May 24, 2022 Turbo Direct SA, locally designed race Turbo, Chris Kambouris
Turbo Direct SA test their locally designed race Turbo
The TDRT had already proved it was perfect to be marketed after our last grueling 24-hour race test, says Chris Kambouris CEO of the Turbo Direct SA Group.
“We had a few issues on reliability with the gearbox, prop shafts that let us down, but nothing went wrong with the Turbo. However, the team felt that we now should do it again with the aim win or finish in the top 10 in this latest 9-hour race. It’s the same car and same TurboDirect S.A prototype turbocharger, reassembled, re-balanced and reinstalled onto the BMW - for another round of abuse.”
We had modified the car and upgraded a few drive train components, namely the prop shaft, and centre bearing, to prevent further pit time conducting repairs. The car with its TDRT turbocharger that is rated at a true 800hp has the speed and produces more horsepower than any of the other cars entered so the plan this time was to push it to the ultimate limit.”
Racing for 24 hours was the perfect endurance test, running at abnormally hot temperatures during midday, and very cold temperatures through the night at a minimum of 100 000RPM rotational speeds constantly. The turbocharger passed this test without any sign of abnormal wear, damage, or any other signs of weakness and still performed 100% as it did when brand new.
This time round we will be looking to see how the turbocharger holds up to further abuse, and we intend increasing the boost pressure to run the turbocharger at around 140 000rpm which is the turbochargers bearing systems, and maximum rotational speed limit. With our data loggers and turbo speed sensors in the car, we aim to use this data for analysis after the race. It gives us eyes into what our turbocharger is doing, and how it is behaving during the abuse that we put it through.
No one has ever conducted this type design, manufacturing nor testing in South Africa, we have been the pioneers in the turbocharger game in Africa since the introduction of Billet Compressor wheels in 2007 from the TurboDirect S.A stable
“The 9 hour was a success in terms of the turbocharger once again. The turbo held up 100% and put up to the toughest driving it never missed a beat and performed well!,” said Chris Kambouris CEO of the Turbo Direct SA Group. “After a great qualifying of 5th on the grid with 0.3 seconds separating us from the leading cars the team was excited, with minimal prep and hardly any practice, things were looking up for us at the start of the race. A side shaft failure put us out for 30% of the race and then a second issue arose with a blown fuel pump fuse, Again, the turbo performed exceptionally well without any issues.”
“We have now decided to disassemble the car and go through it from the ground up for the next 24-hour race in October this year, these 3 turbo tests will be the toughest we have ever put a turbo through, proving it to be one of best locally designed and made race turbochargers ever to be seen in South Africa”
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