Drag racing’s elite-level turbocharged racing machines already make remarkable levels of horsepower — often more than racers can even adequately utilize — but that doesn’t stop manufacturers from continually working to develop better, more efficient turbos to help their customers push the performance envelope. Here at PRI, the folks at Precision Turbo & Engine have doubled-down on their turbocharger development, latching not one, not two, but several new Gen 3 snails for the drag racing market, featuring their latest aerodynamic compressor and turbine wheel.
The new lineup from Precision includes their NHRA spec Pro Mod 88mm, the powerful 94 and 98mm, the more than 2,300 horsepower-capable 102mm, along with the now-X275-legal 85mm. Precision has also has on display their 1,400 horsepower, 83mm Gen 2 PT8385 and the 1,200 horsepower, 72mm Gen 2 PT7285.
Precision’s Grant Gorham cites the Pro Mod 85 as the big story right now in their lineup, as prior to it even being released, it was outlawed for use in X275, but has since been permitted for use in the class in 2017 with a 50 pound weight penalty on select combinations.
The company has enlarged the turbine wheels, and has also given the compressor wheel a new curvature and shape that will allow for even greater efficiencies, that results in greater horsepower potential. Gorham shared that the company doesn’t have current efficiency gain data, but says Precision estimates around a 50 horsepower, give or take a few, across the entire line of Gen 3’s.
Gorham outlined how the company has invested effort into each individual turbo, rather than simply shrinking down the internal design.
“With our products, we don’t have one wheel that we shrink down for other turbos — we have our own wheels that were developed and engineered for each frame and compressor wheel size, so while they share similarities, they aren’t the same wheel. It’s all dependent on what you’re doing and what frame size you’re using.”