Legendary race engine builder Robert Yates, of Robert Yates Racing Engines and Roush-Yates Racing, made a surprise appearance at the Wednesday, December 5, 2007 Advanced Engine Technology Conference (AETC).
Drawing many of the world’s top race engine builders to one locale, the 18th AETC, one of the largest, oldest and most respected technical conferences for racing professionals, was held December 3-5, 2007, in the North/South Building of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, preceding the 20th Annual Performance Racing Industry Trade Show.
With this year’s theme, “The Power of Fuels—Winning with Tomorrow’s Fuel Technology,” the 2007 AETC featured speakers with unparalleled race engine expertise. Tuesday’s Keynote Speaker was Nick Hayes, of Cosworth and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) fame. Hayes, currently the engine development and research director for RCR, delivered an address entitled “Success in Racing.”
The UK’s Motorsport Industry Association (MIA), in partnership with the AETC, hosted the “Energy Efficient Motorsports Seminar and Discussion” on Wednesday morning, December 5, leading up to PRI’s annual Industry Roundtable that afternoon. The MIA meeting brought together AETC attendees, MIA members and international motorsports leaders in a conference setting to discuss opportunities and develop ideas that will shape the future of motorsports globally.
During his interview with the MIA’s Chris Aylett, Yates said he believes the racing industry should be moving toward energy efficiency, saying that he’s a strong believer in compression fuel such as diesel. “We need to smarten up the cars and our engines,” he said. “Let’s make our cars exciting and energy efficient.
“We need to be thinking smaller, less material. Let’s have fun with them,” he added.
At the beginning of Wednesday morning’s meeting, Aylett made a case for energy efficiency in motorsports. He said that global warming, security demands and finite resources are all reasons to support energy efficiency. Aylett explained that the racing industry, through its innovation, will have a profound effect on energy efficient fuel being used by OEMs. “The motorsport industry is the perfect marketing platform for defining a solution,” he said. “There’s money to be made and we are a powerful influence.”
Aylett also interviewed Gale Banks, of Banks Power, at the meeting. Banks talked about his company’s development of diesel fuel powered engines. “Diesel is the future fuel in the United States,” Banks said. “Right now, it just doesn’t exist in the automotive world; it exists in the pickup world.”
Banks gave a video demonstration of his diesel-powered race cars in action. “You may have noticed that our vehicles don’t give off smoke,” he said. “We’re doing green and green is not smoke.”
Banks said, “Diesel is the near-term fuel in the United States and it’s raceable,” adding that there will be profits to be made in the racing industry for those who get involved.
Additional speakers at Wednesday’s MIA segment of the AETC included Cliff Hawkins, development director, Xtrac; Wayne Juchno, motorsports manager, SAE International; and Bruce Crowley, motorsport technology manager, ExxonMobil.
Earlier in the week, the AETC’s guest speakers and their topics included: Bob Colesworthy, president-IQ Learning Systems, DBA RaceTech, Inc., “E85—The Next Street Performance and Racing Fuel”; Ron Shaver, owner of Shaver Racing Engines, “Engine Building for Alcohol versus Gasoline, a Race-Proven Approach for Maximizing Horsepower and Consistency”; Steve Burns, owner/president, VP Racing Fuels, “Pump Gas To Race Fuel & Custom Blends”; David Currier, vice president of engine engineering, Toyota Racing Development, “Racing on Alcohol—A Review of Methanol, Ethanol and Blends Used in High Performance Engines”; Dean Hill, professor of mechanical engineering, New Mexico State University, “Fuel, Fuel, and More Fuel”; Dan Istrate, applications engineer, SuperFlow Technologies Group, “Differences in Dyno Testing Gasoline, Alcohol and Diesel Engines”; Richard Karlstetter, Shell, “Advanced and Future Fuels in Motorsport”; Max Lagod , HyperMax, “Building, Tuning, and Racing Diesel Engines.”
Part-organizer of the AETC Scooter Brothers said this year’s meeting was a success, and even greater attendance is expected next year. “It’s been a very strong program and it looks really good for the future,” he said. “Next year we’ve already announced that it’s going to be a theme on the LSX, the Gen III and Gen IV GM engines. We already have people wanting to sign up for next year’s conference, so I think next year is going to be very strong.”
For additional information about the AETC, visit its website at www.aetconline.com or call 866/893-2382.
