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Joe Rivera and his team at ProTorque Converters have been pushing the limits in each new design of torque converter to hit the market for the past several seasons. Racers have been running the company’s Revolution Series converter lineup over the last several years and have seen numerous national and world records smashed and personal bests lowered with each blast down the racing surface.
Well, this is May 2015. It’s time for an Evolution.
A Look Inside: Check out this detailed breakdown of the revolutionary EV1 Series torque converter was provided by the team at Pro Torque!
ProTorque is on the verge of releasing the brand new Evolution Series torque converter, designed to be better, stronger, safer and completely serviceable and adjustable for all horsepower applications and conditions. As we go into the summer months, many racers turn to a completely different torque converter for their combination.
With the new ProTorque EV1, remove 24 custom 4340 rolled thread aerospace fastening studs, remove the custom billet stator that you have for the cooler, tighter racing surfaces and get a different billet stator (also available through ProTorque) out of the trailer for hot, greasy tracks in the middle of the summer.
No more carrying 2-3 different converters to the track — just grab your ProTorque box off the shelf in the shop, pack it full of different stator combinations for tune-ability and rock on!
Team ProTorque has been testing this new EV1 for the past year with cars of varying horsepower levels and different engine/power-adder combinations to figure out its likes and dislikes. Testing began in the class of racing where ProTorque set the world on fire a few years ago — Drag Radial.
Scott Oksas and Michael Biehle have transformed NMCA Pro Mod competition with the EV1.
It started off with the Fiscus/Klugger team in their ProLine-powered, radial-equipped Ford Mustang last year at the Street Car Super Nationals, where they ran 6.50s at 243 miles per hour in the quarter-mile. DeWayne Mills had an EV1 tuned and spec’d by Jamie Miller that tickled the 200 mph barrier before his infamous flying car episode during Lights Out 6 at SGMP.
Jared Johnston set the X275 elapsed time world record at Northstar Dragway with an incredible 4.44 at 160+ miles per hour. Shane Fisher strapped in his custom tuned EV1, relied on the wizardry magic of John Kolivas from KBX Performance, and went straight to a new personal best of a 4.48 at Radial Fest in Huntsville, Alabama.
Steve Gorman (Outlaw 10.5) and John Schroeder (Outlaw Big Tire) grabbed victories during “The Take Down” at Cecil County Dragway with their EV1 setups, and Mark Luton and Team MMR broke the six-scond barrier with the Coyote engine by running a 6.75 in the Outlaw 10.5 category in Sonoma, California.
In the Pro Modified world, Scott Oksas and Michael Biehle proved that the new converter was worth its weight in gold when they finished qualifying as the top two qualifiers, respectively, at NMCA Bowling Green just a few weeks ago.
There are several other teams working and testing with the new EV1, but as it sometimes goes in racing, some of those teams are on the “hush, hush” until development is wrapped up. The rumor mill is buzzing that a few blower teams are doing extensive testing with the EV1, as well.
Steve Gorman (Outlaw 10.5), Jared Johnston (X275), Shane Fisher (X275) and DeWayne Mills are all sitting atop their respective classes/lists with the ProTorque EV1 on board.
In the street car scene, it is Justin “Big Chief” Shearer and Shawn “Murder Nova” Ellington rocking the ‘OKC Top 10 List’ with their EV1 converters on the hit television series Street Outlaws on the Discovery Channel. They were both running the EV1 when they took their cars off the street and went into the competitive world of Outlaw 275 during the Outlaw Street Car Reunion II at Memphis International Raceway. Across the pond, Steve Neimantas with his super custom street-driven Bentley GT has run a new personal best of a 7.35 at 198 mph with the EV1 at Santa Pod in England.
Justin Shearer and Shawn Ellington, the two twin-turbocharged big tire cars on the Street Outlaws TV show strapped on 275 drag radials and rolled into Memphis to try their hand at Drag Radial racing. Their custom EV1 converters are also in their street racing setups that have Big Chief sitting No. 1 on 'The List' and Murder Nova gaining momentum at No. 3.
“This whole project has taken us a very long time to develop,” says ProTorque’s mastermind, Joe Rivera.
“When considering the amount of power that we’re putting through these torque converters, I wanted to create the safest possible bolt-together on the market. This kind of development takes a lot of time, energy and money. Many of our racers have asked for this numerous times over and I am very proud of the product that we’ve created. Even more exciting is the stator development that’s coming down the design pipeline. This is not only a safe bolt-together design, but it will become the venue for a lot of improved stator designs to come and offer even more adjustability for our customers.”
As you can see, the numbers speak a thousand words. Joe Rivera and his team have put in the hard work, the funding for research and development and put their products to the test in some of drag racing’s toughest categories. With 2015 going into the mid-season stretch, be on the lookout for more racers to be testing an EV1 torque converter and shooting for their new personal bests and to go after an ever-elusive victory at some of the largest venues in racing.
The official release will be announced soon as ProTorque is building their inventory with EV1 converters and parts to be in stock when they arrive on the market very soon. We greatly appreciate their cooperation and help in bringing this article to the public through us here at Dragzine as we try to bring you the most up-to-date and game-changing products and stories in the motorsports world! In the words of the original ProTorque t-shirt…”Got Feelings?”
