“After a lengthy off-season rebuild, Hans Ruiterman is back in the Prowear NZ Superlap Series game””

You’ve probably seen it on social media, but if you haven’t, Hans Ruiterman has been extremely busy during the Prowear NZ Superlap series offseason. After having an incredible 2016/2017 season, Hans decided to strip down the SR20 engine to give it a freshen up before the new season. This snowballed though and ended up with Hans pioneering a one of a kind engine setup, utilising Neo VVL technology and variable cam-timing in the form of Nissan’s VCT.

With months of development, research, and finally execution, Hans ran the engine up on the dyno for the final time the morning of the second Superlap round. Boost now comes on much sooner, throttle response has significantly improved, and hopefully, overall power too — once the engine is run in.

With Saturday a write-off, Hans decided to use the spare time to get the car ready for Sunday. A new wheel alignment and a check over were completed, and race tyres fitted for the worsening morning conditions. “The wet first session was a heap of fun and the car felt great, so no changes were made for the next session,” Hans told us.

“The second session was threatening rain, but it was mostly dry with wet patches. The car ran perfectly and times were getting better and looking promising for the afternoon’s racing,” Hans explained.

With the event running well behind schedule, the third session of the day was to be Hans’ last. With practice tyres on, Hans ran an impressive 0.2-seconds (1:32.7 — close to 1:32.5) off his personal best at this circuit — the newfound boost response most certainly making the car faster.

“To come this close to our PB on practice tyres is a positive sign the extra boost response of the new engine package has made the car faster and it sure has made the car more fun to drive! We’re excited to see how it goes at the next event.”

When Hans releases the final power figures with the wick turned up, we’ll let you know!