The question, said his colleague, Motul Technical Manager Nicolas Demaria, is how to make existing engines cleaner: "That's the big challenge for fuel suppliers, but also for us as a lubricant manufacturer."
Motul specializes in engineering and blending oils and lubricants, not drilling and refining them, which gives the company a leg up in research and reducing its overall carbon footprint. Like other brands, Motul is diversifying into the EV space but by no means abandoning ICE.
"We're looking into battery coolants and doing our part to develop more renewable materials in our oil because we can source from different partners," explained Browning. "We're also pivoting really hard in general for the distant future. We're looking at dielectric coolants for batteries, working with some racing teams that do hydrogen fuel, and even EVs within rallycross."
Demaria meanwhile emphasized that lubricants will also be a major factor in sustaining ICE powerplants. "The very first tool that the manufacturers have to diminish fuel consumption, to diminish pollutants and emissions, is through the lubricant [and] transitioning over to a low-friction lubricant based on first lower viscosity," he said. "And second, more advanced additive technologies will give them the best percentage of fuel consumption reduction per dollar invested."
The bottom line is racing and performance brands aren't viewing electrification as a death knell, but rather an opportunity to diversify, placing one foot in the growing EV market, and keeping the other firmly planted in new and emerging ICE technologies for virtually every engine component. With the right shift in mindset, equipment, products and investments, aftermarket shops, builders and retailers can do the same to future-proof their businesses for decades to come.
ICE technologies will certainly evolve, but they won't vanish. And if history teaches us anything, it's that while regulators often have brave new visions for the future, technology and markets seldom march in lock step. Instead, they have a way of charting their own, often unpredictable paths. And that has many of the specialty-equipment industry's biggest players envisioning a future ripe with possibilities.
Sidebar: Future-Proofing With the SEMA Garage
Amid rapidly advancing technologies and regulations, the SEMA Garage is a tremendous resource in helping association members future-proof their businesses. With locations in Diamond Bar, California and Detroit, the SEMA Garages give members access to special high tech-tools and equipment they need to get innovations off the drawing board and into customer hands.
Offering services like 3D scanning and printing, ADAS testing, vehicle measuring sessions, fully equipped bays, emissions testing and certification, as well as educational programs, the SEMA Garages are the only known facilities of their kind in the U.S. For more information visit semagarage.com.
Abby Andrews