A 1989 red Mustang dragster, with flame detailing and an engine capable of 1,000 horsepower, serves as a “demo car” in the High Performance Lab at New England Institute of Technology, which offers an associate’s degree in Automotive Technology and High Performance.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

WARWICK Derek Martel can show you how to the get the most out of an engine — along with his trusty sidekick, a $40,000 dynamometer housed in a soundproof booth in the High Performance Lab at the New England Institute of Technology.

The lab is the latest addition to NEIT’s automotive program, which opened its doors in October. Martel, who has been teaching at NEIT since he graduated in 1997, is the lab’s instructor.

In addition to the dynamometer, which measures a car’s horsepower and torque, students have a number of engines to work on, three of which are in full running order, and a number of high-performance cars.

A 1989 red Mustang dragster, with an orange-yellow flame hood, fat racing tires and parachute, and an engine tweaked to about 1,000 horsepower, serves as “a demo car.” Martel works on it for his friend and fellow faculty member Mike Chandler, who has raced it since 1996, mostly at the New England Dragway in Epping, N.H.

“It can do 168 mph on the quarter mile,” Martel said in a recent interview. “It’s a demo car. (It shows) what real horsepower is.”

Students taking Martel’s course learn how to modify engines through mechanical tweaking — working on camshafts and air-intake systems, for example — and computerized tuning of the fuel and ignition systems.

Another variable is weight distribution and center of gravity. “With a dragster, you want the weight at the rear of the car,” he said. “With NASCAR, the weight is distributed over certain areas of the car.”

The lecture room is very high-tech and stylish with blue and turquoise desks complemented by orange chairs and gunmetal gray partition frames. Overhead, industrial heating and cooling ducts are exposed. An overhead projector is linked to the lecturer’s desk.

A working stand of sequenced starting lights from a drag strip, known as a Christmas tree, stands at the rear of the room.

Currently, 15 students are taking the course, which involves 14 hours a week of lecture and hands-on lab work. Martel said since the lab opened, students can graduate with an associate’s degree in Automotive Technology and High Performance. He said enough students have already signed up for next semester for two classes of 15 students.

He said some students are taking the course with a possible career on the race tracks in mind, while others are simply interested in learning how to fine-tune an engine.

He said that while that involves finding out the effects of working on fuel management, combustion and exhaust systems, speed was not the only goal.

He cited one student who was recently working on a diesel engine in a Ford F-350 truck. “Diesel is all about torque,” he said. “It’s more than just going fast.”

A number of older engines line the back wall for students “to take apart, do precise measurements, make adjustments and reassemble.” Moving up the food chain, three working engine sit on live engine running stands – a 350 Chevy carbureted engine, a 350 Chevy fuel-injected engine and a 302 Ford fuel-injected engine.

Fully armed with fuel and readout dials, students learn how to fine-tune the working systems, he said.

Then there are the cars available for students to work on, including a 2003 turbocharged Dodge Neon SRT4, a 2002 Chevrolet S10 Extreme and a 2000 red Honda Civic Si. Martel said the school purchases the cars from Cumberland Collision, as it does not have a dealer’s license to buy cars wholesale or at auction.

Students use the dynamometer to initially test the cars’ performance before they make adjustments to the engines. The car is run in a simulated drive on the road and the horsepower and torque are measured.

That stage is called base-lining — making the initial measurements against which subsequent measurements are made following modifications. He said the machine “can measure up to 1500 hp at 200 mph.”The dynamometer sits inside its soundproof booth, its big traction wheel poking above the floor. Massive cleats bolted to the floor are used to prevent the cars from “getting way” if they pull off the wheel.

“Some of these cars put a lot of strain on the straps,” Martel said, adding that he uses four straps to keep the 1989 Mustang dragster under control.

Martel said he usually works with one student in the booth at any one time.

“It’s for safety,” he said, noting the danger of standing “next to the car spinning at 100 mph.”

Monitors at the front and rear provide a readout of the engine’s performance. An additional monitor sits on the wall outside the booth and adjacent to the lecture space provides a readout for students looking in through the thick glass windows.

“The soundproofing works well. Students can work in here without hearing the roar of the engine,” he said, referring to the adjacent shop and lecture area. “The Mustang is obnoxiously loud — your shirt would vibrate if you stood next to it. But it’s possible to have a conversation outside the booth (when it is running).”

Martel said he wrote most of the curriculum for the course in High Performance Vehicles. He graduated from NEIT in 1997 and has been associated with the institution ever since, first as an adjunct faculty member, then as an instructor in engine performance — Noise, Vibration and Harshness — before taking over the High Performance Lab last October. He still teaches a class in NVH.

He said work on the lab started last July, the main project being the installation of the dynamometer in its soundproof booth.

In the lobby, a shiny aluminum engine sits on a stand in front of a sign for Snap-On Racing in honor of the company that supplies all the students’ and shop tool boxes.

“It’s a display engine, the Wow Factor,” said Martel, noting that children on school trips always make a beeline for it.

For more information, check out:

http://www.neit.edu/

pelsworth@projo.com