Sabre V-8 Motor Project

Introduction:

In the early 1990s, Brayton Engineering was a consistent INDY 500 participant with a motor
building facility and excellent driver, Scott Brayton. In 1992-93, Lee Brayton, owner of Brayton
Engineering, and Roman Slobodynskyj, President of USA Race Cars, had discussions regarding a
single purpose 209 C.I. INDY push rod motor advantage in INDY competition. At that time, Brayton
had been running Buick V-6 motors which featured great horsepower but not great reliability for a
500 mile event.

After months of research, it appeared that a superior product could be developed with a technical
advantage and Brayton decided that the best gift he could give his son was a specially designed
motor to race at INDY. Lee Brayton borrowed almost $2 million against his gravel business and
commissioned Roman Slobodynskyj to design and oversee the project. The objective was to create a
motor capable of winning INDY with over 850 HP. The design ultimately would run at 10,000
RPMs.

The project began and not one single part was "off the shelf" and, therefore, every part had to be
meticulously designed and crafted. The flow characteristics of every high performance motor was
compared and tested and when the testing was completed, it resulted in a design that flowed
approximately 25% more than the Buick V-6 currently being raced at INDY. The attached chart
shows the results of those comparisons.

The project was an immense undertaking which involved designing and drawing every component,
making patterns and tooling, overseeing machining operations, assembly, testing and dyno
development. The 72 degree block design provided for the motor to feature a single cam shaft
mounted at the top of the motor block. This allowed for short push rods with roller bearings at each
end. The result was very light-weight which allowed for very high revs and great reliability.

The first prototype motor was assembled and the dyno testing began. The early dyno runs showed
more potential than expected. Initial horsepower tests, run on alcohol and undersized turbos,
demonstrated 928 HP at 10,000 RPMs. Only minor problems arose during these tests. The biggest
problem was locating turbos large enough to supply the immense breathing needs of the motor.

Soon after the dyno tests began, Lee Brayton invited John Menard to see the motor run on the dyno.
Lee thought Menard might be interested as a customer for a few of these motors for Team Menard,
since Menard primarily used the V-6 Buick for their INDY campaigns. At that time, maximum
horsepower output, as reported by Lee Brayton, from the Buick race motors was approximately 800
HP. Menard was so impressed with the performance and potential of the Brayton V-8 motor, that he
and Lee Brayton made a comprehensive business transaction that included purchase of the motor
program and employment of Scott Brayton as a Team Menard driver. The approximate price of the
motor purchase program was $2 million.

Menard began his own development of the Brayton V-8 motor and adapting of the motor to the
chassis used by Menard. Time ran out ( to race in the 1994 INDY 500 ) to complete the installation
of the motor in the chassis due to technical reasons with Buick. Apparently, Eddie Cheever, lead
driver for Team Menard, had a "Better or Best" clause in his contract to run the best motor, however,
Buick sponsorship prevented the use of the Brayton motor in Scott Brayton's race car for the 1994
INDY 500. The rest is history.
In April of 1994, at the Long Beach Grand Prix, Roger Penske announced that he was going to race
INDY with a Mercedes "push-rod" motor. That caught all other teams flat footed with no time to
develop a motor to exploit the rules. Menard was caught in a dilemma and had the only motor with a
chance to beat Team Penske. In 1994, Team Penske finished the INDY 500 with a first ( Al Unser,
Jr. ), second and third. It was one of the most dominated INDY races of all time. Later it was
reported by Lee Brayton that the Mercedes motor peak output was about 850 HP. Team Menard had
a motor with at least 75 more horsepower and could not race it for technical reasons. Scott Brayton
died during an INDY practice session not long thereafter and was never able to run the motor.

The following year, 1995, the INDY turbo boost rules were changed to reduce the horsepower of
push rod motors so that there was no longer a technical advantage. The Mercedes and Brayton-
Menard motor projects were shelved. In about 1997, Brayton re- purchased the motor program which
included parts for over 10 substantially completed, but dissembled motors, and the patterns and
tooling to build more. In 1999, Sabre Engineering believed that a excellent breathing push-rod-two-
valve motor had a technical advantage in endurance racing and acquired the motor project from
Brayton Engineering and entered a joint development program to adapt the motor to endurance
racing.

In 2001, the completion of the development of the motor moved to Southern California to
Duttweiller Performance, a turbo race motor specialist. The development includes several
alternatives The dyno results of those tests are attached hereto.

Marketing Alternatives for the Sabre-Brayton V-8 Motor:

1. Features of the motor: The motor was designed to develop over 1,000 HP and live above
10,000 RPMs for sustained periods of time in the rigors of racing at the INDY 500. The motor
weighs 322 pounds, features a head with air flow equivalent to a great four-valve race motor
and has a very strong designed bottom end. The horsepower range for endurance racing, with
restrictors, allow the V-8 to run under very little stress which should provide excellent
reliability. The location of the cam at the top of the block allows for short-light-weight
pushrods and very high RPMs. The V-8 motor appears to have a technical advantage in that
the restrictors try to equate two valve vs. four valve output, however, the Sabre V-8 has
equivalent cylinder head air flow as a four valve and gets a larger inlet restrictor.

2. Turbo Charged Endurance Racing: The ALMS and Grand Am rules allow for the Sabre V-8
to be raced as a twin turbo configuration in the LMP 900 class. Horsepower is shown on the
attached dyno and summary sheets.

3. Normally Aspirated V-8 for Endurance Racing: The ALMS allows the Sabre V-8 to be run in
the LMP 675 class as a normally aspirated V-8.

4. Turbo In-Line 4 Cylinder: Extrapolation of test data strongly implies that a 2- litre in-line four
cylinder motor would have great potential for the LMP 675 class. This reasoning is supported
by comparing weight to horsepower of the LMP900 class vs. LMP675. The assumptions are
as follows:
Class: LMP675 LMP900+
Kilo / Pounds X 2.2 / 1,485 pounds X 2.2 / 1,980 pounds
Est. HP 425 / 450 / 475 625 / 650 / 675
Est. Weight / HP 3.94 / 3.3 / 3.13 3.16 / 3.05 / 2.93

The LMP 675 class has certain inherent advantages, including the following:

A. Less weight equals less centrifugal force for better cornering.

B. Less weight means less tire wear.
C. Less weight equals better fuel consumption.
D. The Sabre V-8 Motor would work at very low stress loads for great reliability.

5. USAC Midget Motors: Current USAC Midget motors built by Brayton Engineering produce
360 HP from 163 CI or 2.65 litres. These unrestricted motors are basically of a small block
327 Chevy V-8 motor, built on an in-line special four cylinder alloy blocks with dry sump
systems and run on alcohol. The racing group has found that the Chevy Small block SB-2 hear
or the Ford NASCAR head performs the best to date. The motor blocks allow machining the
block to accommodate running either the Ford or Chevy head.
 Sabre V-8 Motor Project

Part 2:
Ken Duttweiler and Roman Slobodynskyj at the Dyno

Dyno Results of Early Turbo Tests

Sabre-Brayton V-8 Cylinder Head
Sabre-Brayton Cylinder Head Schematic
 Brayton V-8

Sabre-Brayton V-8: Normally Aspirated on Dyno at Duttweiler Performance, Sept. 7, 2001

Summary of Potential Running Normally Aspirated:

The results below were run with a motor primarily in a turbo configuration with a long list of
changes necessary to optimize efficiency and maximum horsepower in a normally aspirated
condition. In spite of the running conditions, the motor developed over almost 360 HP and ran up to
9,500 RPMs. In order to start maximizing the potential of the Sabre-Brayton V-8 to run normally
aspirated, the following changes are necessary for the tests to commence.

1. Substantially increase the size of the intake plenum.

2. Change the cams lift, duration and lobe center angle.
3. Install smaller fuel injection nozzles.
4. Adjust the ignition timing for this application.
5. Build taller intake runners.
6. Install a double set of ignition coils to fire both spark plugs.
7. Modify the head combustion chamber to tailor to normally aspirated configuration.
8. Increase compression ratio from 8:1 to about 13:1.
9. Once these changes have been optimized, commence development with restrictors.
 10. Change the headers to smaller diameter.

In the opinion of Ken Duttweiler, The unrestricted ultimate horsepower should be approximately 460
HP ( approximately 2.2 HP / C.I. or 1.35 HP / Litre ).

Preliminary Dyno Runs: Normally Aspirated

 Potential Programs to Offer Panoz Motorstorts

A. Sabre-Brayton V-8 Motor Program For:

a. Turbo 3.4 Litre version for ALMS LMP 900
b. Turbo version for GTS type race car
c. Normally aspirated 3.4 Litre for LMP675

B. Four Cylinder 2-Litre Turbocharged Motor for LMP675

a. Proof of concept motor to generate horsepower range and an economy engine.
b. Full new design overhead cam two-valve motor to be the best LMP675 motor.
c. Possibility of "Offy" naming rights

C. SportStar / Sabre RS 341 T prototype adapted for:

a. Modified for LMP675.
b. Completed for GTS racing.
c. Possibility of "Offy" name rights

D. Sabre-Weisman Transaxle Development

Completion of the most significant racing transaxle in racing today.