Holland's Saker Sniper Displayed at K&N Booth during Autosport 2012 Show
- 13 Feb 2012
At this year's event Holland's Saker Sportscars generated some buzz of their own by displaying their all new Sniper at the K&N booth. The Saker Sniper is a steel, space-framed track car with a GRP body shell. The Sniper sports a 2.0L Subaru engine with a TD05 turbo, producing 270 hp, and considering the car weighs less than 1700 pounds, that's an impressive weight-to-power ratio, allowing the Sniper to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.2secs. The Sniper in fact holds a lap record at the famed Zandvoort racing circuit in the Netherlands. Last year K&N's European Motorsports Sponsorship Coordinator, Marcel Blom visited the 2011 Professional Motorsport World Show Expo in Cologne, Germany to meet with Herbert Boender, Managing Director for Saker Sportscars. The two discussed fine-tuning the air filters on Saker cars, being that Boender didn't feel the original filter was maximizing Saker Sportscars full potential.
At the time Boender admits that he didn't believe making a change to K&N would create a difference, saying "Normally I don't believe in horsepower for free." That was before their subsequent next meeting in the south Netherlands, in Eindhoven, where they conducted dynamometer tests of various air filters on Saker cars. Tests that proved the K&N air filter clearly produced the best test results. The following week the Saker Sportscars team raced in Belgium sporting the K&N filter and Saker finished third in class. As a result, the close cooperation that developed between Saker and K&N during the course of 2011 has now grown into a full-on love affair going into 2012. All new Saker Sportscars are now sold with K&N filters as standard equipment, with the Saker Factory race team exclusively running K&N's High Flow air filters.
"Getting more power out of our engines wasn't even the goal," commented Boender. "However, durability of the engine and affordable maintenance and running costs of the car is one of the most important things for Saker. But having even better output of the engine means being able to give less turbo boost, which saves the turbo, lowers temperatures of basically everything, saves fuel and thus makes the car even more reliable, durable and affordable." The Saker Sniper with its distinguishing K&N paint scheme looked fast standing still, accomplishing what it set out to do at NEC, to draw European motorsports fans to the benefits of maximizing engine protection while minimizing air intake restriction. For 21 years the Autosport International Racing Car Show has successfully moved forward, helping to advance motorsport technology by displaying opportunities for a more efficient automotive future. After this year's extravaganza Show director, Ian France commented "Autosport International 2012 has been our most exhilarating event yet. Outstanding exhibits have been complemented by fantastic live action and insightful interviews from some of the biggest personalities in the sport. We now turn our attentions to making next year's show even more impressive." Motorsport fans should reserve January, 17-20, 2013 in their schedules for Autosport International 2013. Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
