2006 Engine Masters Challenge Results - Friday Finals

B.E.S. Racing

Final Rounds
Friday, October 6th 2006

Team # 19 School of Automotive Machinists - Ford

Team 19, School of Automotive Machinist's Judson Massingill came to the finals this morning with an all-out attitude, and the team which did no tuning in qualifying came out of the box with a jet change. During the warm-up this CHI-headed Windsor looked strong. Taking advantage of the 2l0 minute tune-up pulls the SAM team made changes to both the total timing and the curve. It seemed positive in the tune-up pulls, and a final tuning change was made before the money pulls. It seemed like something in the settings hurt the team's score in the money pulls, and surprisingly the engine was down on power compared to the numbers just turned in during tuning. The effort ended with a 1026.4 final score, with peak power number touching 682 hp, and 606 Lb-Ft of torque.

Team # 35 Performance Unlimited - Ford

Team 35, Performance Unlimited came in with a tuning strategy, addressing both the fuel and ignition, and made several tuning pulls early in the tuning period. For first-time Engine Masters competitors, this crew accomplished plenty by making the final field, showing skill and a smooth controlled poise in tending to their Ford Windsor Entry. The tuning leaned towards flattening the early portion of the torque curve; however the numbers were slightly down from qualifying. A score of 1027.7 and as much as 650 peak hp, put this group well in the list of finalist. These guys were enthusiastic about the Competition, and we're certain to see this group again.

Team # 37 RHP/PER/AD - Ford

Team 37, consisting of Reincarnation High Performance, Pacific Engine Rebuilder, and AD Performance Parts combined their three businesses and specific talents to build this Windsor Ford entry, and the plan seemed to work. Those talents again revealed themselves when the team tuned-in some power, gaining over 5 points from qualifying to finish with a composite score of 1059.9. Without a doubt, the 685 peak hp and 631 peak Lb-Ft of torque represents the sum of a great deal of engine building talent and knowledge.

Team # 44 McKeown - Ford

Team 44, McKeown Motorsports brought yet another strong Windsor Ford/CHI entry. This husband and wife team's motto is "Scientific Performance", and the duo took advantage of modern innovations like no other team. Working with programmed ignition, and their own mixture monitor, it seemed like the pair was ready to tune-in some serious points. With the initial changes, their score was already on the way up, with over 1066 points showing. Then something totally unexpected occurred when a replaced oil filter lost its seal to the block, spilling most of the contents of the lubrication system onto the cell floor. The clean-up ate significantly in their 20-minute tune-up period, and resulted in a loss of reference for the oil level in the sump, possibly leading to an overfill. McKeown ended with 1059.2 points while making as much as 667 hp.

Team #1 B.E.S Racing - Ford

Team 1, BES Racing is experienced at extracting the most from a given combination. At this year's Engine Master Challenge, BES brought the most popular combo of the event, the Ford Windsor/CHI. His engine extracted the most of what this set-up had to offer, finishing eliminations with a higher score than any other team using this combination. The only question in the finals was how far to push the engine to try and take the overall win. With 714 peak hp, the BES entry was a little behind Kaase at the top-end, but they had a definite advantage at the bottom of the rpm range. Bischoff remained cool in the tune-up period, deciding to make minimal tuning changes, and save the engine for the money pulls. The strategy paid off with a solid 1075 score, enough to hang on for the eventual overall win and the title as this year's Engine Master.

Team #3 Jon Kaase - Pontiac

Team 3, Jon Kaase Racing is always a favorite, and his returning Pontiac came in as competitor to fear. The engine earned the right to be the final contestant in the finals by a first place score in eliminations. With BES Racing's strong showing, this experienced competitor had many things to consider in the tune. Kasse opened the tune period with some timing changes, and let the engine rest as the clock ticked down to the final money pulls. The Pontiac had shown enormous power and torque up top, posting 726 peak hp, and 645 Lb-Ft of torque. The only weakness to be found was a disadvantage in the roll-in numbers at the bottom of the test rpm range. With a margin of a few points in the warm-up run over the BES score the question was whether the engine could put these figures on the board on the scored pulls. As torque shifted slightly downward with every successive pull, Kaase finished a fraction of one point below BES racing, ending with a 1079.3.

2006 Engine Masters Wrap-Up

Once again the top position in the Engine Masters Challenge came down to the last pull, on the last day, with real tension in the air. The crew at our host facility, World Product's headquarters on Long Island, NY, had expertly run all of the elimination rounds in their three DTS dyno test cells. Five of the six finalists had run, and the event's top qualifier was up to bat. Without a doubt, the standings - right down the line - were dependent upon the performance of Jon Kaase's Pontiac. No one understood this fact better than Tony Bischoff of BES Racing, who was sitting on the top spot with one more player to run. Tony had posted a score of 1080.3, and was well aware that the Pontiac had shown its ability to run at that level or better. If the mighty Pontiac had one weakness, it was in the initial roll-in at the bottom of the rpm range, where Tony's engine maintained a clear advantage. However, at the top of the curve, the Pontiac was the stronger motor. How these factors played out in the final three pulls would be the decider in this event.

The ever cool BES team maintained a poker face as the Pontiac pulled down for the first of its final series of 3 scored runs. During the warm-up pulls, the Pontiac came in a little under the performance turned-in minutes before. Some power slipped away at the extreme low-end, but would it be enough? No one could say for sure which way this would end, but it was going to be extremely close. Tony himself must have leaped out of his skin as the numbers hit the board. BES racing had taken the event with a 1080.3 score to Kaase's 1079.3. The event was decided by a single point.

Saturday, the six winning competitors returned for tech inspection. Although rumors had been in the air all week, and many of the competitors fretted the compression ratio measurements, all were ruled legal by our expert tech inspector, Wesley Roberson. This closed the competition with the standings as listed. The event was overwhelmingly positively received, by our top six finishers, participants and visitors. The top six finalists earned a total of approximately $95,000, to be paid out by the event's contingency sponsors. With the power, glory, and money on the line, and one of the most exciting finishes ever, this year's event will go down as one to remember.