Email received from the Mariani brothers in Italy, September 2011

We met SBD in 2009 when we decided to upgrade our Astra gr. N with the MBE ECU. After a little work of development we gained fantastic 10 horsepower and a very good torque. We were very satisfied of the technical competence and experience of the SBD staff in particular Craig Sampson that clarified every our doubt and helped us with the assembly of the parts.

We competed in several tarmac rally winning our class, climbing very high in the overall classification.

At the end of 2010 we decided to upgrade the car to gr. A

So SBD was our most important reference point.

With the precious help of Steve and Craig we were able to develop the car and now is really fast and powerful.

These are the most important modifications:

Taper throttle bodys with SBD fiberglass air box, 86 mm forged Omega pistons and SBD steel rods. Kent cams 278 & 269, race valves , bronze valve guides, titanium valve caps, double valve springs, solid cam followers, Kent vernier pulleys.
Coscast head with CNC port work skimmed to achieve a compression ratio of 12.3, ARP head stud kit, Cometic laminated head gasket.
Complete replacement of idler sleeves, changing of standard bearings with Mahle high quality bearings.
Light flywheel + heavy duty bolts, oil pump nylon relief + steel inner oil pump gear.
Complete SBD fuel injection & wiring harness with high flow small peco injectors 690 cc.
BTB exhaust manifold, 6 speed sequential gear box with powershift.

Thanks to this upgrade, we achieved more than 240 bhp and a very good torque

In the first rally we won the A class and 8th overall!

http://www.youtube.com

Thank you SBD!

Mariani brothers