The racing season is off and running and the bar is getting higher again this year.  Years ago when racers were getting serious they would employ a shop like Pro-Systems to step up their race team.  We would of course build them a custom carburetor that we can help fine tune for their program to get them that record or championship they're after.  They would contact us not only to assist them with the carburetor but also to help align them with other professional shops that can help them with chassis tuning, nitrous systems, engine components, fuel selection etc..  So essentially, not only do we become their carburetor builder, we become an assistant crew chief and inside contact for their program. 

I tell all our customers, to mail in their spark plugs, call the 24 hour tech-line, ask for "real world" opinions on products etc...basically utilize the fringe benefits that come with your carburetor.  That's what we do.

Its now about 10 years later and what used to be one in ten racers employing a high end shop for professional components, has now become about seven out of ten. 

Testing has shown that "All out performance" and "Bracket race" applications prefer different fuel curves to more accurately follow SAE correction tables and achieve maximum performance.

I was talking to a customer a year ago who was running in a particular class.  He said he bought a carburetor that had billet tune-able metering blocks and that he was going to tune the carburetor himself.  I told him, although the emulsions may be tune-able, he is going to also need specific reamers and specially step taper the main metering block passages as well as change the main booster fuel diameters as well.  Billet metering blocks are all the rage.  Mostly because they're shiny and shiny sells.  But there is a reason we do not currently use them on any of our designs.  We are working on a design that fixes what we feel is an inherent problem in the billet concept.  But until then, we'll install them only if you like shiny.  Anyway, after a few months of the customer adjusting his emulsion jets, he borrowed one of our carburetors that was built for the class.  He sold his carb the next day and ordered a carb from our shop.  He had put a lot of time and effort in that area that ultimately proved to be wasted time.  Time that could've been spent in other areas.  The customer was at a disadvantage from the start.  Our company has the testing equipment, a massive data base, countless hours of dyno/ track testing and multiple on track and on the dyno reports from our customer base as a reference.  That's the advantage to being a "hands on, in the trenches" company.  His decision slowed his program and put him in the position of playing catch up for the rest of the season.  A bad position to be in. 

Racing in all classes these days is so intense, that you just can't specialize in all areas.  So enlist as many specialists as you can in areas that you feel are most important to your program.  There are people that only do lug nuts for race teams.  They've got the best and lightest lug nut, with the optimum thread pitch to give you the fastest install time with the best locking ability and minimized jamming potential.  Its the reality of racing.  That's what companies like ours do.  So don't spread yourself too thin this season.  Give yourself fewer areas to sort out when you're program takes to the track.  You get up and racing faster and hopefully your new supplier will be a new contact to help you sort out areas you're unfamiliar with and can also point you in a  direction if for some reason he/she or you don't have all the answers. 

Thanks for reading, see you in the trenches.