John Force owned the NHRA Funny Car class for a decade as he brutalized his competition by winning 10 consecutive world championships. Those titles were earned thanks in large part to the brilliant mind of crew chief Austin Coil and his team of mad scientists. In this video, nitro wizard Rob Wendland shows us one of the tools that Coil used to take John Force Racing to the next level.

Nitro teams are always trying to find new ways to go fast, and they’ll invest whatever resources are available into research and development to elevate their performance level. The general public rarely gets to see the happenings inside the nitro skunkworks that create go-fast parts, but thanks to Wendland, the curtain is being peeled back just a little bit.

The device we get to see in Wendland’s video is a fixture that Coil used to develop supercharger intake manifolds. Coil and his team used this fixture to really refine how the air was distributed inside the manifold to each cylinder port. This device was a game-changer because it allowed Coil and his team to make changes to an intake without having to fire up a single nitro engine, thus saving time, money, and some very expensive parts.

The thought process that went into creating this fixture alone is amazing — Coil not only designed this fixture to replicate real-world conditions, but he also added numerous sensors to gather data. Wendland used this data to create his “whale” that would go inside the manifold to divert the optimal amount of air into each cylinder.

If you’re into hardcore drag racing tech this is a really cool video to watch. Wendland’s YouTube channel is also packed with other awesome videos that cover a wide range of nitro topics you need to see.