Firing on all cylinders, or in this case, there’s no real fire at all. Goodwin Competition continues to maintain its place as an industry leader and will continue to do so for as long as we can imagine, as they continue to invest in the newest and greatest equipment our industries have to offer. When it comes to engine design and testing, it’s the tools of the trade that make an engine development so key. Whether your Hendricks, Childress, Gibbs, GM, Comp Cams you know that perfecting your product takes endurance testing and product development.
Here in this quick video we can see Goodwin Competition making use of perhaps one of the most critical pieces of technology in the market today, the SpinTron.
The SpinTron is essentially an electric motor that spins an engine’s crankshaft, thus removing any need for fuel, ignition, or combustion. It was developed to primarily test roller tappets, rocker arms, and most importantly search for valve floating and its corresponding problems. Valve floating is when the valves in an internal combustion engine do not properly follow the closure phase of the cam lobe profile. This reduces engine efficiency and performance and potentially increases engine failure. Among other things it also tests for harmful spring harmonics and pushrod deflection. But the advantages go well beyond the valve train. This technology allows camshaft profiles to be analyzed as well as combustion chamber design to be modified. When you are machining your very own engines from solid hunks of 6061 billet aluminum, there is no option other than perfection.
Identifying potential problems before they occur instead of playing catch up is th name of the game. Using a SpinTron in conjunction with its Laser Valve Tracking System (LVTS), which sits inside of a cylinder and provides the computer measurable data, allowing Goodwin to identify any issues at high rpm and in turn fix the problems before ever installing the engine. While most of their marine engines won’t see this type of rpm, the load and strain at these rpms allow them to test the crucial max capacity of an engine’s many internals. Their use of this revolutionary technology among many others has propelled Goodwin Competition to the forefront of today’s performance motorsports industry.
While we live in our own aspect of the power boating industry Goodwin is shattering records in numerous motorsports around the nation. Just this year a Goodwin Competition engines, based on the same the same architecture as their Extreme Marine Semi Hemi engine but naturally aspirated , shattered the infamous Hot Rod Drag Week championship’s top speed by 9mph. This is an almost unimaginable feat. It is this type of engine development that some of the biggest names in power boating are recognizing as yet another option in the world of building the ultimate boats.
