May 12, 2008: Engineering Insights
I’m very excited about the new look that the Briggs & Stratton Racing website has just received! Mostly because it gives me the opportunity to share some insights into the extensive amount of engineering that is invested into our Racing product line. I have been at Briggs & Stratton for 13 years of which I’ve spent my last three in engineering dedicated to the Racing division. This is the first time an engineer has been assigned full-time to this product and we’ve made many improvements over the past few years to make the Racing engines the best they’ve ever been.
Being part of a large corporation, we have available to us a vast number of resources which we use to extensively develop and test product improvements prior to releasing them to the market. An example of how we approach a design change can be explained through the development of the PVL flywheel/ignition system. Prior to making a single part, we conducted simulations of airflow patterns and engine temperatures using finite element analysis software to ensure that temperatures did not increase which could negatively affect the performance and integrity of the engine. After several variations the design was optimized and extensive in-house testing of components was then conducted. Durability of the system was verified through hundreds of hours of testing on chassis dynos. Airflow and temperatures were also measured throughout this testing to verify that the data correlated to the numbers obtained in the analysis software. Once in-house testing completed successfully, we proceeded to run several systems for over 20 hours each on the track. During our extensive track testing we also collected horsepower, temperature and vibration data to ensure that what we experienced on the track compared to the data obtained in the software simulations and on the dyno.
The way we approached the development of the PVL system is a prime example of how we approach all product improvements. We thoroughly utilize the resources we have available to ensure that any change is as good, if not better, than how the engine exists today. In the future II’ll talk about other improvements we have made to our racing product line and the resources we utilized in those design changes.
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