OLIVECRONA DIALS IN TURBO V12

Having spent the off-season strapping a pair of huffers onto the screaming Hartley Motorsport V12 that sits in the engine bay of his Nissan S14, Jaron Olivecrona has spent the first two rounds dialling in the new package, which he describes as a whole new beast.

“I’m still getting used to it all over again. In terms of power and torque, it’s got 50 per cent more across the entire rev range,” explains Jaron. “We’ve dialled the limit back to 9500rpm and it’s pushing 1017hp [758kW] on 11.6psi at its peak. At 6000rpm it’s making 780hp [582kW]!”

The Hartley Motorsport–built V12, based on the 1GZ-FE found in a Toyota Century, is now aided by a pair of custom Holset turbos that sit atop custom manifolds and send unneeded boost out the bonnet via twin TiAL wastegates. The turbos have muffled the scream that the V12 had become known for, with their whistling drowning out the sound of the exhaust, so they have added ‘megaphones’ to amplify the note, which Jaron says is taken straight from the old days of Formula 1. Heat exchangers and a cool box have also been added to aid cooling following rising intake temps found at round one.

Compression was dropped from 13.5:1 to 11.5:1 in the name of reliability, but the set-up retains its punchy throttle response that limits lag and allows you to get straight on the gas. Jaron tells us that for every 2psi of boost they added, the dyno showed an additional 149kW!

The package is so thirsty for E85, an additional fuel pump had to be added after round one, which brings the count up to three Bosch 044 pumpers. Unfortunately, a steering arm broke on turn one during his first battle at Pukekohe, putting the team out for the round, but he tells us that, with a few niggly issues sorted, the car is expected to be onsong for the rest of the season.

We’ve also been given word that there’s a ‘Supra-rise’ on the way that will be the point of focus once the season concludes. We’ll let your imagination do the rest!