On New Year's Day, I (like approximately 40 others) took advantage of a special guest visit in Bloomington, Illinois...

 Zach Hamilton of Hamilton Cams was in the area and partnered with High Tech Turbo to put on a product seminar in local sled puller, Matt Jones' brand new, heated shop. Hamilton (pictured above) went over most of the company's product line. Key points included its camshafts, valvesprings, pushrods, and its new performance 12-valve head. In addition, a line of high-compression pistons were talked about as well, which in conjunction with its high flowing head, would allow competitors to run even larger turbos yet stay on top of them easier.

 High Tech Turbo's presentation was interesting as well. It even made the room stir a bit when a billet-machined vs. cast compressor wheel test circulated throughout the crowd. At least in the case of Garrett's GT55 testing, the billet wheel performed no better than the factory cast unit. In addition, a one-on-one conversation with Jonas Mitchell, General Manager at HTT, gave us a much better understanding of how to read compressor maps, and how to better size turbochargers for different applications. Mitchell also went over the benefits of its stainless steel turbine housings.

 All of this happened thanks to a forum post on Competitiondiesel.com (by Hamilton Cams). These kinds of things are very beneficial, to both the companies involved and the enthusiast, as they get to meet face-to-face, learn a thing or two, and even decide which way to go with their current project, or their next one. Last but not least, a hat drawing led to a camshaft, set of valvesprings, $350 gift certificate, and a couple valvespring compressor tools leaving as gifts to lucky winners.