Just a little news from FCHP.

-Raptor Engines:
As of today, I will not longer build or rebuild any Raptor engines, regardless if they were built here or not.

-Animal Engines:
As of today, if you have an FCHP engine bought directly from me or from another customer, I will be rebuilding these engines as usual. I will no longer be offering new engines to new customers. This may change in the future, but for the next 4-6 months this will be the case. All current customers will be serviced as usual.

-Open Engines and/or Custom Head work:
As of today, I will no longer build, rebuild, or work on custom built engines, heads, or carbs. These engines and parts just take up more time than I have at the moment.

-Clone Engines:
I will continue to work on a limited amount of these. Basically, if you are already an FCHP engine customer I will build or rebuild them for you. Call or email for more info.

-Vmax Clutch Grinders & Tire Cutters:
Yes, I am working on them in house now. I had planned on having them ready to ship out on March 1st. However, I am running behind with my plans. I am sorry for the delay, but there are a few things I have to get in place before I make them available. Right now, it's looking like April 1st will be the new ready date.

-FCHP Atomic Karts:
I am running WAY behind on this project. They are being built, just be patient. Sorry. More info soon.

Thanks,
Jamie Webb
jwebb@kartingengines.com

I know, I know... 2009 is not over yet, especially in the Southeast. But it is winding down in most of the Northern states and our regional series I participate in (Southern Kart Club) just finished the 2009 final race.

2009 was quite a year. We picked up a few national wins, multiple regional championships, and multiple class championships at local tracks around the country.

Time and time again our Animal motors are proven to be as strong or stronger as any out there built by anyone. Which brings me to my point of this post.

In 2009 I returned to college. I am trying to finish up my mechanical engineering degree. Currently I am working full time, running the engine business part/full time, and attending school part time. As you can imagine the hours are running pretty short in the days and weeks and months just fly by.

Due to this, I have had to make some changes. So, for the remainder of this year and until further notice, I will be making the following changes:
- I will not be building "new" Raptor engines and I will only rebuild Raptors for current FCHP customers.
- I will build and rebuild Animal engines for current customers just as always, no change there.
- I will build and rebuild Animal engines for new customers on a "time allowing" basis. Which means when you call, I can tell you what my schedule is (turn around time) and if you agree I will proceed, if we can not work it in the schedule or time frame you need then I am sorry. Most likely this will be around a 3-4 week wait.
- Clones.... well, I still have not made a decision on those yet. I have built them and I am building them for current and new customers but I haven't decided if I will continue this yet or not (for new customers). Most likely I will support anyone running the road race series with this engine as that is where my time has been focused lately and the class is growing at a pretty good rate. So, if you are interested, give me a call and I'll see what we can work out.
- And lastly, new chassis. Yes, I have been building them. I enjoy this as much as building motors, maybe more. But doing them a handful at a time takes up an enormous amount of my time. So, be patient, they are coming. :)

For contact, email is probably the best for me. It allows me to answer questions when I get on the computer. And when I am in the shop, I can't always stop to answer the phone. So shoot me an email or give me a call. I will get back to you if I miss you.

Thanks!
Jamie

I would like to congradulate Ross and Nicole Wulf for BOTH taking home a WKA National Win in the WKA National Road Racing Series at Roebling Road Raceway (Savannah, GA) on May 9th & 10th, 2009. Nicole picked up her win on her 21st birthday, how is that for a birthday present!!

There were also other great runs that weekend by FCHP powered karts:

Briggs Animal 335
3. Nicole Wulf
4. Greg Goff
5. Marshall Courson
7. Chris Moore

Southern Kart Club
Briggs Animal 360
1. Nicole Wulf
2. Greg Goff
4. Marshall Courson
6. Justin Webb
7. Chris Moore
FT – Greg Goff 1:31.151

Briggs Animal 385
1. Ross Wulf
5. Jamie Webb
FT – Ross Wulf 1:32.951

Nicole & Greg on the podium for Animal 360.

Nicole crossing the line. Greg is in the blue kart.

Ross on the track.

Again, congradulations!!!

Labor day weekend is good for an extra day off work, AND to get a couple dyno runs in testing different things. Among other things, I got a chance to test the new oil on the dyno this weekend.

I don't want to say I'm suprised at the results because I put a LOT of homework and studying what works and what doesn't before I ever mixed the first bottle, I guess I could say I am happy with the results. The CHT was right in line with other known good oils. The peak HP and Torqe and HP and Torque curves were also right in line with other good karting oils. I did see a slight increase in accelleration, but I don't know that it's enough to jump up and down about yet.

I did not get to put a lot of dyno time on the motor with this oil but I did make several pulls (around 30 minutes total). I tore the engine down and wear looks good. Now it's time to do some long runs and several races on different tracks to observe long term wear.

Let me start off by saying there are already some great oils on the market and I have become good friends with several of the kart oil manufacturers over the years as they have worked with me and other builders to develop what we needed (or thought we needed).

But anyone that knows me knows that I am always on the lookout for ways to do something cheaper and get the same results from higher priced products. I myself am a karter on a budget as many of you are.

Cheap, budget, low cost, you get what you pay for.... you have heard all the sayings. That is just not always so. I have studied oils, additives, and karting oils for over 5 years now trying to decide if I really wanted to jump into producing an oil or not. I recently made up my mind to go forward with it. The #1 reason that made up my mind... LACK OF INFORMATION from other karting oil manufacturers. What do I mean?? Look at any website for any major oil production company and you can find a data sheet on the oil that list several things about the oil. Things like what the base stock is made of, the weight of the oil, the viscosity index (VI), and several other important factors that help you make your decision on what oil you choose to use. I do not know of one karting oil that will tell you this. Good thing for us is, a few onces of each oil and a couple dollars will tell you just about anything about the oil you want to know. Let me just say some of the oils are overpriced for what is in them and there are actually some very good oils on the market, but they come at a hefty price.

My goal and my promise to you is to deliver an oil to the karting market that will be less than $20 per gallon and will offer the same or better protection as some of the $30+ gallon oils provide. I will also provide a data sheet on the oil that will list the technical properties of the oil. But no, I will not reveal the exact mixture of my oil, but you will get a good look at what makes up the oil and enough information to make your decision of whether to try it or not. Not snake oil marketing, not promises I can not deliver, and no smoke & mirrors.

With that out of the way, let me tell you a little about what I am using and what I am planning.

My oil will use Group III base stock. It will included additives that prevent and/or reduce: oxidation, corrosion, foam and aeration (which makes it good for our "splash oiling systems", and will also include rust inhibitors and most important of all, it is loaded up with anti-wear and anti-scuffing additives.

Is it a synthetic oil. Well, MANY oil engineers and courts are still trying to settle that debate. There have been some BIG court battles going on between some major oil companies to try and nail down EXACTLY what that means. But I will tell you this, just because an oil is synthetic based, does not make it a better oil. Some oils get away with being "synthetic-blend" oils by just adding a couple drops of a synthetic additive. So what is in the FCHP oil?? I will tell you this, it is not PAO based synthetic oil. Very few karting oils are (can count them on less fingers than I have on one hand). But there are base oils out there that are MUCH cheaper than PAO base stocks but deliver similar performance. And I found one I like and will use. And here is the good part. Initial testing shows this oil is compatible with many additive packages AND is also compatible with a wide range of conventional oils and synthetic oils. It mixes EXCELLENT with the cheap automotive oils so break-in and dyno testing can be done with the cheap Wal-Mart brand oils to seal the rings and then swap over to the racing oil without having to worry about oil compatibilty, sludge in the engine, or seized up motors due to gel forming from incompatible oils like we have seen in the past.

Ok, enough about my thoughts. Let's look at this oil a little closer. Here are some of the specs on my base stock oil:

Iso Grade: 68
API Gravity: 31
Viscosity Cst @40c: 68
Viscosity Cst @100c: 11
Viscosity Index: 154
Flash Point: 415F
Pour Point: -45F
Oxidation Stability: >6,000 hours

That is more information on my base oil that you will get from ANY other karting oil manufacturer... but why?? What are they hiding?? The above information does not tell you anything about what my oil is made of, just the physical properties. But trust me, there is more information to come once the testing is completed and I decide on the final formulation. This is going to blow the minds and really tick off some karting oil manufacturers. But I believe they SHOULD be providing the consumer this information. I plan on providing this and more information to the consumer.

And that brings up a good point, or a few good points. What type of testing? Who is doing the testing? How long will the testing take? All good questions. I plan on extensive dyno testing (inertia dyno with Performance Trends data aquisition), extensive track testing, and several months of monitoring and measuring vital engine components. I have a track available to me that I can put a kart on 7 days a week from sun up to sun down. It has a big sprint track and an oval track. So myself and my brothers will do the majority of the initial testing. I expect the testing to take at least 3 months and as much as 6 months if needed. My goal is to have the oil available to the public by the time most people get up and going for the 2008 racing season.

So stay tuned for more info to come.

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Here is a look at the plain base stock. I get it in 55 gallon drums and package it down to gallon containers to make it easier to handle.

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Here is a look at some of the additive packages I'm testing and oil compatibility test I'm working on.

Yes, I know, it's already August in 2007 and it's a little late to welcome new drivers. Well, you are right, I should have done it before now. It has been a busy year.
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First up John St. Jean.

John moved over to FCHP at the first of the year and had an EXCELLENT showing at the WKA Road Racing (Enduro) National at Roebling Road (Savannah), Georgia. Congrats on the run, hope to see more during the year.
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I have more to add and I will get them up on here soon. I am very exited to have the guys above on board and I would also like to thank all my existing customers that continue to recommend FCHP to others that make these new guys keep coming our way.

What sets an average Animal engine apart from a "good" Animal engine.... parts selection. WKA has done a good job on clamping down on the Animal rules. There are many areas in the motor that greatly affect how the motor turns out that can NOT be altered by the engine builder. A "good" motor is made by the engine builder having enough "good" parts on hand to build the motor right. A builder can NOT do this building one motor at a time. A builder also needs to have enough data collected on the Animal engines to KNOW what makes a good motor and what is just average. Some builders have more engines on hand at one time to sort through than most build in a month or a year. And not only on hand, but torn apart so parts comparisons and matchups can be made to maximize EVERY motor in the lot at the same time. Again, this can not be done by building one motor at a time.

At FCHP we have been building Animal motors since they were released from Briggs & Stratton. This puts our Animal experience, data collection, and parts knowlege MANY years ahead of a lot of the builders. And we have the selection to give you the best.

That's right, it's in the 2007 WKA rulebook, the PVL ignition is legal for the 2007 racing season. FCHP is one of the few that got the PVL's early and has been testing them. We also have several in stock.

FCHP is one of the few shops right now that have the new Horstman WKA JR1 & JR2 restrictor plates. Take a look at how small those holes are!!

The newest performance part from Briggs & Stratton, the PVL Digital Ignition System is in stock at FCHP. The flywheels are slightly lighter than the current JR Flywheels we are using.