In the Spring of 2009, during one of Arizona’s famously beautiful evenings, Charles was in the garage building a bunch of BHR Ignition Systems when he heard several cars approach his house.  Knowing that he had no warrants issued for his arrest (this time!) he wandered out to the driveway to see 4-5 guys approaching him with folding chairs, looking like they planned on staying for a while.  Since this group included other BHR team members, Charles figured it must be some sort of “intervention” and immediately recalled the sketch from “Chappelle’s Show” where Tyrone Biggums receives his own intervention.  The difference was that there was no toilet for Charles to flush himself down and escape the brow-beating this group was about to heap upon him.

Up until this point, Charles never saw the need to develop a BHR Midpipe because he felt the market was saturated with them already and the available products were sufficient to satisfy the market’s needs.  This was what the guys intended to enlighten him about.  The fact was, Charles had already been looking at various resonators available in the supply chain, and saw a couple interesting versions, but never felt the need to investigate further.

The gang began to regale Charles with all sorts of reasons why he should strongly consider having BHR develop and offer our own midpipe and the reasons were as varied as they were plentiful.  Charles listened and then responded with the same set of criteria that are used to evaluate whether BHR pursues any of our product development or not;

1) We must be able to build a unique version that is obviously different from anything yet offered.  2) We must be able to build a more durable version of whatever we are offering.  3) We must do it as inexpensive as possible while still making it a worthwhile effort for the team.

These are the main criterion that go into every original product offered by Black Halo Racing.

Once the discussion was over, Charles agreed to pursue the BHR Midpipe idea, which started with purchasing the Moroso 92055 Race Muffler as it has a very unique design which uses no internal packing.

He then removed the resonator from his catless Bonez midpipe (which included a typical straight-through resonator design that every other midpipe offered currently uses), which was purchased several years earlier and served his needs quite well, and installed the Moroso unit.  The results were exactly as he had hoped and expected; deeper tone, smoother and quiter sound, and great fitment underneath the car.  Todd’s interpretations while using the prototype BHR Midpipe were spot-on as far as the tone that was generated by the design that Moroso uses for their race muffler; the midpipe with this muffler had created a whole new sound from the Renesis engine and one that was universally pleasing and acceptably quiet at the same time.  Todd also loved driving through freeway tunnels and close to retaining walls while revving his Renesis to 9,000 RPMs and listening to the unfettered sound of this prototype midpipe. (We think you will, too.)

We also organized a Sunday afternoon where our prototype midpipe was to be tried on several RX-8s, with different cat-backs on each one, and different expectations from each owner.  Summary; everyone loved what they heard and each cat-back (even the OEM unit) had new life breathed into it.  See the video-documentation here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0ocVv5Vx_w

The guys at BHR then purchased several more Moroso 92055 mufflers and installed them on their own cars.  The same outcome was repeated and we all drove our cars around for a month or two before we were satisfied that they withstood the durability element.

So, we announced a new BHR Midpipe and sold 7 of them right away.

We built these 7 pipes and shipped them out to their happy recipients.  This is where things went sour……

Shortly after installing the BHR Midpipes on their cars, we started getting calls/e-mails from those first 7 customers that there was a strange “rattling”/”buzzing” sound emanating from inside the Moroso muffler.  In a couple cases, a guitar pick-sized piece of metal was ejected from the exhaust system.

We had those faulty midpipes shipped back to us and cut one of the mufflers open, lengthwise.  We discovered that the welding Moroso used to secure the internal baffling to the muffler case was inferior, as well as discovering the gauge of the baffling plates was insufficient to withstand the unique characteristics of a rotary engine’s exhaust output.

Charles contacted Moroso to discuss the situation and the fact that there was a hungry and excited market for our midpipes to be equipped with their muffler.  Moroso asked to have the faulty mufflers sent back to them for evaluation.  Moroso also expressed grave concern, initially, and promised to redesign the mufflers per BHR’s specifications/concerns and replace every bad muffler we had.  Moroso built two modified mufflers and they were utter failures, as well.  Shortly after this, Moroso stopped responding to Charles’s e-mails about Moroso’s promise to replace all 7 mufflers and the next chapter in “The Saga of the BHR Midpipe” will clearly indicate why Charles no longer cares about Moroso’s promises.

Along the way, one of the customers whom Charles endearingly referred to as “The Magnificent Seven” (because they had purchased those first 7 midpipes on nothing more than BHR’s reputation) discovered who it was that may have actually originated  and patented the design that Moroso was using for their muffler.  This moment was pivotal in the development of the BHR Midpipe because BHR were about to give up on the entire idea of developing their own midpipe.

Charles called the gentleman whose name was forwarded to him and the ensuing conversation turned the entire situation around.  BHR were back to full-on development of the Black Halo Racing Catless Midpipe!

The story that Charles heard regarding the design of the race muffler BHR is exclusively using in the BHR Midpipe was very typical of the performance aftermarket industry and it essentially involves a seemingly “large” company with a huge market presence blatantly violating patent law and copying the ideas of a smaller company with a much smaller presence.  This is a principle that does not sit well with the guys at Black Halo Racing.

Further, the gentleman to whom Charles was speaking (upon hearing that these mufflers would be used on a rotary engine application) addressed every single concern the guys at BHR had before Charles even had a chance to express what their concerns were.  At this point, Charles KNEW he was talking to the right guy and that the BHR Midpipe was going to redefine what people expected out of midpipes for rotary applications.

As such, if one were to compare the BHR Resonator/Muffler to the previously-mentioned Moroso unit one would see much better materials used (14 ga. instead of 16 ga. stainless steel), far better weld penetration, and longer weld beads on the deflector plates inside the resonator/muffler.

The result was a very quiet, pleasingly smooth, and intimidatingly deep tone with no more “rasp” from the Black Halo Racing Midpipe for the RX-8.  A somewhat unexpected, albeit beneficial, outcome was also that our midpipe allows each cat-back system with which it is used (even the OEM system) to retain it’s original tone and character, causing their owners to fully appreciate the sound of their chosen cat-back system (in many cases, for the first time since they installed their cat-back systems).

Since the Black Halo Racing Midpipe uses a resonator which has no internal packing, and our resonator builder has the highest quality standards we have seen, we at BHR expect these midpipes to also retain their original tone/character for the life of the car.

Todd produced a humorous on-line “commercial” for the Black Halo Racing Midpipe and it can be seen here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ageTxrHVNk

Plus, there is no additional cost for the color choice!  Simply select your desired color from our drop down menu and don’t forget to order a new set of spark plugs too as they are discounted when ordered with the kit.

All of us here at Black Halo Racing are proud, relieved and excited to announce that production of our Mazda RX-8 Midpipe has begun!  Black Halo Racing has received our first shipment of 50 custom resonators.

We have already began contacting our nearly 75 members of our pre-order list to inform them of this awesome

news.  If you are on the pre-order list and have not heard from us don’t despair!  We will be contacting you as soon as we are ready to fill your order.  Please keep in mind that if you do not respond to our communication within 48 hours that we will bump you to the back of the list.  While we are expecting to produce our midpipes quickly I’m sure those early in the list want to get their pipe as soon as possible.

For anyone not familiar with our product, design of a unique RX-8 midpipe began a little over a year ago when Black Halo Racing set out to defy mainstream thought regarding resonator use on the RENESIS rotary engine.  Experts in the industry claimed the Rotary Engine could not be quieted with a mere single resonator.

Our single resonator midpipe provides the sound quality that every RX8 owner loves from their RENESIS but without the harsh tones that are produced by every other midpipe on the market.  We do it without any traditional packing which is known to blow out of exhausts and cause degraded sound quality and sometimes performance.  We have matched that with attention to every detail from design to installation.  If you’re a fan of our Ignition Upgrade then you can expect the same kind of quality and attention to detail in this product.

If you are not already a member of our facebook page then be sure to sign up and become a fan!  Our fans received anotification of our resonator arrival and pictures only a couple of hours afterwards.  You’ll receive exclusive announcements about product offerings as well as frequent updates about what we’re up to!

We want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has supported Black Halo Racing through the design and production of this product.  There are dozens of midpipes on the market so we set out to design something unique both in application and quality.  We believe we have succeeded and that you will not be dissapointed.  Check back for glimpses of our first few midpipes as they roll out of production!

~The Black Halo Racing Team

So, point your browser here and join our fan page!  Be sure to post up on our wall.  Our fans will have access to photos, video, and direct messaging that won’t be available on forums.

If you have any suggestions or ideas for our fan page please drop us a note and tell us!

When installing the more popular aftermarket intake systems, one is left with an unsightly black plastic airbox undertray on the Mazda RX-8.  Black Halo Racing has responded to the desire for replacing the undertray with something far more attractive with our BHR Airbox Undertray.  This replacement tray  is the perfect piece for anyone looking for a custom engine bay setup.  Whether you’re looking for your RX8 to stand out with your hood up or simply want to improve the look of your engine bay, Black Halo Racing is here to help with two popular finishes as well as custom applications upon request.

Be sure to check out this and other awesome products produced by Black Halo Racing as well as additional pictures.

• The BHR Airbox Tray is available in satin black or polished finishes with custom colors available upon request.
• The tray is composed of high quality 5052 1/8″ aluminum and designed as a direct drop in replacement of your existing airbox tray.
• The tray replacement utilizes all the mounting hardware from the stock tray however replacement hardware is available upon request.

Does Black Halo Racing really need an excuse to go to Las Vegas? Absolutely not but when there are rotary cars involved it’s much more fun!  The annual “What Happens in Vegas” meet is back for another year and it’s expected to be bigger than ever.  What started as an RX8 event has now expanded with Sin City Rotaries!  We’re expecting to see some of the hottest rotary cars in the southwest at this event in June.

The event, which is scheduled to happen on June 18th and 19th, will feature two days of rotary meets including a meet and greet Friday evening with go-kart racing and a drive on Saturday.  Saturday evening be sure to join the Black Halo Racing crew and friends at Hoffbrahause for food, drinks and good laughs.  There are still a lot of details to iron out but this will be one of the hottest rotary events of the year and not one you’ll want to miss.

As always, stay tuned to the Black Halo Racing blogs for information and coverage of the event!

]]> http://blackhaloracing.com/?feed=rss2&p=533 2 http://blackhaloracing.com/?p=519&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bhr-attending-modified-tuner-shootout http://blackhaloracing.com/?p=519#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 06:16:10 +0000 Todd Waugh http://blackhaloracing.com/?p=519 Black Halo Racing will have 2 RX8′s participating in various events at the upcoming Modified Magazine Tuner Shootout hosted by AZ’s chapter of NASA at Firebird International Raceway.

While BHR will not be participating in the actual Tuner Shootout Competition (give us a few years will ya!) we will have RX8′s entered in various events from the High Performance Drivers Event (HPDE) as well as NASA Time Trial and the UMS Tuning Time Attack Competition.  Jeff Abrams will be driving his 2004 Turbocharged RX8 while Todd Waugh will be driving his 2005 N/A RX8.  Jeff’s seasoned experience with NASA has allowed him to move into their competitive Time Trial series and this will be Todd’s first event in both DE3 as well as Time Attack.

The event features all kinds of fun stuff from the Modified Shootout which incorporated Autocross, drag racing, a dyno competition and the big time attack race as well as other events such as drifting, time attack and all of NASA’s race groups and DE events.  Some big household names will be here for the Tuner Shootout including World Racing’s Scion, MODE’s Hyundai Genesis, UMS’s Evo 9 and Crawford Performance’s STI.  It’s by far the biggest track event of the year in Arizona and Black Halo Racing is excited to be part of it.

Be sure to check out our blogs for recaps as well as our facebook page for up to the minute photographs and video!  Additional event information can be found at NASA’s website.

This year we’re going BIGGER & BETTER than ever before.  We will have TWO full days of LIVE webcasts, dyno runs, Cobb AccessPORT tuning, and all the shenanigans you’ve come to expect from BHR at these events.  Black Halo Racing will be on site with AccessPORT tuning by MazdaManiac as well as various services as needed by those attending, including parts installations, demos and rotary compression testing.  There will also be some big surprises for everyone who attends!  If you’re in southern California this is an event you’ll not want to miss.

Saturday (3/27) will be a day of tuning and dyno runs for the turbo and supercharged cars.  Phil’s Pettit-supercharged RX8, which has been meticulously built and tuned by BHR, will be shooting for some huge numbers on a 4-port automatic.  Charles R.  Hill will be running his ported nitrous powered RX8 as well as a few of Socal’s finest rotary cars.

On Sunday (3/28), the dyno will be invaded by the majority of the NA group doing runs for power and many receiving AccessPORT tuning by MazdaManiac.

If you’re interested in Black Halo Racing products then you will not want to miss the event that everyone will be talking about!

SoCal Dyno Day 2009 Video

If you can’t make the event be sure to watch our news area and our live section for streams and further access information!

If your RX8 has been good this year be sure those special ladies in your life get great gifts.

So, have a Merry Christmas!