Horse Power Games

With Supercars entrants sticking with the V8 engine for the foreseeable future, we check in with KRE Engines to see how the horsepower game is played.

- Andrew Clarke

For nearly five decades, the venerable pushrod V8 engine out of the American muscle-car era has been providing the force behind Australian touring cars. We’ve dab-bled and played with rotaries and turbos, but we have kept coming back to the V8.

At present there are really only about four makers of engines and they spread their talent across the field. KRE Race Engines has a Triple Eight alignment that spreads to the teams in the Holden camp. Walkinshaw Andretti United and Tickford Racing do their own and supply their customers, while DJR Team Penske has an alignment with Mostech Race Engines.

Brad Jones Racing has for years done things differently, but this year it decided it could no longer be a ‘lone soldier’ on the engine front and switched to KRE Race Engines.

The team spends $1 million a year to cover its three cars, plus extra to cover off the Dunlop Super2 Series cars. The team rotates five engines, rebuilding each at somewhere between 3500 and 4200km, which is pretty standard. Brad Jones is a big fan of the status quo, with well-developed engines being reliable and relatively cheap to run and maintain

“We have very strict criteria to meet and there’s a couple of things to keep in mind,” says Jones.

“We are in the entertainment and motor-racing industries and you need to tick both boxes when you are talking change. If it sounds like a Dyson vacuum cleaner then we have missed a box; just have a look at Formula 1.

“Entertainment-wise I think we are a good commodity. The racing has reflected that, but it needs to keep sounding right or people will stop reflecting on that.”

This year he is getting the same engines as Triple Eight, as confirmed by KRE Racing Engines boss Ken McNamara.