CARBURETOR SHOOT OUT 2012

[Steve Zicht]

The 2011 Carb Shoot Out @ the BLP Corral was a great success !

Im certain that many of the ' non competing shops ' that could not be there will make plans to be there in 2012. There was no finger pointing, slurs, lude comments and or teasing between ' rivals ' while they were competing. As a matter of fact, I gathered that the atmosphere during the competition was lively and many of the competitors were actually helping each other evaluating dyno data during the Ultimate Tuning Phase of the testing.

As I had suspected previously, the first ever 2011 contest did produce some real surprises in the end with a ' maverick ' carburetor builder ( Mark Whitener ) winning the S/B Shoot out event with the runner up being just .3% in second and just happen to also capture the ' Out Of The Box ' competition as well. ( AED )

The B/B Shoot Out was really wild and the AED crew not only grabbed the first place award for the B/B contest but also nabbed the Out Of The Box award for that as well ! The ' godfather ' of race carburetion , Dave Braswell, captured second place. What a show !!!

I spoke to Mark @ BLP during the second day of the big block contest and he commented that the number of shops competing was a handfull and they might have to limit the number of shops to 20 in 2012. Well have to wait and see or figure out another carburetor challenge that will allow more contestants in a limited amount of time.

Im also certain that since this very first carburetor masters challenge was held just two days after Thanksgiving, some shops could not make it as to the travel logistics was simply too much to absorb.

Again, I cant thank Chud Mullens and Steve Schmidt for supplying two fantastic race motors that held up to all the punishment from multiple dyno pulls and proved very consistant with the BLP baseline calibration checks. Trust me. Mullens and Schmidt did not walk away empty handed. They recieved a ton of priceless info about whos carburetor performed best on their respective engines. Im certain they were also surprised about who came out on top. AED and Braswell certainly had that new intake manifold on the Schmidt motor figured out.

To the shops that placed in the ' elite eight ' and to the ones that didnt, heaven only knows what youll show up with next year. No doubdt something that could power a jet fighter no less. LOL ! Next years Shoot Out will be even better !

Mega Kudos to the entire BLP staff for pulling this event off so smoothly. Totally amazing that there were so few glitches in this 4 day event. If this first Shoot Out went so well, Im already excited about the next one. More sponsors, more prizes , more business deals, and most important, more friendships made !!!!

David Vizard was in HOG HEAVEN ! He made several new friends and gathered enough new carburetor material to last him for months. What a great break for us all that he committed his time to be part of this. Trust me, David had a real blast and he too was overheard talking about a 2012 carburetor challenge.

OK Speed Talk readers, Nows your chance to put in your two cents worth about the Shoot Out that just occured and as to how to make it better next year. My only real complaint was the camera positioning. I wanted a much closer view of the carburetor on the engine and angled so as to I could see what type it was. One suggestion I would have is to have a camera ' directly above ' the engine. That way we could see that baby open up and watch that fuel pour out of the boosters.

OK fellahs, what on your mind about the Shoot Out that just finished or suggestions as to how to make the next one even better. Feel free if you want to see another ' big ' carburetor challenge again or some other type of carburetor challenge.

Whats on your mind ? Steve Zicht

[DrillDawg]

With Nascar going to FI this year I wonder how many of those carbs and builders/tuners will will find their way in the market and how it will effect everyone else building and marketing carbs. Also I see a some builders like Sonny using FI on their 1000 cuin motors and making over 2hp/cuin. while having a very clean look and ease of tuning. With these facts and the new the generation of young tuners growing up with FI could really shrink the carb market over the next ten years of so.

Having said that I think that the shootout will have a lot more interest next year just so everyone can get their name out there in the mix in an attempt to gain some market share. As I see it the top 8 this year will see an increase in business this coming year.

And with Holley right in the mix, I see them grabbing most of the every day bracket type of racer's business.

DD

[Steve Zicht]

The carburetor vs EFI discussion has been brought up before. I simply dont see the amatuer racers such as restricted roundy round using EFI anytime soon as to its more expensive. I did notice some readers commenting about a Holly 4412 ( 500 cfm ) carburetor challenge. Any other thoughts ? SZ

[DrillDawg]

The carburetor vs EFI discussion has been brought up before. I simply dont see the amatuer racers such as restricted roundy round using EFI anytime soon as to its more expensive. I did notice some readers commenting about a Holly 4412 ( 500 cfm ) carburetor challenge. Any other thoughts ? SZ

If not talking about the carb vs EFI deal, I'm talking about the shirking carb market and how the increased competition for the carb business should increase people's interest in your shootout for next year.

[banjo]

I would like to see a transbrake launch and a shift, so that shift recovery and coming off the t-brake can be pulled into the evaluation.

Also if they limit the number of participants, will previous winners have priority or will it still be a first come first serve type deal?

[Milan..]

Id like to see scoring(2011) , order of finish (everybody) , pics ?? Before going to 2012 , no info at all on BLPs site..... Steve cant you get some of that stuff??

[Robbie DeVane]

Id like to see scoring , order of finish (everybody) , pics ?? Before going to 2012 , no info at all on BLPs site..... Steve cant you get some of that stuff??

Hey Milan
Nobody will be able to get there hand's on the scoring. The reason is that BLP does not want to hurt anybody's business. I can't say that I blame them, I can say that i had a very small mechanical issue and I didn't catch it until it was to late. So I didn't make the top 8 for the sb. When I found the issue I asked Mike Laws if I could make 1 run after the competition and he said yes. And all I can say is that the out come would have been a little different. And I'm by no mean's trying to take anything from Mark and or AED they both did a really good job. As far as what anybody else did I don't know. But from what I heard it was very tight, and that is a good thing there was a lot of good carb builder's there.
As far as BLP there is NO WAY they could have done any better. The guy's at BLP Mike,Rick,Tony, Scott and Kevin from the dyno company really did a first class job. And man let me tell you lunch was bad ass all four day's (thank's Carol) Can't wait until next year. I hope we get more carb builder's for next year. And for the company's that didn't get in you really you should have.

www.devanecarbs.com

[Milan..]

Thanks Robbie

[Troy Patterson]

I look forward to participating next year.

Troy Patterson ++ TMP Carbs ++

[Steve Zicht]

The PRI Show starts today so we wont see much input from the competitors and or the ones that could not make it.

Yes, I probably could find out more sensitive information about both Shoot Outs but I really dont want to know myself at this point. I was emphatic to Mike Laws that this was to be a friendly gathering where there were no real loosers. Thank goodness Mike Laws understood this and we were able to get David Vizard onboard to be the Shoot Out judge. David was totally neutral on his decisions so there was no bias toward any person or persons competing. I do distinctly recall David disqualifying one big block entry becuause his OOTB power pull was too lean. A bit too far past the 14/1 limit. Vizard was givin quite a bit of ' power ' to make the calls too if something was ' amiss ' on somebodys carburetor. It had to be this way.

As a matter of fact, I overheard Vizard commenting that he might be a competitor next year on the live webcast. If he's officially going to compete in some form, then fairness dictates another judge for next years competition.

Fellahs, you have no idea how well this very first Shoot Out 2011 went off. This could have been a disaster with bitter rivals between shops that could have resulted in slurs and teasing or worse. The shops were actually helping each other with parts and tuning advice !! Im very certain that more than a few shops may have been intimidated by this possibility and opted not to compete. Im also certain that since the shops that did show up had such a blast and good time, that word will spread very fast within the next few days and Im confident that the 2012 Carburetor Shoot Out will be incredible with a ' very full ' list of contendors an attract more national attention.

The next Shoot Out does not have to coincide with the PRI show in late November / early December which makes for a very long week for some of the shops that may also have a booth at the PRI. Any thoughts on this readers ? Hold the next Shoot Out at another date perhaps ? SZ

[gmrocket]

Id like to see scoring , order of finish (everybody) , pics ?? Before going to 2012 , no info at all on BLPs site..... Steve cant you get some of that stuff??

Hey Milan
Nobody will be able to get there hand's on the scoring. The reason is that BLP does not want to hurt anybody's business. I can't say that I blame them, I can say that i had a very small mechanical issue and I didn't catch it until it was to late. So I didn't make the top 8 for the sb. When I found the issue I asked Mike Laws if I could make 1 run after the competition and he said yes. And all I can say is that the out come would have been a little different. And I'm by no mean's trying to take anything from Mark and or AED they both did a really good job. As far as what anybody else did I don't know. But from what I heard it was very tight, and that is a good thing there was a lot of good carb builder's there.
As far as BLP there is NO WAY they could have done any better. The guy's at BLP Mike,Rick,Tony, Scott and Kevin from the dyno company really did a first class job. And man let me tell you lunch was bad ass all four day's (thank's Carol) Can't wait until next year. I hope we get more carb builder's for next year. And for the company's that didn't get in you really you should have.

www.devanecarbs.com

i've been waiting for a list of how everyone finished&the details of the carb they ran as well. not showing the finished order will just start romours and i'll bet those who have been following this are disapointed.

if i ask each individual competitor privately how they finished would they tell me, or have they been told to keep it quiet? i find this strange and it will hurt the competition next year

[Steve Zicht]

gmrocket, so sorry you were so dissapointed. Perhaps the next contest will impress you with more participants and a complete scoring system in place. We learned alot from this first contest and the next one will be even better. SZ

[gmrocket]

gmrocket, so sorry you were so dissapointed. Perhaps the next contest will impress you with more participants and a complete scoring system in place. We learned alot from this first contest and the next one will be even better. SZ

i'm only disapointed with not being able to see the nitty gritty details. the shootout is fantastic!

i guess i needed more of the technical details...this was like getting all involved in the pre hype of a race and then only being allowed to watch the final lap with only the first and second place car on the track

[Milan..]

Steve , why would a complete scoring system be OK for 2012 , when it was just stated about not hurting someones business for the 2011 contest ??

[Powertrip]

I applaud all the contestants for participating, but that has been tempered by the knowledge that no one actually had to "put up or shut up". The only info we get after all the smoke has cleared is "all the contestants were very close". Big deal, this tells us consumers nothing! I can't believe all the effort that was put into this contest to come away with the equivalent of a kiddie soccer banquet where everyone gets a trophy and there are "no losers". We are not even allowed to know whom had the best 4150 on the smallblock!

How well did the Holley score in comparison to a custom carb? Who knows!!

If next year will be the same, please let us know so that we will not waste any time with this.