“There’s quite a bit of maths involved in developing
a new engine, but inevitably we have to use rule
of thumb and experience as well,” says Nelson.
“Nothing was made by hand, every part has a CAD
model and drawing associated with it. And I went
to considerable lengths to model everything first,
before we started making anything, so there would
be no surprises. There were a few things like the
airbox that I’ve only just done, these were a bit of
an afterthought and dependent on the car installation.
The air box is basically a box with two panel
filters in. The exposed trumpets looked way cooler,
but we had to be sensible.”
The billet tappet covers started out as 50kg blocks
of aluminium and they weigh about 2kgs finished.
“A seriously large amount of waste material per
side, there’s about 96kgs of swarf,” says Nelson.
“The intake manifolds and throttle bodies are all
made from billet and we made all the butterflies,
spindles and linkages as well.”
B E S P O K E PA R T S
The standard watering system was not good.
“So, we threw that away and replaced it with an
electric water pump which we modified to suit
and changed the routing of the system round
the motor,” says Nelson. “The same with the oil
and adjustable cam gears, the list goes on – we
actually made or modified everything. The only
thing we didn't touch was the crankshaft.
“You can't buy the bits we made and even if you
could there would probably a good reason for not
using them," continues Nelson. "When you make
everything, you have proper quality control – if
you buy stuff in, even from a reputable supplier,
you don't really know what you’re getting in detail.
There was also ego involved as well – we wanted
to hold our heads up and say we made everything,
so it’s a Hartley engine and Toyota just made the
castings. This engine demonstrates what Hartley
Engines can do – even if it’s just a portfolio piece
it’s well worth it.
“We get calls all the time from people wanting
special bits made for various cars and engines, and
for the most part we just don't have the time to
make a lot of these things," says Nelson. "What’s
more interesting to us for the future of our business
is the customer who wants to commission us to
make 30 units for a particular race series, or for
an exotic sports car, or something that we know
is going to get used over a longer production run.
I think our biggest strength is our development
efficiency, I truly believe we can be significantly
more cost effective at developing and producing
engines either from scratch or being modified.”
The V12 helps get that message out there. “We
have got a lot in the pipe line at the moment, I
don’t want to say too much just yet, but at this
stage I am pretty sure we will be making at least
one complete model of engine for motorsport
from scratch, maybe two (for completely different
customers and series) along with the various other
engine packages we are doing for ourselves and
other engine builders,” says Nelson.
“I’m hoping we get at least 11,000rpm out of the
V12 – we may even get to 12,000," says Nelson,
“To me, this engine is not just about cost or
performance, it is definitely those things, but it was
also about art and emotion, which is something I
miss out on a lot with our pure race car engines.
"I’m not going to deny that for a GT car, or even a
modern single seater, a V6 turbo (like Formula One)
is light, efficient and capable of making fantastic
horse power. But what it doesn’t do is make the
hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you
crack the throttle - or cause every member of the
public to pull out their cameras the moment they
see it like this V12 does. That’s what this project
has been all about.”
Hartley is also keen to do a twin turbo version
and try and compete with the W16 of the Bugatti
Veyron. “I’m pretty confident we can make as
much horsepower as the W16, probably consume
as much fuel too," says Nelson. "Plus, we can
provide customers with a twin turbo V12 sticker
and not many people can do that these days. This
engine is so smooth, once we boost it, making
1000 - 1300bhp should be fairly easy, whilst still
being able to flick a switch and drive it to the
shops. With the modern electronics and cam
controls you can have very tractable performance
engines – it’s easier to do with turbos than with NA
motors.”
SPECIAL FEATURE:
KIWI MOSTPOERCISAPL OFERATTURE: KIWI MOTORSPORT
22 May 2018