Member Feature Ryco Filters - Racing improves the breed

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, 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

stay clean because they won’t deal with the same contamination levels as the ones that the team will run in the 2022 season. “Those stock components used in the Gen 3 engine will be under a lot more strain than they’re probably being designed to deal with,” Alastair explained. “Our job is to help protect them, reduce contamination and maintain peak performance for a longer period.” Alastair mentioned that space is at a premium in most racing applications, which is highlighted under the bonnet of the Gen 3 Mustang. “Our Z160ST is the only oil filter on the market that will flow enough oil whilst being compact enough to fit between the block and headers in the Gen 3 Mustang engine,” he said. “When the team at RYCO first started working with Grove Racing and Tickford, we were surprised to discover that they were still using antiquated filtration technology to protect these highperformance thoroughbreds. “The oil and air filters that Supercar teams have been using for decades actually provide less engine protection than those found in a standard passenger vehicle. “We invited a delegation from the Tickford engineering team to join us for a tour of our worldclass testing facility in Melbourne, where we discovered that race engineers, as a whole, fear change. “These guys are always chasing horsepower, so their primary focus was on flow rates, with little attention devoted to filtration performance, even if it meant sacrificing engine longevity.” Working with the team’s engineering brains trust, Alastair and his team took a close look at their current filtration systems, benchmarked performance against RYCO’s latest in filtration technology, and developed a program designed to increase flow and improve filtration. “Inside a race engine, the dynamic clearances are opening up and closing at a far higher degree because they’re effectively under higher internal forces, and as you can imagine, this accelerates wear if contaminants are present,” Alastair explained. Compared to your average passenger vehicle, race engines are much more expensive. They are subjected to high-stress levels for extended periods and operate at much higher RPM. As a result, they are pushing more oil and fuel through the engine and ingesting a lot more air. “We have already proven that we can improve oil filtration performance with the launch of the Z160ST filter,” Alastair said. “That, combined with the test results from the prototypes of the other racing filters we currently have in development, has changed their mindset. “We have become an extremely valuable technical partner and shown them that they can have their cake and eat it too.” The Z160ST oil filter is an excellent example of how this relationship is delivering commercial outcomes for RYCO. “Our Z160ST oil filter was developed initially for race applications and from the lessons learnt working side-by-side with Tickford Racing,” Alastair said. “When compared to the filters they were using previously, it is more robust, has a higher flow rate and provides better filtration, and now it’s available for purchase at your local parts store. “That means drivers of performance vehicles, in particular, those with modified LS or Ford Coyote engines, can go out and purchase the same filters used in the Supercar series.” When you consider it in context, RYCO’s involvement with Tickford harks back to the golden era of Group A Racing, when motorsport was a testbed for new components and innovation. Back then, racing was about improving the breed. “In those days, the lessons learnt on track filtered down and were applied to our daily drives,” Alastair said. “I feel like we’re bringing that back to the sport, and it’s a philosophy that we’re both excited about and committed to. “With products like our Z160ST oil filter, we’re reigniting the win on Sunday, sell on Monday mantra that was the basis for the development of racing legends like the XY GTHO, A9X Torana and the E49 Charger.” To find out more about RYCO Filters, visit www.rycofilters.com.au