There is no sound that a racing enthusiast loves more than that of a V8 engine roaring down a straightaway at 9,000 RPM. These engineering marvels that power the Cup Series NextGen car push out a maximum of 670 HP and are built by manufacturers in association with partners like Toyota Racing Development. Building an engine can set a team back by around $250,000 to $300,000.
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Clearly, speed isn’t cheap. Construction of an engine is a highly complex process that takes hundreds of hours and skilled labor. The machine’s components are either custom-made or more developed iterations of their counterparts on the public road. This includes crankshafts, pistons, camshafts etc. To think all this is for but one or two races.
NASCAR allows teams to build 13 engines per season. Each engine must be used in at least two races. So, most teams rebuild their motors after every race and completely replace them every third or fourth. When and how they do it is a part of their strategy. That the regular consumer car can go a hundred thousand miles before needing replacement reflects the extremeness of the sport.
The horsepower on the engines is tuned to each race track on the schedule. On short tracks and road courses, the engines can shell out 670 HP. On speedways, the power is restricted to 510 HP. This is for various reasons, the prime of which is to increase safety by curbing speed. NASCAR emphasizes the use of driver skill and drafting abilities over raw speed on such fast tracks.
Can you buy a NASCAR Cup Series engine?
Due to the heightened demands of racing, there are significant differences between a NASCAR engine and a consumer engine. The latter produces between 150 to 300 HP and lasts much longer than the race engine.
Though rare, the public can still get a hold of the NextGen engine at times. They can be procured from race teams that are upgrading their shops or from special automotive suppliers.
They’re used for racing projects or show cars. Other engines that are beyond their scope of use are usually decommissioned. Their parts are recycled or sold. Some could be put together for use in a lower tier of racing where the demands aren’t so high. It is not uncommon to find a few engines sitting in the race shops for memory or educational purposes either.
