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Ok, I just finally have to ask after last night.

I seem to have fairly bad luck running at SuperSpeedway tracks (ironically while at the same time running a full schedule in the SS series). I would venture to guess that at least one in every 3 or 4 SS races I run my engine blows. The thing that makes me wonder about this is that I'm very careful about how I set up the truck... I run long runs in and out of the draft during practice to make sure my tape is set just right so I don't overheat the engine, and I usually set up my ratios so that I'm running right about 9000 rpms in the draft. Last night it was peaking at about 9100 rpms in the lead draft.

What brings this up is that the last few times my engine's gone during a race, I had absolutely no warning. The water temp was fine, the tach was reading fine with no warning light, oil pressure was reading good, etc. Just running along hard and then bang... my engine's a paperweight.

So - could it be that maybe I'm running the engine rpms a little too high? I realize that in real life even running the engine below peak rpms so no warning light comes on for extended periods can cause engine trouble - but is this also reflected in the sim? Furthermore - if that is the case, what rpm should I be shooting for in the draft?

Most of my setups I get either from SetupSwap.Com or SetupGuru.Com... and are slightly modified to my personal preferences whereas steering ratios and such are concerned (for example, the only modifications I made to a setup last night was to eliminate all front toe-out and add 5% more tape to 65%. 70% would redline and overheat the engine... 65% ran perfectly in the draft for entire fuel runs).

Anyway... just looking for some advice from some of you guys with more / better setup experience.

It could be in the transmission. If your hard on gears on the start/restarts, and over rev the engine, that's a huge reason for the engine to pop.

RPM's seem to be lower than what we were running last night. We (team) were seeing 9200-9400 rpm's at times, or atleast I was. I don't believe that would cause an engine issue.

The truck physics are extremely sensitive when it comes to the engine. Just the slightest miscue at any point can be detrimental to the engine, so it is extremely important to protect the gears in all aspects of the race, including pitting, starts, restarts, and in the race itself. Lift when shifting, and don't rev the engine when sitting in the pit box.

In nearly 2 1/2 years of Sim Racing, I've only blown 1 engine with the truck physics, but that was of my own doing. I taped the truck off late in the race at Atlanta and it blew from overheating.

Also in that 2 1/2 years of racing, I've only blown 4 engines total, one being in the COT at Daytona last season here. That's actually the most recent one, now that I think of it.

I always try to set up the gearing at superspeedways so that it hangs around the RPM where max HP is made. I don't know how accurate the power bands are in N2003, but the trucks actually make peak HP at 8000 RPM. Once you get above that RPM, the HP starts going down.

I don't know how accurate either N2003 models engine wear, but that kind of sustained high RPM could break a valve or something in real life.

Hmm... well maybe that's it then. After reading both your posts it would seem I'm actually harder on the engine than I thought I was. I generally rev the engine in the pit box (just habit really)... however I always try to shift before the over-rev light blinks on the tach... although sometimes I don't lift the gas as much while shifting (if I had a clutch pedal on my pedal setup I could eliminate that problem anyway). I do however pretty much jam my foot on the gas when the green flag flies on restarts. Maybe I should roll onto the gas instead?

That's actually how I screwed myself at the RLMTV Winter Season closing race a few weeks ago... running 4th, making smooth laps, came in for fuel under green with a good fast stop and on the way out of the pits I flatfooted shifting into 4th and tore the tranny to pieces.

Ironically having said all that one would think I'd keep these kind of things in mind during a race... I've been saving up to get a pilot's license (have a few flight hours already logged), and one of the things they drill you is to make smooth easy throttle adjustments to the engine.

Running at 9,000 RPM in the draft is way too high. It's ideal around 8500 - 8700 RPM, I've found.

I'm running around the 7,500-8,000 RPM range in the draft.