship, Australia’s leading motorsport category which sees competitors race expensive, technically advanced race cars. With Supercars looking at ways to reduce costs for its competing teams, its administrators decided to look at alternate approaches to help with this whilst ensuring close racing. In response, Supercars devised a new series for 2023 – known as ‘GEN3’ – that aims to significantly reduce competition costs, mostly through using more affordable engines with longer maintenance intervals whilst also maintaining high performance. For these goals to be met however, a notable reduction in engine wear had to be achieved. A new generation of race cars need a new generation of filters

The team at RYCO says it accepted this challenge and in response, developed a range of new filtration products designed specifically for Supercars with the benefits being transferred not only to other race categories, but also to everyday passenger cars. This led RYCO’s Melbourne based Engineering, and Product teams to consider how else they might assist the broader Supercars category. How to create the world’s best package of racing oil, air, and fuel filters

The process began with RYCO creating a strategically aligned innovation-based mission statement: “to create the world’s best oil, air and fuel filters for racing vehicles.” Additional consultation with race teams, engine builders and Supercars’ technical experts further identified other concerns over engine wear, performance limitations and the shortfalls of existing filtration products. These insights were complemented by additional research conducted by RYCO focusing on race engine specifications, incumbent filtration products, and the effects that certain particulate sizes have on different systems. Armed with the facts, RYCO explains it set about designing and producing a package of oil, fuel and air filters that would provide ideal filtration efficiencies to both maximise engine life while also delivering outstanding performance. In response, RYCO collaborated globally with its suppliers to identify latest technology filter medias that could achieve the target efficiencies and design requirements of Supercars RYCO’s unique Supercar filtration solution

RYCO explains that its unique Supercar filtration solution breaks the traditional view that fineparticle filtration must come with a compromise to flow restriction and engine performance. A key to RYCO’s new Supercar filters is its “neverseen-before in racing” media. In the case of the oil filter, it features a unique 100 percent synthetic media for fine-micron filtration that replaces the traditional cellulose-based examples. For the fuel filter, it features rolled element finemicron media, rather than course particle pleated metal screens. Finally, the air filter employs a hydrophobic nano-fibre coated media with unique honeycomb construction. To prove the feasibility of these combinations under racing-conditions, prototypes of each of these filters were extensively evaluated both in RYCO’s lab, current Supercars race vehicles and the GEN3 Mustang and Camaro prototypes. The amazing performance of the three RYCO filtration products reportedly quickly allayed any concerns race teams may have had in making a switch away from traditional racing filtration products. In addition, RYCOs new range of filtration products have also drawn praise from Supercars, including

from its very experienced Head of Motorsport, Adrian Burgess. “RYCO’s innovative, world-first filtration technology will enable the GEN3 series the best chance of success whilst also lowering purchase and operating costs for teams,” Adrian said. Similar sentiments were also echoed by Supercars’ Engine Projects Manager, Craig Hasted. “The RYCO ‘control’ Oil, Fuel and Air Filters provide long life performance for GEN3 Engines,” Craig said. RYCO’s Executive General Manager, Stuart Chandler, said the company was delighted to have further cemented its relationship with Supercars. “I am extremely excited by our new partnership with Supercars as the ‘Official Filtration Partner’ of the category through being the ‘control’ supplier of oil, air, and fuel filters,” Stuart said. “In addition, this partnership cements RYCO Filters as the premium motorsport filter brand in Australian and New Zealand. “The accomplishment would not have been possible without RYCO’s brand promise of adapting to demanding conditions, along with our unwavering commitment to innovation. I thank everyone involved in helping us achieve this success.” RYCO Filters: bred for the racetrack, perfect for the road

On and off the racetrack, RYCO says the latest range of its filters help extend engine life, whilst maintaining power levels and requiring less consumption of resources. And just as RYCO passenger-car filters meet or exceed the filtration performance of Supercars and original-equipment manufacturers, these products can also be used by regular vehicle owners without affecting their warranty. Late last year, RYCO Filters launched passenger car derivatives with these filters employing the same technologies and composition as used in motorsport. Currently, there are over thirty filters available within the RYCO range to suit a variety of makes and models, with the range constantly expanding. To purchase a RYCO filtration product, contact your nearest RYCO stockist. For more information, visit www.rycofilters.com.au

Australian Automotive Aftermarket Magazine Publisher, Cameron McLachlan, takes a look at the products driving the automotive aftermarket. cameron@aaaa.com.au