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Yep, this is Walt’s 50th year in formal racing and it is Chip’s 38th! They still think back to the hey days of the 1960’s.
As Walt’s late friend and fellow engineer, Mark Donohue said over lunch in 1967 at Daytona, “The parts must be friendly.” And according to Walt, “Our goal is to put the greatest effort where it will yield the most productive results.” To this day, these ideas are still a major factor in EPS’ work.
EPS is not in the marketing business. They just love developing very competitive and period- correct Ford Vintage race cars and sharing their hardware results with friends.
2011 is “the year of the engine” at EPS and several new developments have been achieved.
On June 11, 2011 the EPS-built #52 Boss 302 Mustang race car of Jim Worth’s was rolled out of the trailer at the RMVR Trans Am race at Pueblo, Colorado. Without any adjustment or practice, there was just time to warm it up and make three qualifying laps. The 2nd lap shattered the 1967 & 1972 class A Sedan lap records. Chip Hane was at the wheel.
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It's interesting that the top four qualifiers at Pueblo had all won the TransAm race in years before and Pat's car has real TA history from the 1960's.
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For Walt, it was as much of a thrill as winning the 1966 SCCA B Production National Championship in his Shelby GT350 R model, but that took over a year and a half of serious development to get to that level. EPS cars now hold A/S 67, A/S 72 & B Production 67 lap records at Pueblo.
The competitive potential of this Mustang is awesome. The car is equipped with EPS developed power steering that allows increased driver comfort, road feel and steering responsiveness.
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Thanks Mark for the impetus for this development.
The four wheel disc brakes allow hard and deep deceleration with smooth and even tracking. The droop snoot sectioned front clip with reduced front profile would make Bud Moore proud. Walt learned about it from Bud in 1969 when Walt caught him with it during the TransAm series. And the full floater rear end prevents kick back of the rear caliper pucks, for a very secure feeling during first brake pedal applications.
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The 2nd place qualifier was the EPS Team #617 Boss 302 of Brad Leach. Brad also broke the previous lap record.
Earlier in 2011, EPS completed the development and fabrication of a FIA 289 cid competition engine to run in Europe. This engine had the typical stump pulling EPS RPM mid range, while
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breaking through 450HP at 6600 RPM and holding top end power up to its red line. The engine, with original 289 cylinder heads made maximum horse power running on 85 octane pump gas during EPS engine dyno tests, and was designed for stock rockers and to run on European pump gas.
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A week’s development on the engine dyno with the state of the art Data Acquisition System yielded 30 horsepower increase. After dyno development, this engine was shipped to Switzerland to compete, along with other EPS engines in Europe. Walt designed the unique engine and custom pistons just for this application.
EPS has fabricated specially designed custom headers for each type engine. They are based on the Tri-Y configuration and help provide outstanding low RPM performance while maintaining maximum top end performance right up to red line.
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Currently, EPS is completing the latest version of its’ highly successful 289 American Pure Vintage Engine to run in the Keith Davidson “Mighty Falcon” on June 26th 2011 in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
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This hill climb is the biggest in the world. It is in its 89th year and is the 2nd oldest race, 2nd only to the Indianapolis 500.
After a “swish” run across the EPS chassis dyno (at right), it is off to Pikes Peak for the EPS Team “Mighty Falcon” with its new EPS designed motor. And, of course, it was the late night before registration.
Chip is shown at left with the very “professional” pit crew.
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Keith has won the Vintage Class in 2008, 2009, and 2010 in his 1963 Sprint using his EPS built engine. Shown at left is the “Mighty” getting ready to make a test run on the hill in 2010.
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Back to “the year of the engine”
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Walt has been building engines since age 15 - and that was a long time ago!
The design of the EPS Boss 302 engines, however, was a major new challenge. Knowing what Ford went through in 1969 & 1970, EPS picked up where they left off. Walt knows, since he was there in 1969.
EPS has succeeded in developing an engine with a terrific mid range, unlike the 1960’s Boss engines, yet the displacement is under 305cid. The EPS Boss power curve goes up through 500 horse power at 6900RPM, which is at a lower RPM than that of the 1960’s Ford engines and like other EPS engines, the power stays up to the red line. Walt’s unique piston design was a big factor in the engine performance.
It is felt that the engine, handling, brakes and corner “turn in” helped by the power steering make this car the most awesome race car yet built by EPS. Chip even said, “This is my new favorite race car”. That is something, considering his numerous accomplishments in their Shelby GT350H.
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Besides that, it is a beautiful car inside and out, due to Chip’s meticulous assembly work, in addition to his terrific engine.
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11:00 AM JUNE 26, 2011
Word from the top of 14,110 foot Pikes Peak
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The Mighty Falcon has won the Vintage class at the hill climb and also beat the best time of the Vintage Modified class - and it has shattered the magic 13 minute mark for the first time ever by any Vintage car. Keith dropped his time from 13:21 last year to 12:44. That is an amazing 37 second drop in run time!
It was quite an achievement on a truly life threatening 12.42 mile road course with few guard rails. All that planning and work before and work during the practice sessions paid off. It was an effort to match the engine power curve with the transmission gear range and select a rear axle ratio that would allow optimum RPM range while not over revving in 4th gear. It worked!
Below are some photos of the Mighty at this year’s PPIHC.
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Here the Mighty progresses up a hill with the morning
sun behind and the flat land thousands of feet below.
Below, the Mighty on the last remaining dirt portion of the “hill”.
It will all be paved next year.
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A good reminder of the high altitude of Pikes Peak - this photo shows the Mighty running past a major snow bank. It was good they plowed the road before the event!
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What a year so far for EPS Racing!
We hope your racing is going well this year.
Best Regards,
Walt & Chip Hane
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Click below to read our last newsletter.
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