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RACING IMPROVES THE BREED Following on from the success it enjoyed working with Tickford Racing, RYCO Filters will be hitting the track again in 2022 When it does so, RYCO will be providing Tickford Racing with a variety of filtration products to assist in its endeavour to secure the Supercars Championship. “We’re extremely excited to continue our technical partnership with Tickford Racing,” RYCO Group Pty Ltd General Manager – Sales, Tony Sheedy, said. 2021 was a watershed year for both Tickford Racing and the RYCO engineering research and development team. “Last year, we learnt so much about the extremely high demands that the championship places on both machine and driver,” Tony said. “Both on and off the track, the team at Tickford Racing showed their resilience and commitment to the task of winning in what is considered the world’s most competitive touring car championship.” Again in 2021, the teams had to weather the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, spending extended periods on the road, away from the workshop, their families and friends, due to border closures. The partnership certainly delivered with Cam Waters and James Moffat standing on the second step of the podium at Australia’s biggest race, the Bathurst 1000. “This was a fantastic way to cap off what was a challenging series for the team, and it has made us both even hungrier to go one step further in 2022,” Tony remarked. While the teams were pounding out the miles, Alastair Hampton – RYCO’s General Manager, Engineering and Innovation – and his team of hard-working engineers were locked away in Melbourne’s state-of-the-art testing and product development facility, developing new filtration products to increase performance and improve reliability for the Tickford Ford Mustangs. “The work we’ve been doing the last 12 months has been focused on shifting the dial in filtration technology to help Supercars achieve their performance targets for the eagerly awaited Gen 3 cars that will hit racetracks in 2023,” Alastair explained. This exciting news proves just how important filtration has become in modern racing applications. Pushing the boundaries of filtration technology is delivering a wide variety of advantages to both teams and the entire championship. “We have proven that improved filtration, be it oil, 20
Australian Automotive Aftermarket Magazine February 2022
air or fuel, helps maintain engine performance over longer periods and reduces engine wear,” Alastair said. “This helps the category maintain performance parity and reduces costs for the teams as it will allow longer periods between engine rebuilds.” Cost containment has been a significant focus for developing the new Gen 3 Supercars. RYCO has been working closely with the GM and Ford engine builders in the development phase to help them reach the goals set out for performance and reliability. “To secure the future of the series, the Gen 3 race cars must be a lot more cost-effective to build and maintain,” Alastair said. The current ‘car of the future’ engines are built using many one-off parts and require frequent rebuilds to maintain peak performance.
“One of the issues with the current rules is that the teams with smaller budgets may not be able to rebuild as often to help maintain their engine performance throughout the entire season,” Alastair explained. “This affects both parity across the field and has blown out costs significantly.” To help contain costs, Supercars set out aggressive targets for initial engine build costs and increased the length of their service intervals while still producing in excess of 600 horsepower. Engine builders are using more ‘stock’ components than ever before to deliver this. “While I can’t reveal the exact targets for service intervals, let’s just say they are approaching something more in line with those you’d expect from a passenger car,” Alastair said. To hit these targets, the new Gen 3 engines must
