According to Terry Paine at Bender Racing of Colden, New York, his firm's RTC-1 (Stage 1) Turbocharging kit should boost a stock 2003 RX-1 by more than 30 horsepower. The target hp for this turbo kit is between 175 and 180 horsepower.
Based on dyno tests of a Yamaha FZ1 street motorcycle with a similar 1,000cc motor, Paine feels that a stock RX-1 generates between 140 and 145 horsepower. Using a low 3-4 lbs of boost will easily put the RX-1 motor in the 175+ range. And that will be with readily available pump gas.
Bender Racing has exclusive use of the well-proven Aerocharger turbo. The Aerocharger turbo is considered by many experts to be the finest available due to its unique design. The Aerocharger's low friction self-lubricating ceramic ball bearings combined with the variable vane turbine nozzles make this unit virtually lag free. The advantage to this design is the ability to create boost at very low rpm's unlike conventional turbo's and some superchargers. General Motors recently used this unit in many different test vehicles (e.g. see March 2003 "Motor Trend').
"The four-stroke Yamaha lends itself nicely to the turbo application," states Paine.
The price lends itself to volume sales as tentative plans call for a complete kit price of about $2000. Paine offers that the turbocharger kit is competitive in price per horsepower to other aftermarket services.
"It will be difficult to realize the large gains in power on this engine due to the fact that Yamaha has already done a good job on this powerplant. The price of this RTC-1 turbo kit will be the best bang for the buck which will compare to the average customer installing pipes and trail porting".
The stage one RTC-1 kit will use a turbo capable of 180 hp while still eliminating the dreaded turbo lag.
While Bender Racing works to get the RX-1 turbo kit ready for production, the company is also working on future stages of turbo kits that would offer horsepower boosts to 210 to 220 and beyond. Also in the R&D schedule is the development of cam kits, lightweight exhaust packages, and other lightweight products.
If you'd like to learn more about the Bender Racing RTC-1 or the RTC-2 and RTC-3 kit for the RX-1 contact Bender Racing @ (716-941-5010) or
www.benderracing.com