While SimCraft doesn’t have much in the way of new offerings, it’s not because they haven’t been busy. The COVID pandemic has become more of an endemic virus situation, but the increased demand in the sim industry has not abated. We’ve all returned to the track, but many drivers realized just how valuable the sim was to their training or are getting into sim because they heard from someone else how valuable it is. SimCraft continues to benefit from these realizations and is simply working hard to push products out the door
It’s hard to tell from the angle of the photo, but that rack in the back is actually a new offering from SimCraft. An upgraded A/V system with a proper amplifier and Focal speakers lets you enjoy the sounds of your driving in earth-shattering volume and with “hear a pin drop” clarity. Keep saving those pennies, because the A/V rack upgrade is a nearly $8,000 option on top of that $129,000 simulator.
Since you probably soiled yourself hearing that SimCraft pricing, let’s take a moment to look at new cleanser offerings from Molecule. They continue to push into new arenas, and off-road/dirt racing is their latest foray. The Mud Repel product does as one might expect, and helps to keep mud and dirt from sticking to surfaces. Combine the use of Mud Repel with Molecule’s Wash+Shine and you have a complete exterior care package.
And, what’s probably more surprising than anything, Molecule has clear containers now!
Haltech debuted the Nexus R6 long ago to much fanfare. Now they have an R3 to expand the Nexus line. While the R6 was designed to run an entire X275 powertrain with one box, the R3 features less overall I/O and is more suitable to running 4, 6, or 8-cylinder applications that are less demanding. Don’t be fooled by “less demanding,” though, as Haltech’s Nexus R3 still offers PDM, drive-by-wire, WBO2, and other high-end features.
You may remember this as the Cypher Micro from last year’s show. In 2021, the Micro was still more or less a prototype. That prototype has been revised into the Cypher Pro that you see here. This final production unit is physically even smaller than the Micro you saw last year and features a full carbon fiber exterior case in addition to the carbon fiber mounting tray.
4 comments
Thank you.
What are the benefits of titanium exhaust bolts/studs?
Mostly thermal characteristics. Exhausts, especially turbo exhausts, can get very hot. This can result in metal fatigue and failure of fasteners. Titanium has a high melting point and low thermal expansion. Since it doesn’t expand, it tends to hold its torque. I can’t remember who told me the story, but the summary was that they kept having exhaust manifold issues and it turned out that the fasteners were lengthening and losing torque from the heat. Titanium wouldn’t do that.
I never knew what the benefit of Nitrogen in tires was, just that it was ‘the hot new thing for fuel mileage’ for awhile before being called as snake oil.
Reading now, I understand it’s benefit in very specific cases like top tier race teams searching for fractions on fractions of fractions of a second. Neat.
I am always learning something here.