Kaase goes off-shore with Miss Geico.

Have you ever read online discussions on off-shore power boat racing? For the young and the young at heart, it seems to offer an irresistible future, an intoxicating new world they wish to be part of.

For Kaase, the prospects of entering this new world came in 2015 when his engine shop was approached by the West Palm Beach-based Miss Geico power boat racing team. Though the team’s engines were fast they were not always reliable, so their crew chief, Gary Stray, then contesting his fifth season with Miss Geico in the premier class, flew to Kaase’s north Georgia location for discussions. His race boat team urgently needed an injection of top-flight talent. Read More.

Vintage class winner: EMC attracts 600,000 views

Jon Kaase has won this year’s Amsoil Engine Masters Challenge Vintage class with a 473ci 1958 MEL (Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln) engine. Exploring the classic turf in distinctive fashion, it was not the first time Kaase had arrived with an unorthodox relic endowed with bewildering technology.

Held annually in early October at the University of Northwestern Ohio, his entry produced 770hp with torque never less than 630lb-ft during the entire scored rpm range of 3,700-6,200rpm. The engine’s peak torque was recorded at 715lb-ft. Earning a check in the sum of $13,700, it was Kaase’s seventh victory at the prestigious affair, which coincided a few days before his sixty-fifth birthday.

This year’s Vintage rules specified factory cast iron cylinder heads and prohibited welding or the application of epoxy to the ports. Also, it was stipulated that the engine block must retain its original bore spacing and original block deck angle. A further constraint for Kaase was the fact that he had to return the MEL block to its owner, Royce Brechler, in a functioning condition. Read More.

 

Kaase and the C8 Corvette, Porsche 991 & GT-R

Primarily known for its supremacy in Pro Stock racing engines since the mid-nineteen-seventies, Kaase Racing Engines is one of the best engine shops born in the past forty years. Now, fertile ground for development of the new C8 Corvette, Porsche engines as well high-performance Nissan GT-R power units, the firm extends its presence into new markets through the mutual agreements offered to Cicio Performance.

 

Hemi vs. Wedge Shootout

Jon Kaase settles one of the most fiercely debated topics of all time with the ultimate dyno test.

Written by Stephen Kim on April 12, 2016.  Contributors: Victor Moore

P-51vsBossNine-webHemi versus wedge. Which makes more horsepower? It’s an age-old question that’s difficult to answer because real-world uses for both cylinder-head architectures make direct comparisons nearly impossible. Sure, Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars easily stomp their Pro Stock counterparts, but comparing a supercharged, nitromethane-burning Hemi to a naturally aspirated, gasoline-burning wedge is an idiotic exercise at best. Sounds like something a magazine would dream up, but don’t worry. We didn’t.

Even within the Pro Stock ranks, wedge-headed, 500ci NHRA engines share very little in common with the hemi-headed, 800-plus-cubic-inch IHRA monsters in terms of bore diameter, valve size, piston speed, and peak rpm. Such anecdotal comparisons simply present far too many variables to accurately assess the virtues and shortcomings of both styles of heads. That is, until now. To settle the debate once and for all, Jon Kaase (read more)