Nerd’s Eye View: SEMA 2014 Part I
Khiem Dinh is an engineer for Honeywell Turbo Technologies at the time of this writing. All statements and opinions expressed by Khiem Dinh are solely those of Khiem Dinh and not reflective of Honeywell Turbo Technologies.
Another SEMA has come and gone and the vehicles get crazier and better built every year. Tuner track cars, all-out race cars, off-road vehicles, you name it and it has been taken to the next level. After walking a couple dozen miles fueled by much caffeine, here is just a small collection of a few of the cool things I saw. Please excuse the fuzzy pictures… too much caffeine I tell you.
Big power requires big cooling. Two C&R heat exchangers are used to keep the fluid temps in check. The front bottom flat under panel extends quite far back. The opening next to the headlight is one of two feeding air to the engine.
The air coming through the radiator is nicely ducted out the hood by these two ducts; you can see how the ducts are well sealed against the radiator. The orange tubes go from the openings in the frontend to the intake manifolds of the engine.
I tried to get a picture of the front suspension and this is what I managed to get of the upper control arm. The upper arm has some gusseting to add strength to the basic U shape of the arm. Peeking down, the front spindle appears to be fully machined. The Penske Racing shock uses a quick-release pin at each end to allow for quick removal. The pin reminds me of those used on weight machines in a gym.
The rear Penske shocks are mounted on this inboard arrangement. The base mount and rocker arms are some serious pieces of machined art. Again, quick release pins are used on each end of the shocks.
The rear wing appears to be solidly mounted; not crushing the trunk lid.
