In the challenging world of Motorsport where winning is everything, Torque Developments International can provide the competitive edge to your motor racing project.

Having been in the motorsport and high performance vehicle industries for over 20 years, you can be confident that you are dealing with a robust, competent and professional business.

Our Motorsport services have been pressure tested and proven at many levels including 24 hour endurance racing. Our programme of continued reinvestment in our business ensures that we intend to grow and meet future challenges.

Torque Developments International can provide real value to Race Teams and Clubman Competitors at various levels from initial consultation through to testing and delivery. You choose how you want us to become involved.

Our current motorsport and race preparation services include:

• Complete and partial race car preparation
• Motorsport project management.
• Racing engine management system consultation, installation and calibration using our Rototest chassis dynamometer and purpose built wind tunnel test cell.
• Racing engine consultation, building and testing.
• Race Chassis Dynamics consultation, building and testing
• Drivetrain consultation, building and testing.
• Track-side race support.
• Restoration and updating of older race cars.
• General motorsport trouble shooting and solution implementation.
• Race series regulation compliance validation

Please see our web site at http://www.tdi-plc.com/index.php?pge=C_motorsport to review our service and find our contact details.

Derived from years of F1 engine research, the quality, effectiveness and attention to detail that you would expect from one of the worlds best Motorsport engine manufacturer is now available for you to insall in your car.

Among the components available from us are: Cosworth crate engines, Cosworth stroker kits, Cosworth crankshafts, Cosworth pistons, Cosworth connecting rods, Cosworth gaskets, Cosworth engine bearings, Cosworth oil pumps, Cosworth CNC ported cylinder heads, Cosworth camshafts, Cosworth intake manifolds, Cosworth supercharger systems.

Cosworth manufacture the above race and road parts for Nissan VQ35DE, Mitsubishi 4G63, Subaru EJ20, Ford Duratec.

To review the range of Cosworth components for different cars, please go to http://www.tdi-plc.com/

Having been the original UK HKS dealer (long before any other company), we have a long and successful track record of mapping the FCON V Pro, FCON S, FCON iS and FCON SZ ecu’s.

The HKS FCON ecu’s are designed as a “plug and play” solution so that you just need to purchase the correct wiring harness for your car without the need for complex and costly wiring installations.

Our Rototest chassis dyno and air controlled test cell is one of the very best facilities in the UK. Our EFi University Advanced level Technicians are experienced and well equipped to map even the most demanding and powerful engines.

To review our dyno testing and mapping facilities, please go to http://www.tdi-plc.com/index.php?pge=C_dynocam

To review the HKS FCON V Pro and FCON iS ecu’s and each car application, please visit http://www.tdi-plc.com/index.php

Do you want to hire a rolling road or chassis dyno for a one off project?

Have you found the limitations of your rolling road and need a better chassis dyno?

Are you looking for a Tuning company near London, Essex and Kent with a very high core skill levels?

Look no further.

Our world class Rototest hub mounted dyno is available for hire by the hour, half day or full day at very competitive rates.

We are offering our Rototest chassis dynamometer for rental by manufacturers, tuning companies and private individuals who want to carry out their own ECU mapping and tuning, or diagnostic procedures. Tests available include steady state, constant load, power runs, acceleration and top speed simulations.

Of course we also very happy to undertake the whole project for you using our fully skilled EFi University certified Technicians.

We have just upgraded our Rototest chassis dynamometer so that the rear units can cope with 4600 Nm in steady state testing.

In addition to this we have also included the Dynamic pack which enables simulation of inertia, rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag to provide acceleration and top speed testing. We believe that this upgrade along with our fully air managed and sound proofed test cell is one of the best facilities in the UK that is available to the general public.

We are conveniently located at junction 31 on the M25 in Essex.

Please review this page for further information http://www.tdi-plc.com/index.php?pge=C_dynocam

Please contact us for further information at http://www.tdi-plc.com/index.php?pge=C_contactus

http://tdi-plc.com/blog/category/japan/lexus-is200/is200-supercharged-stage-2/

We are mighty proud that our client chose us to deliver his dream of owning the worlds most powerful supercharged Lexus is200 using the original 1G-FE engine. There are more powerful cars around using a different engine or using a turbocharger, but this car really is something very special.

Although we have more experience with Lexus cars than any other company in the UK, when commissioned we knew that we were charting completely new and unexplored territory and so this project was going to be a challenge.

The engine and engine control functions had already been previously uprated as can be seen on the previous blog, so all we had to do was to adapt the Rotrex - Antonov supercharger to the Lexus iS200 and deal with any issues as they arise.

The Rotrex supercharger is a very efficient and compact centrifugal supercharger. The Antonov conversion introduces a 2 speed internal transmission to increase the boost pressure at low engine speeds.

Although Rotrex offer larger superchargers, Antonov had developed their technology only on Rotrex superchargers rated up to 400hp.

Our design brief was to get as close to 400hp with compromising the “Lexusness” of the car, which means that could not produce a car with too much intake or exhaust noise, and we had to retain the smoothness for which Lexus is renowned.

Here are some pictures of the Rotrex - Antonov supercharger installation:

Rotrex supercharger with the compressor housing removed.

Rotrex compressor housing

Rotrex - Antonov supercharger retention cradle manufactured by us.

Another part of the cradle.

Here’s the Rotrex - Antonov supercharger during mock up.

The Rotrex - Antonov supercharger runs on special traction fluid in it’s own remote reservoir.

Here are the mounting brackets after final treatment and installation:

Here’s the final completed installation:

Here’s a short video of supercharged engine with disconnected pressure pipes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5jHgLbVUbM

We were very pleased with the final outcome but went onto deal with some normal development and teething issues which are to be expected when breaching new frontiers by creating something that has never been done before.

The first thing we found was that because we had to retain the standard TTE air filter box to minimise the induction noise (which was totally unacceptable with an open induction kit), there was an enormous depression inside the air box (caused by it’s own restriction) which was trying to suck the K&N filter into the supercharger!

This issue was relatively easy to resolve by manufacturing a filter retention mechanism inside the air box.

The next issue became apparent at a Lexus Owners Club day meeting here at Torque Developments. After several hard runs loaded with passengers, the car developed a misfire at full throttle.

The cause of this issue was located after undertaking an exhaust back pressure test on our Rototest chassis dyno. We found that we had 2.5 bar (absolute) of back pressure in the exhaust system!!

This was then quickly tracked down to the catalytic converter which had melted and blocked the exhaust system. Although it was a hi flow racing cat, it was too small for this application, and the standard front pipes were still being used which were too restrictive and generating excessive heat.

Here’s the melted cat internals

This issue was resolved by installing a larger catalytic converter and hi flow down pipes.

The next issue that came to light during daily use of the car was a failure of the standard crankshaft pulley which sheared. Subsequent dyno testing showed that the parasitic losses of the supercharger were significantly higher than we were led to believe, so in hind site the failure of the standard pulley was to be expected.

This issue was resolved by manufacturing a new crankshaft pulley

This is the extent of our development of the Rotrex - Antonov supercharged Lexus iS200 to date.

There was some contention with some people in the UK Lexus Owners Club over our Clients requirement for discretion on the power figure. Of course we intend to honour our clients wishes on this matter but i don’t think he will mind if we reveal that it will produce close to the limitations of the supercharger when the restrictions that provide it’s “Lexusness” are removed.

All in all this is a fantastic car, and we would like to thank our client for choosing us help build it.

The weakest link is the fragility of the connect rods so these must be replaced as a matter of priority.

We use forged steel connecting rods with high tensile bolts.

These can be viewed and purchased at

www.tdi-plc.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=107_197_214_384_389&products_id=4103

These are 4 of the 6 forged steel uprated connecting rods for Lexus is200

We also install lower compression forged aluminium racing pistons. It is important to realise that there are significant variations in piston design and qualities, even from the same manufacture. We always specificy the very best materials which have a low expansion rate. This means that we can use a tighter bore clearance which provides quieter operation and low oil consumption. Also of high significance is our design piston crown. When compared to inferior designs you can see that we have retained the squish band to maintain maximum combustion efficiency.

Here’s a picture of a piston the we use.

The forged alloy pistons for Lexus iS200 can be purchased at www.tdi-plc.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=107_197_214_384_389

Here’s a couple of pictures of the engine during the course of the rebuild

Heres the stage 2 supercharger pulley kit installed

This car has automatic transmission so you can see that getting the Katana intercooler, TDI oil cooler and TDI transmission cooler requires a fair amount of work as there isn’t much room in front!

Here’s the Katana high performance exhaust manifold installed

Here’s the finished article