The Timken Company has contributed to the recent success of several championship race teams around the country with its Wide Five Performance Racing Hub Kit. Designed specifically for wide five wheel hub designs and frequently used in late-model race cars, the kit is helping race teams reduce friction and gain horsepower on the track.
Driver Andy Loden won 12 races during the 2007 season, including the track championship at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. Loden uses the Timken kit on his late-model stock car. "You can definitely tell the difference just by spinning a wheel on the car," Loden said. "The Timken hub kit helps reduce friction, and the wheel spins easily. Once you're on the track, less friction contributes to faster lap times."
The Timken kit has performed reliably throughout the season, Loden said. "I've yet to have a single problem," he said. "We've run several races (using the kit) without repacking the bearing, and we've never had a bearing failure or any kind of pitting. As a driver with a relatively small budget, that pays huge dividends."
Driver Rip Michels, who won the 2007 super late-model championship at Irwindale Speedway in California, said use of the hub kit frees him from worrying about bearings while racing. "The Timken bearings and entire kit are just a non-issue. You just put them on and go," Michels said.
Barry Wright, owner of Barry Wright Race Cars in Cowpens, S.C., includes the Timken kit in the race cars he builds for drivers and team owners. "The Timken kit definitely has better performance than the alternatives in the marketplace," Wright said. "It produces less drag, or friction, and ultimately gives our drivers an edge."
"We estimate that upward of 10,000 vehicles - more than 40,000 wheel ends - are in use by weekend race teams in the United States alone. Most racing operations replace hub bearings annually," said J. Barry Harris, Timken marketing manager for the automotive aftermarket in North and South America. "By offering an economical bearing kit and leveraging our decades of experience in demanding motorsports applications, we are able to give racers at all levels a performance advantage."
Introduced in 2005, the Wide Five Performance Racing Hub Kit contains Timken tapered roller bearings, a high-performance labyrinth seal and a tube of performance racing grease. The bearing set features special profiles to improve performance and an enhanced surface finish to reduce friction. A minimal-torque labyrinth seal enhances horsepower and reduces heat generation. The Timken performance racing grease can operate at temperatures up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius) while protecting against wear, rust and corrosion. The grease is included as a convenience to busy owners and drivers.