• Drag racing’s Pro Stock class is arguably the most competitive, relying on naturally aspirated engines, a traditional 5-speed transmission, and driver skill to outrace your opponents.
• This KB Titan Racing x GESI Camaro-bodied machine is raced by Eric Latino, G Sport’s founder and CEO.
• Despite its ferocious power figures, this Pro Stock class car is also environmentally courteous, thanks to a pair of GESI’s green catalytic converters.
• G-Sport “performance without compromise” hi-flow cats buck the assumption that EPA-compliant products rob valuable horsepower.
• GESI’s commitment to creating green solutions helps ensure the racing and aftermarket industries continue for generations ahead.

“We can’t start the car up because it might shatter the windows.” That’s one way to let someone know that you’re standing in front of a seriously purpose-built machine. Indeed, that’s exactly what Global Emissions Systems Inc. (GESI’s) Pro Stock class drag car is—a wickedly fast, 1,500-horsepower straight-line missile that can handle the quarter-mile run in 6.5 seconds. That organ-rearranging sprint requires a driver with equal measures of bravery and skill and a generous helping of madness to go with it. That man is Eric Latino, who by day is the founder and CEO of GESI and, by night (not literally), is a record-breaking Pro Mod NHRA race driver. His two worlds came together serendipitously on this machine.

SKILL CHALLENGE

Before I go too far, it’s worth talking about this car’s competition class. Pro Stock is one of the most competitive classes in drag racing because it puts very strict bumpers on the things that make the biggest differences. Engines are limited to naturally aspirated 500 cubic inches (8.2 liters) and produce—as mirrors make no difference— around 1500 horsepower. All cars in this class are required to use a clutch and a 5-speed transmission. As a result, the real difference maker in Pro Stock comes down to the pilot in the box. Deep down, I imagine that this pressure is what every competitive racer wants. It’s what the spectators enjoy, too—there’s a thrill in the uncertainty—because there’s not one supremely dominant car, as much as there can never be one truly faultless human driver. Still, that doesn’t mean that the cars, as equal as they are, can’t be admired for their technical marvel.

MADE YOU LOOK

The car is a “Camaro SS” in guise and nothing else. Underneath its Chevy sheath is a fire-breathing, naturally aspirated rumbler that moves heaven and earth with good old-fashioned American muscle. We can’t be certain, but the transport driver’s claim that it would shatter our lobby windows on start-up isn’t something we wanted to challenge.

The motor is, irrefutably, the party piece. Everything around it—the Camaro shell, Jerry Haas roll cage, single-bucket seat, the massively disproportionate wheel and tire setup, and that Liberty 5-speed transmission—is there to make sure that the motor is free to do everything that it needs to do.

CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE

But there’s one part of the car that many fail to notice: a catalytic converter. It may sound like a strange addition to a racecar of this stature, but since 2001, Latino has been deeply committed to creating emissions control solutions for high-horsepower vehicles. What better way to test GESI’s product than on titanic powerhouses like this? Latino’s work would lead GESI down a path to design and manufacture a substrate-based catalyst that could stand up to motorsport demand while also reducing the leading environmental stressors—carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and hydrocarbons—by nearly 99%.

Today, G-Sport Emissions Systems, a division of GESi®, is the world’s leader in this green, high-performance arena. It works in tandem with various high-performance exhaust manufacturers to ensure their products meet or exceed today’s emissions regulations without compromising power. Fitting the Pro Stock car with a pair of catalysts was Latino’s way of proving his point: compliance doesn’t have to come at the expense of performance.

GREEN RACING

Indeed, the racing world has begun to pivot toward environmentally responsible competition over the last couple of decades. Formula 1 uses hybrid/E85 fuel, NASCAR went to EFI, and Formula E is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship strictly for electric cars. Latino’s work takes a decidedly more practical approach, something that we can all adopt as purveyors of the aftermarket. G-Sport cats make it possible to sustain our love for fuel injection-powered machinery and the feeling it can deliver at wide-open throttle.

G-Sport’s innovations have actually helped support stratospheric horsepower wars in the aftermarket space. “Typical catalytic converters include ceramic substrates that have a higher rate of cracking, degradation, or cause too much back pressure in vehicle exhausts,” Latino revealed. “Our GEN1 Advanced Catalytic Converters are designed with our proven S-Wound metallic substrate for added durability. The substrate is then lined with nickel strips and furnace-brazed to provide a solid bond throughout the core and to its mantle. This process, and our ‘Double-Lock’ transition cone application, ensure the core will not telescope or fail in high-performance environments.” Those terms are well above my understanding, but when Latino talks about it so passionately, you can tell that all of these advancements were the result of real-world testing. After all, he is a racer at heart.

YOUTH OF THE NATION

Stewarding the motorsport ship towards responsibility is admirable. It points to Latino’s awareness that the sport will only sustain if kids are interested amidst being educated about climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases, and the industries that are contributing to those areas’ decay. His continued work ensures that we, as the modern-day automotive enthusiast community, can have our cake and eat it, too. We’re grateful to GESI for helping preserve aftermarket car culture for us and the generations that will follow and allowing us to admire this car inside of Turn 14 Distribution’s lobby space. Race on, Eric. And thank you for making horsepower great again.

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