Honda HPD midget engine update

The engine will be available starting May 1st or sooner.

HPD engineers and USAC have worked thru the winter to get the mapping correct on the ECU for the ethanol fuel and to sort out the final wiring harness and designs. There was time spent on the dyno as well as track testing in North Carolina as the weather permitted. Over 700 laps have been run with this engine and multiple times on the chassis dyno.

The first 10 engines will be offered for $9,995.00 and then the price will go to $10,995. The exhaust and fuel pump are purchased separately from USAC. The current prototype exhaust is stainless steel and we are working with Waterman Pumps to spec a less expensive quality fuel pump (electric).

This engine includes a custom oil pan, custom intake manifold, barnes dry sump oil system, wiring harness, ECU, injectors and fuel rail, air filter, throttle pedal, power steering pump, mini alternator, bell housing, clutch and flywheel.

It will bolt right up to an existing focus motor plate and use the existing throw out assembly and input shaft.

Since taking over this project in October every part needed designed, tested and sourced out. Solid Model drawing were made for every part, patterns fabricated and prototype parts fabricated. We have been very lucky to have some great people in the Indianapolis area help to make this all possible. Thanks to Danny Drinan and Jeremy Warren for working with USAC and myself in getting this project professionally engineered. The engines will be assembled in Brownsburg Indiana at RPN engines by Andy Nock. The wiring harness will come from BMRS - Wade Brown and his crew.

The stock of parts to build the first batch of engines in addition to stocking parts for sale is nearly complete and there are currently 7 engines in stock in Brownsburg waiting to have the parts bolted on. We have worked very hard to make these parts for use in this spec engine and to also allow them to be used in further midget engine development which will be ongoing to help offer an alternative for the midget racers. We have worked very hard to keep the costs down without taking away from the durability of each component.

The engine puts out 230 HP unrestricted and 170 restricted to run with the focus engines. And working on some very interesting ideas that could give a boost to midget racing in the future.

Rebuilding of the series is ongoing and will take some time to fix many of the issues that developed over the past several years. A challenge that I enjoy (most of the time).

If you have any questions please give me a call.

Eric Rankine
HPD Midget & Honda Pavement Midget Director of Competition
eric@usacracing.com
317-771-6596

Good news to read. I gotta ask as it's noted in the included parts. Is this engine drive by wire as the throttle pedal is part of the package? Thanks

Pat

Wonder if they could speed up the rebuilding process if they made the rules less stringent and opened it up to more people and engines to develop? We call that COMPETITION> then only the good would survive. Or will all we have to do is go to the bank borrow a lttle money and go down to the Honda dealership and buy a brand new ready to race Honda Midget race car. Kinda of like the "Honda kick and go."

I once took a course that taught the student how to write up specifications for a machinery bid so that they excluded all but the piece of machinery they wanted by making the specifications so striengent that only what they wanted to buy meet the specs.

Honest Dad himself

I think the only way (or at least the easiest way) to keep a "spec" motor "spec" is to single-source it the way they're doing, that way you eliminate all the cries of "He's cheating" without cutting windows in everybody's crankcases (sorry Dad ). Of course, then you open yourself up to cries of "keeping it all for themselves". Somebody's going to complain, no matter what.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways that are currently being attempted to make Midget racing more available to the lesser-funded; if you don't like HPD, you can try IMRA, or the Illini Series or Montpelier (my choice); we'll see how Gas City pans out. On the higher end, POWRI is making inroads into our area via cooperation with USAC, they're trying to help revive the Badger series and looks like things are growing in Oklahoma too. Wayne's trying to grow the sport in Florida; to me it looks like good things are happening for the little cars...

PATRICK, Yes the throttle is drive by wire. It is a complete EFI system with a throttle body.

Pat

My mind is to inquisitive for a spec series. Racers could Save a lot of money by just going to a rental go kart track like Steve Johnson's if he is still there. They set their motors with a tac so everybody comes up to the same speed.

Better yet they make a portable chassis dyno now. The group could buy one, take it to the track, set it at a predetermined load and adjust all the engines to a maximum rpm at that load. Seal and tag the motor and go racing. Do this before every race. The perfect spec racer.

Honest Dad himself

Sounds like a pretty reasonably priced deal.

$11000 for an engine with 230 horsepower? Really?

I am not one that is usually negative, but I thought the same thing. Then if you run it with existing focus cars you have a 170 hp engine for $11,000. Seems like alot money for the little bit of horsepower. We had a competitive full midget motor that got 340 hp for $12,500.

Right direction, but yes, still pricey. I built a turbo 4 cylinder that pushes 400hp for about $4,500.