Astra Group A 

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 bodies 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 690cc.
  • 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!

Thank you SBD!

2.0L XE Group N
2.0L XE Group N

Email received Dec 2009 from Mirco Mariani, Publisport Racing, Italy who was supplied with a Group N Kit:

Hello Craig,
I was rolling yesterday…. The car is fantastic! I achieved 181 bhp @ 6000 rpm and 245 Nm @ 4500 rpm It’s a gain of 10 bhp!!!
Best regards
Updated YouTube link Dec 2010; http://www.youtube.com
Updated YouTube link July 2011; http://www.youtube.com

Astra Group A
Astra Group A