The New Zealand-designed and built Synergy V8 race engine is not only fast. In terms of race engines, it’s also quiet.
At Auckland’s Western Springs Speedway for the world 50-lapper, individually-timed qualifying laps allowed the accurate measurement of the sound level of all cars.
“The Synergy V8-powered CRC midget secured the equal fastest time with American midget star Davey Ray at the wheel and it was the quietest,” says the engine’s designer Simon Longdill. “The Synergy engine’s reading was a very significant 3dB lower than the average for the field – that is a halving of the effective sound level.”
Longdill and Synergy Racing partner Luke Fisher regard the noise issue as being very important to their sport.
“Noise is still a serious issue for speedway, especially at Western Springs,” says Simon Longdill. “While all teams and competitors take the issue and restraints very seriously, as engine designers and manufacturers, we are in a position where we can apply more technology and resources to the issue. Actually we see it as a key part of our responsibility.”
Longdill has perfected further developments for the engine’s exhaust systems and muffler layouts, followed up with on-track and mounted engine dynamometer testing. 
“Our engine configuration has different sound characteristics to a more conventional midget speedway engine. It has more cylinders and operates at a higher speed. However each cylinder is smaller, which means certain types of muffler design can be used very effectively,” he says.
“Even though we sacrificed a small amount of engine performance in the process of reducing sound levels so much, the loss was minimised by good design. Our overall package is right at the cutting edge competitively, says Luke Fisher.”
The team continues to work with speedway promotion and governing bodies to investigate how to translate the Synergy research and results across a wider scale of cars and engines.
Following early January’s success with Davey Ray, Synergy Racing also had a major role in winning the Auckland midget car championship at Western Springs on 17 January. Newcomer, 19-year-old midget racer Hayden Williams drove the ex-Brad Mosen Synergy Chili Bowl car for the Century Batteries HLR team to qualify fastest and win the championship using the same updated engine and muffler combination from Ray’s car.
Since being developed three years ago, the Synergy V8 continues to attract considerable attention from racers in New Zealand, Australia and the US.