Couple interesting parts in here, figured I'd share.

Marking Myles
An Interview with Myles Bautista

By Richard Chang
Photography: Steve Sawitz

He was there during the infancy of the So. Cal. import car culture, built a 10-second CRX when such things were thought not to exist, and watched from the side as friends scored big-dollar drag racing sponsorships. Myles Bautista has since focused on the business of making turbos, tuning cars and working with General Motors.

Honda Tuning: You've decided not to race a full schedule this year. Is it possible to race seriously and own a shop these days?
Myles Bautista: Probably not. It takes a lot of time and money to be successful in both a business and racing. You really have to have a lot of money to afford a separate team to concentrate on racing. If you try to use all your guys or resources to work on a racecar, it takes away from normal work for your business. In any kind of motorsport, money has got to be involved.

HT: How much were you spending when you were running your own team?
MB: About $150,000 - at least - a year.

HT: Looking back, was it worth it?
MB: I think that it's worth it for the consumer because we do a lot of testing on the cars. We try to apply the same kind of technology on the products that we sell. It's very beneficial, but up to a certain point. We're testing parts to see what works and that's good for the product that we sell. But to be competitive, you've got to spend a lot more on racing. And that will actually hurt the business.

HT: These days you need at least 800 hp to compete. What's the difference between getting 600 hp and getting 800 hp?
MB: Anything you can think of to make it easier to make power. You've got to squeeze every bit of technology out of a 2.0-liter motor. You're looking at valves, air flow, lighter rotating assemblies like titanium and aluminum rods, big bore and stroke motors. It still boils down to this: There's no substitute for cubic inches.

HT: How important is air flow in the head of a turbo motor?
MB: It's actually very important now, considering the turbos we're using for these motors, which were never thought possible back in the day. With the amount of boost and the size of the turbochargers we're running on the motors, it's important. No matter how big you go on the turbine side of it, if you have a motor that can't flow the air, then it might not achieve its potential.

HT: You run a B16 stroked to 1.9 liters. Most people run a B18. What was behind your decision to run the B16 engine?
MB: There are more B16s available than B18s, VTEC-wise. And the B16 was cheaper, but not anymore because we're running out of them. Basically, [my race engine] is just a B16 block; everything internal is really custom-made. Back then when we didn't need the power, when it was still 600-700 hp, I [chose] a B16 [because] it can take a lot more abuse [than a B18] because of the shorter stroke, the shorter rods and stuff. And with that shorter stroke-rod combo, you can rev it 10,000-11,000 rpm and boost it 35 pounds. Back then on a B18, the longer rods really weren't beneficial to that kind of rpm and that kind of boost.

HT: What's your rpm right now?
MB: Around 10,500 rpm.

HT: What engine management system are you using?
MB: We're using a MoTeC system.

HT: How important has it been?
MB: We used to use an 8x8 mapping. But if you're trying to squeeze every bit of power out of these motors, you need fuel management that's got a broad table for fuel mapping and ignition mapping, so you can be really critical on everything.

HT: As technology has expanded, has it been difficult to keep up?
MB: It wouldn't be too hard, but... the reason I said that [racing] boils down to money is because with big backing, big corporate backing for example, teams are not scared about breaking anything. And if you get to that point where you're not scared about breaking, then you're going to go fast. People like us, we're on a tight budget, a used parts budget. It's harder for us to not worry about breaking something. You can't compete with the big boys now when they have good backing and they don't have to worry about breaking a tranny or breaking an axle or anything.

And if you have that mentality - that you're not scared of breaking anything - then you set records. The big advantage for these cars and why the cars are really going quick these last couple of years was the switch over to 28-inch tall tires. And back in 2001, when we set the mph record in NIRA at 161 mph, we were at a disadvantage because we were running 26-inch tires while everybody else was running 28. And they were two-tenths to three-tenths quicker than us. We know for a fact that it was all because of the tires. So I've been trying to work with Driveshaft.com in developing axles that would hold up to a 28-inch tire. And sure enough, when we changed to a 28-inch tire this year we were at least back to the same level as the big boys.

HT: Jojo (Callos) and Kenny (Tran) still run your manifolds, right?
MB: Yeah. One thing that makes me proud to be a part of Rev Hard is that Kenny, Jojo, the Venom team, Lisa Kubo, they're all running my exhaust manifold. We can't be as quick as them because they've got the budgets, but at least we've got some parts we made for them on their cars. At least we're part of those fast cars even though we're not as fast as them.

HT: How similar are the cars these days?
MB: Right now, it's back to that certain point like in the beginning when we started about 12 years ago. Everybody is secretive. It's getting back to that point because the competition is really getting close, so you've got to keep everything under your hat. That's the number one critical thing now: keep it to yourself.

HT: Is it weird? All you Southern California guys (and gals) are so close, personally.
MB: It's kind of weird because it's bringing up a lot of controversy for people who are going quick. Thank God we haven't reached that point where we're going quicker than everybody else, so we're not caught up in that controversy. But we're at that point where [the feeling is] whoever is quicker must be cheating or something.

HT: Is finger-pointing that big these days?
MB: Yes. I guess you've got to expect it. If you're at the top, everybody is trying to shoot you down. I've seen it rotate a couple of times. These last couple of years, it's rotated between everybody, but I'm the one in the middle all the time. I'm not the one at the top who everyone is trying to shoot down.

HT: How important is it for Myles to race full time?
MB: For me it's not that important. Business-wise it's not that important anymore. We're already finished developing the parts needed to go fast on the street for the regular cars. Racing might not be a big part of Rev Hard or Myles Bautista [in the future].

HT: How hard is it to turbocharge the K-series motors?
MB: Right now with the K series, the cars are more strict and more critical in their fuel mapping. They're designing these cars to comply with certain laws. It's really more difficult for us [to apply forced induction]. We've been playing with the K series for a couple of months [at press time] and up to now we haven't gotten to the point where we can get consistent power out of it.

HT: What's the main difficulty?
MB: The fuel system on the new cars. They don't have a fuel return system, so you can't use mechanical boost-dependent rise-in-rate fuel pressure regulators anymore. The way we used to enrich the older cars was that we had a fuel regulator [with] a different rate of fuel pressure for every [level] of boost. You increase the fuel pressure and that's how you enrich it. Now on the newer cars, the fuel system doesn't have a return line so you can't put a regulator on it. So, you have to step up technology-wise by developing some sort of computer or circuit board that will be able to multiply the pulse width on the factory injectors once it starts seeing boost. We've got to do our homework on the technology side of it. And we're working with a couple of companies.

HT: you started Rev Hard as a spin-off of your racing. Is it hard to develop parts for the K series when no one is racing the K series?
MB: It is hard for us to develop anything out of it. First of all, the motors are so expensive. There's no point in changing setups when we're getting 700-plus hp on B-series motors. I don't think switching to a K series would be beneficial. The only benefit I see is that it's finally a correct rotational motor. Once [the sanctioning bodies] start letting us run clutchless trannies, then that will be the motor we'll need to start working with.

HT: Do you see the K series factoring into pro drag racing any time soon?
MB: [The racers] are still the guinea pigs for the Honda motors. If an engine blows up, it comes out of our pocket. So unless [Honda] steps up in donating motors to people who race, I don't think they'll switch over to it. A time will come, though, when we're going to run out of B-series motors and we're going to be forced to run the K series.

HT: You mean you just plain can't find them anymore?
MB: Yup, exactly. We're having a situation right now. Six years ago, I had a whole room full of B-series motors and trannies. Now, we can't even find a tranny anymore for a backup.

Source, and more article: http://www.hondatuningmagazine.com/f...08ht_bautista/