Engine Management Systems and Services
Owens Performance Centre
Our Vehicle Performance Centre is headed by Mark Harrison, who started his adventure with Owen Developments in 1995. Coming from a time served motor vehicle apprenticeship and then working up through the motor industry as a means to fund his own passion for racing, Mark was quickly snapped up by us to devote his drive and passion to succeed at the highest level, as a unique resource for Owens customers.
Never one to be told it can’t be done, Mark will always go that extra mile to achieve the best results possible, whether for himself in his current racing exploits, or with a customer’s engine build or ECU installation - you can be 100% sure you will be getting the maximum performance and reliability possible for your hard earned money!
With his background spent every day working on engines, Mark has a huge knowledge on engine control requirements from a car best used for going to the shops, to a fire breathing 200mph monster! Every engine built in Owens extensively equipped workshop, will have had some of the most highly experienced hands applied to it. This also includes the extremely knowledgeable staff in the motorsport turbocharger department, who can accurately “spec” a turbo for your exact requirements, using well known calculations but also using decades of experience in the field, that will ensure you get the best possible unit for your required application.
Owens pride themselves on being able to complete most engineering tasks in-house using our fully equipped and professionally staffed machine shop. Utilising many of the latest CNC controlled machines, we can ensure you don’t just get offered parts that are available off the shelf, but also products that can be designed and made specifically for you. This ability enables Owens to produce bespoke improved specialist parts for all their applications and enables a whole new world of possibilities and specifications to be developed for the benefit of our customers.
Complete race car builds are common place in Owens fabrication workshops, roll cage installation and chassis component fabrication is an everyday task, using our two tig welding plants along with aluminium and stainless steel welding.
In an industry where generally speaking, you are as fast as you can afford to be, Owens will always give you excellent value for money. We know that you certainly get what you pay for with most high quality motorsport products, but there is always room to use a bit of ingenuity, knowledge, past experience and utilising the best equipment available, can certainly make a huge difference to the overall outcome and overall cost.
The budget end of the ECU market for example, will have a unit that will run an engine perfectly well on a very basic level, however you will be limited to the sensors that can be used with these units. Also the type of crankshaft trigger patterns are very limited, often requiring major engineering work to allow these systems to function. After multiple sessions on the dyno, you will generally always find that the budget systems will cost a very similar amount in the long run when comparing the cost of a professional system such as Life Racing and Motec .
Motec and Life Racing are recognised at the highest level in the motorsport world and Owen Developments are pleased to have been associated for a long time with both companies. The knowledge gained from every day use of these high quality products, is automatically passed down to your application, whether it be a restricted rally engine or a V8 twin turbo drag race vehicle - you can be assured of the highest level of technical ability in a fast moving industry which is advancing every day.
Many race cars and bikes start life off as a production vehicle and although it is sometimes possible to re-tune the standard ECU’s, it has been proven time and time again that the stand alone ECU route is always the best way to ensure maximum performance from your engine. All our chosen management systems utilise data logging - this is a highly valuable function and rarely if ever available in an OE system. Using this function, multiple vital engine control parameters can be monitored and viewed in the comfort of your pit garage or office/home, rather than trying to watch a computer screen whilst driving at high speed – not advisable in any instance. Anti-lag, traction control and pit lane speed limiting GPS compensation are just a few functions that a high end stand-alone ECU’s can offer that are not available or impossible to achieve effectively on an OE based system.
All race car projects require a close working relationship with the customer and we pride ourselves on our friendly, family atmosphere and our ability to work closely with our clients to achieve success in their chosen sport. Often our engineers can be found at the race track competing or supporting our troop of current and future champions as motorsport runs through our veins!
We are well aware that the products we use and the services we offer are not the cheapest in the industry but we do think we offer great value from the products and work we supply. The choices we make on what we are prepared to offer as a product or service and put our name against, have been tried, tested and proven. Our reputation is on the line here and it is something we value very highly. Over the years, we have seen so many companies come and go, all of whom profess to be market leaders at the time, but we have outlived them and our worldwide customer base is strong and consistent and growing all the time. We have earned “trust” and that is priceless!
For any help or to discuss your project, please contact Mark at our Performance Centre or for turbocharger enquiries, contact our technical team. Tel: ++44 (0)1865 821062.
