RE: Breaking News: AJP8 Relaunched

[teamHOLDENracing]

WILDROVER42 said:

"Many race car engines only needed a re-build after three years of racing"?

As part of our race engine lease we were required to remove our engines part way through each season and return them to the factory for a refresh or rebuild. They may not always have done this, particularly towards the end, but I'm not convinced by the above....

[Ed]

This is pure marketing / PR. You think the timing of this release around the recent Wildcat news is a coincidence...he has just thrown this baited hook into a pond full of british sportscar owners / buyers and the awareness of his web address / links and product offering in his core target market have just rocketed.

Irrespective of whether this engine is BS or not, he has just generated significant awareness in core target market for the Wildcat.

Bigger picture guys!!!

[dinkel]

I'm thinking: Top Gear!

Some say he's a top PR-guy.
Some say he's an engine designer and a quality CNC-machineman (look at that shining there!).
Some say he has done a new Griff-like car and has already sold 4 of them!

All I know is I want to find out what it does on our track: now there's a challenge!

Invite the man and make us believers.

[Graham]

dinkel said:

All I know is I want to find out what it does on our track: now there's a challenge!

Invite the man and make us believers.

If he gives me an engine Im happy to race it and report back

I do happen to have a race car thats considering its engine choice at the moment

[skwdenyer]

alderley said:

Erich Stahler said:

Fantastic news if it actually happens! by the way have any of the Melling Wildcats or Hellcats been sold yet?

Was it Melling who announced a V8 Norton Motorbike which never left its garage in cloud cuckoo land?

Well, the Nemesis was produced. Unfortunately Norton (the Canadian-backed re-birth in the late 90s) ran out of money; they didn't pay AM, nor did they pay many other people.

[darren no 7]

the new ajp is £14500 been on phone to them today

[Graham]

darren no 7 said:

the new ajp is £14500 been on phone to them today

let me think

Melling-ajp 450bhp ( maybe) £14500 (does that include ecu etc?)
Ls3 480bhp ( factory upgrade-from gm uk) £6000 + (2.5k ecu,loom and dry sump bits)

[ridds]

Graham said:

darren no 7 said:

the new ajp is £14500 been on phone to them today

let me think

Melling-ajp 450bhp ( maybe) £14500 (does that include ecu etc?)
Ls3 480bhp ( factory upgrade-from gm uk) £6000 + (2.5k ecu,loom and dry sump bits)

£14.5K! I would bloody well hope it comes with and ECU with a very good calibration in it for that much and a set of headers with Cats!

[Graham]

ridds said:

£14.5K! I would bloody well hope it comes with and ECU with a very good calibration in it for that much and a set of headers with Cats!

and a car


Although to be fair thats still cheaper than the powertec bike derived v8's

G

[RetroWheels]

Spoke to the Company today, and AFAIK, the dry sump race engine will be pretty much the same as the TVR Challenge engines , and significantly, parts will be interchangeable.
This in it's self ,is great news if it enables the existing TVR race engines to remain viable in the future.

[Graham]

RetroWheels said:

significantly, parts will be interchangeable.
This in it's self ,is great news if it enables the existing TVR race engines to remain viable in the future.

That is the best bit of news... one thing that stops me using an ajp at the moment is that im not fussed about it but some people are so I dont want to use up spares that others can use..

at 14.5k though probably still to rich for me when you look at alternatives.. also i want something that can run for a 24hr...

G

[RetroWheels]

Graham said:

.. also i want something that can run for a 24hr...

G

Cant fault you there Graham ... Live it Large

[trackcar]

Is there any reason why an AJP8 wont run for 24hours? there's plenty of road cars out there that have run longer than that

serious question : what stops an AJP8 running for 24 racing hours? Surely you could do an endurance spec engine : lower revs, induction and exhaust tuned for midrange rather than top end, suitable gearing .. I don't really see why it can't be done on a new engine

• I accept that the existing engines are a bit long in the tooth, welded bocks, odd heads etc and probably wouldn't be best to extend those to 24hours, but a new engine should be well up to the task?

[Graham]

trackcar said:

Is there any reason why an AJP8 wont run for 24hours? there's plenty of road cars out there that have run longer than that

serious question : what stops an AJP8 running for 24 racing hours? Surely you could do an endurance spec engine : lower revs, induction and exhaust tuned for midrange rather than top end, suitable gearing .. I don't really see why it can't be done on a new engine

• I accept that the existing engines are a bit long in the tooth, welded bocks, odd heads etc and probably wouldn't be best to extend those to 24hours, but a new engine should be well up to the task?

Its certainly the view of the guys I've spoken to who have knowledge of endurance racing and the ajp, that you'd be lucky to see the end of the race. Although I dont have any specifics.. The general consensus is that its a sprint engine and wouldn't last.. Especially the current rebuilt stock...


IIRC if you want a randlinger BMW motor you can refresh it 3 times then its scrap and they cost 20+k to start with...


Maybe thats the best bit of marketing Melling could do.. let one of the ajp sag teams put one o his new motors in and go endurance racing with it... Im sure Tim or Fred or Darren would be up for it. Id like to see the sjp do it, but It would be too much of a risk for my budget


Saying all that We blew and ls7 in qually and about 3 other ls powered cars retired from the race with blown motors...

[Boosted LS1]

Just for interest I know that certain people allow 50 hours racing on a fairly stock ls7 engine when doing 24 hour endurance racing before parts get changed. I'm talking about le mans type events. Not sure how this would relate to an ajp but I suppose it's a benchmark to aim for or consider as well as a suitable racing class.

[BCA]

If they've got a couple of misfires* to the end of Le Mans, I dont see why the AJP8 couldnt with similarly careful construction.

• a joke people, relax... they sound lovely.

[Boosted LS1]

Re: Grahams remarks it's all in the tune for an ls engine. Stock pistons are weak, get the tune wrong and the detonation cracks them and maybe a liner to. Get it right and you have a winning engine.

[ridds]

I can't see any reason why an AJP wouldn't last. There's no reason why any engine couldn't last 24hrs.

As long as you have the right parts in it to start with, the performance isn't too great for those parts and it's built correctly then it should last fine.

[brakedust]

Never done a 24 hour race on mine, but im sitting at over 55000 miles with no sign of a rebuild needing to be done and have driven 16 hours solid and I dont take it easy......

So I cant see any reason why a new AJP (even the "old" style) wouldn't last the race

[Graham]

brakedust said:

Never done a 24 hour race on mine, but im sitting at over 55000 miles with no sign of a rebuild needing to be done and have driven 16 hours solid and I dont take it easy......

So I cant see any reason why a new AJP (even the "old" style) wouldn't last the race

To be fair there is no comparison with 55k miles or even 150k on a road car even a spirited road car and a sprint race never mind a 24hr race...


If you happy enough to loan your engine and pay the entry fees I'll happily give it a go.. I'll even help put the engine back in your road car afterwards