King's TechLab - Excel and Exceed

TechLab is our starting point for exploring new technologies. It’s where our new products and features are designed, tested and validated.

Our TechLab R&D culture focuses on constant analysis of what can be done to support ever increasing race engine loads, and how to improve bearing durability.

One of those technologies is Elliptix™.

Race bearings often come with a larger oil hole. In most cases, the larger oil hole exceeds the boundaries of the oil groove and reduces the bearing’s effective surface area.

As a result, the bearing suffers from a significant loss of load capacity and hydrodynamic regime stability.

In response, King Racing’s TechLab developed ElliptiX™.

EliptiX™ is a newly designed oil slot/oil hole hybrid that improves oil ingress, without affecting the bearing’s surface. The innovative changes to the slot hole prevent a compromised load capacity.

Side flow (or side leakage) plays a positive role, since it allows removing the heat absorbed by the bearings.

The leakage is compensated by oil supplied from the oil pump. The total oil flow of all engine bearings determines the amount of pump capacity required for bearing lubrication.

For normal engine operation it is extremely important that the pump is capable of supplying an amount of oil at least equal to the total maximum side leakage of the bearings. If side leakage is close to or greater than pump capacity, the amount of oil becomes insufficient for generating a stable hydrodynamic film.

Consequently, bearing lubrication turns to mixed regime, characterized by metal-to-metal contact between the bearing and journal surfaces.

In the new design, the oil hole cross sectional area has been increased by the combination of a circular oil hole with a slot located in the oil groove. The slot length is greater than the diameter of the oil hole in the crankcase; the slot width is equal to the oil groove width.

Research Conclusions:

High performance bearings generate greater side leakage of lubricant due to higher rotation speeds and greater loads.

Limitation of oil flow entering through the oil hole of the upper main bearing may cause a formation of oil starvation conditions in main and connecting rod bearings.
A more reliable supply of oil tothe engine bearings may be achieved by an increase of the cross sectional area of the oil hole.
A new design of oil socket has been developed. The cross sectional area has been increased without sacrificing the effective area of the bearings.
Bearings with the conventional (round) oil hole and bearings with the new design oil hole have undergone live engine testing and comparison.
The result is a much lower wear rate achieved by the bearings with the new design (ElliptiX™) oil hole.

Click Here for the Application Guide Find Your Set - King Catalog
Elliptix ™ benefits:
  • Increases oil passage capacity
  • Produces higher oil supply reliability
  • No need for custom-made oil hole enlargement
Elliptix ™ On Youtube