High Performance Engineering (HPE), a Modena-based engineering enterprise run by Enzo Ferrari's son Piero, is currently developing engine technology for NASCAR application.

Little actual concrete detail has emerged about either the scale or the ambitions of this exciting new project. However it is expected that at least one NASCAR team will use engines now being developed by HPE during the course of this coming year.

If this goes-ahead it would represent a major step, as European firms have found it extremely difficult to break into the tight-knit NASCAR scene, which is mostly located in a series of clusters around Charlotte, in North Carolina.

With NASCAR's engines at present being supplied by Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge, immediate speculation has to turn towards Chevrolet, which is owned by General Motors, themselves a Fiat Group shareholder, and through their Powertrain joint venture project with Fiat, now significantly embedded into the Italian engineering scene.

HPE, which is presently located in the very premises where Enzo Ferrari first set up his sportscar concern all those years ago, was founded by Piero in September 1998, with its first major, high-profile involvement coming through significant engineering input into the engines of the motorbikes raced by Ducati Corse.

Piero, born in 1945, has worked for his father's Ferrari concern pretty well all his life, and to this day remains the firm's only private shareholder, as well as holding a seat on the board. In recent years he was the prime mover in the Ferrari 333SP programme, a sports-prototype that went on to win several championships as well as taking outright victory at the legendary Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours.

The core activities of HPE today, which is actually 40 percent owned by Ducati, focuses mainly engineering design and engine development, as well as offering solutions in the area of 'Precision Methodologies'.
 

Their growing number of prestigious clients includes Ferrari Sport Management, Ferrari Industrial Management, Lombardini Motor, Piaggio Industries Air, Maserati, and I-TEA. Closely involved with HPE, which also presents solutions to "dynamics, flexibility and creating a powerful structure in the planning in field" is Ennio Askaris, who is widely known for  his contribution to the Ferrari F50 project.

The last name on the list, I-TEA, is undoubtedly worthy of mention here, especially as HPE gained more prominence last year due to their close involvement with the new 'Terra Modena SX2' motorbike, which was publicly launched last March.

The 450cc bike was jointly developed by HPE, and a new company called I-TEA, (Iniziative Tecnologiche Applicate). Dario Calzavara, who worked alongside Piero Ferrari and Marco Piccinini at the heart of the Ferrari F1 team during the early 1980s, founded I-TEA in February 2003, to help with several new business start-ups, one of which is budding motorbike manufacturer, 'Terra Modena'.

Last year Terra Modena built around 35 of the new SX2 model bikes, race versions of which took to the racetrack immediately, and with success, across the world. This year up to 150 of the machines are expected to be built and sold as the company shifts production upwards to a 1,000 per year target in 2007.

HPE sum up their mission as follows: "The continual major importance attributed from HPE to the customer satisfaction generates a constant push towards investments in human resources and in instruments of calculation and simulation, to the aim of being able to offer a service, to an optimum level, that is professional, ever more and more qualified, all without but losing sight of the fundamental characteristics: dynamism - flexibility - passion."

For HPE to break into NASCAR circles, and prosper within the confines of their tightly controlled engine regulations, would be a significant achievement, and could turn out to be lucrative source of new earnings.

The huge popularity among Americans for this highly exciting branch of motor racing, which draws comfortably larger crowds than either the open wheel Champ Car or Indycar series' can manage, could pave the way for the leading Italian sportscar maker's to become involved in this exciting arena, as they continue to seek ways to open up their share of this key market.

by Edd Ellison