Heat is a necessary evil for a racecar … to a point. When it becomes excessive it will rob an engine of performance and cause parts to fail. Wrapping exhaust parts in protective wraps will help reduce the amount of heat unleashed under the hood and using sleeving on other parts will assist in protecting them. Racers at any level can see the benefits of exhaust wraps and heat-resistant sleeves to improve performance and protect parts under the hood from heat.

It doesn’t matter if there’s a power adder in play or not, there is a tremendous amount of heat being generated by the high-performance engine between the fenders of a racecar. This heat can affect the car’s performance by driving up intake air temperatures, damage cables, or increase the temperature of your fuel. For bracket racers, the heat can impact how consistent your car is and heads-up racers can see a drop in performance caused by parts that are just too hot.

Ryan Martino, crew chief for the Martino Motorsports Top Dragster, explains why any engine or power adder combination can benefit from a DEI exhaust wrap.

“Different engine types have different needs when it comes to heat protection. Intake temperatures on nitrous engines are kept cool by the nitrous being used. Compare this to a turbo engine that generates high heat in the intake that will benefit from wrapping the turbo and intake system. All engines can benefit from containing exhaust heat.”

For a wrap to work effectively it must be made of the correct materials for the application it’s being used for.

“It is important to match the right or most optimal material to the correct application to increase longevity and performance. Temperature range, heat reflection, insulation, flexibility, and installation all play a factor in how DEI builds their wraps or sleeving,” Martino says.

How you install a wrap or sleeve will play a role in how well it performs. The best practice for wrapping exhaust parts is to only overlap the wrap by about a quarter-inch. By wrapping the exhaust parts this way, it will contain the heat better and not hold as much heat that could damage exhaust parts. Installing the sleeving will depend on your application. DEI has a variety of sleeves that are split and some that require the cable or line to be removed for installation.

You can learn more about the heat protection products DEI offers on their website.