Away from the huge manufacturers and leading competitions, The automotive world continues to welcome, as it always has, the small initiatives of those who live it passionately. Moreover, they have the means and the will to contribute something new.
There, in the United States, where many heroic deeds continue to begin in humble garages, Pete Aardema and Kevin Brown, friends and speed enthusiasts, have been working on their own odyssey for nearly two years: being the fastest with an engine they built from scratch themselves.. As far as it is known through Videos on YouTube And the social networksThese veterans Gasoline heads They have already begun to reap their first fruits.
Homemade tastes better
Following the path of the daring teams and runners still fighting to set speed records on the great desert surfaces of the Western and Midwestern United States (with the Bonneville Salt Flats, in Utah, as a great example), Aardema and Braun will begin building a single-seat prototype with a body in 2023. StreamlinerThat is, it is molded in a way that allows great air circulation.
In a project of this type, especially when it comes to North America, finding an engine big and powerful enough to allow you to beat the record of your dreams is usually the easy part. But here, In case of insufficient body assembly and cover design HonestlyOur heroes decided to make their lives more complicated and created their own V12 engine from scratch.
It should not be one of the two things Profession engineer, They obtained several V12 engines from different production cars and, in a style purer than traditional reverse engineering, completely disassembled them to better understand their operation. With this knowledge they will begin to make their first drawings From the V12 engine components that evolved, through the work and grace of 3D printing, into prototype parts that served as a guide for the production of the final parts.
Everything in a homemade V12 engine is custom made including the cylinder heads, crankshaft, and pistons Which dances happily inside its cylinders, greatly increasing the six-litre displacement 9,500 rpm. The two friends were convinced it could produce between 750 and 800 horsepower, and were more than satisfied when they verified its potential to be unleashed in practice. Up to 920 hp.
After making a promising debut at the 2023 Bonneville Speed Week, the Aardema Braun car appears to have finally achieved its goal last May. With the help of pilot Cal Roth, he recorded a top speed of 392.68 km/h on the soft sand of the dry bottom of Lake Mirage in California, exceeding the 390 km/h barrier. Which they themselves planned to overcome.
Despite reaching this milestone, The Aardema Braun team’s adventure is far from over. With the goal of beating their new record, both friends are already working on improvements that they will soon implement in their car, such as a nitrous oxide fuel system. So all that remains is to wish them good luck for the future.
An enthusiast specializing in engines, competition, history and automotive technology. An eternal learner also in the new sector of sustainable mobility. He graduated in journalism and has several years of experience talking about four wheels.
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