Tech: Gates Blue Racing Belts

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Tech: Gates Blue Racing Belts

Blue Revan

Revan Racing partners with Gates to offer a colorful, durable serpentine-belt option that’s heaven for GT500s

By Tob

Some time ago Van Collier from Revan Racing posted on SVTP to gauge interest in a performance-oriented belt offering. Gates Corporation had recently released a new line of belts that were aimed squarely at the performance market. These belts offered a much more robust design than previous designs. Better yet, they were produced in a unique blue hue.

This Gates Racing Blue belt is more than just a pretty face. It is built on a low-stretch polyester tensile cord, which is said to reduce vibration. Its polyester overcord and aramid-fiber undercord are designed to resist heat.
This Gates Racing Blue belt is more than just a pretty face. It is built on a low-stretch polyester tensile cord, which is said to reduce vibration. Its polyester overcord and aramid-fiber undercord are designed to resist heat.

“The blue belts are specifically designed for high rpm and high heat environments, a.k.a. the GT500 engine bay. It is also the strongest belt that Gates makes in a Micro V,” Van explained. “During my initial business-case analysis for these belts, Gates informed me that in order to make these belts for Revan Racing I had to order 108 belts of each size. That is a significant cash outlay on my behalf. So I had to strategically plan which belts made the most sense with all of the different supercharger and pulley combinations available on the market.”

Fortunately for GT500 fans, Revan Racing sorted out and ordered proper lengths to fit most blower and pulley combos.
Fortunately for GT500 fans, Revan Racing sorted out and ordered proper lengths to fit most blower and pulley combos.

The issue for GT500 owners interested in partaking in this endeavor was a myriad of potential lengths due to varying pulley sizes, vehicle year differences, etc. Van worked with SVTP members to dial in just the right belt lengths to serve the most popular blower and pulley combinations. His company offers the blower belts (PN Gates RB; $99.99) in 84-, 85.3-, 86.4-inch lengths. For those that want a matching set, Revan Racing also offers a blue, 86.8-inch accessory belt for 2007-2010 GT500s ($99.99).

“The thing that drove Revan Racing to offer these belts was the number of people racing these cars. Whether you have a street brawler or an all-out drag car this is the strongest belt ever offered to the GT500 community,” Van said. “All of these belts are also 100-percent made in the USA. Many of my customers and forum members voiced their desire for something other than black or green for their engine bays, and the blue belts are such a close match to Ford blue and the cam covers on our cars that I decided to jump in and go for it.”

He also wisely included the matching accessory belt to complement the supercharger drive belt. I was in the market for a spare set of black belts anyway, in case of an emergency, so when I saw Van mention these I was on board immediately.

My lightly modified 2009 GT500’s belts looked a bit mild mannered when I got started, but it was about receive some true-blue personality.
My lightly modified 2009 GT500’s belts looked a bit mild mannered when I got started, but it was about receive some true-blue personality.

Right after Van took his first delivery of belts I had the requisite part numbers sitting on my doorstep. In short order I installed them and they look great on my GT500. If you don’t have a GT500, however, don’t get too worked up about these new belts, because Van is sticking with his bread and butter for now.

“I might consider other belt offerings on other cars past and present in the future if the need and business case presents itself,” he added. “As a specialist in the GT500 market segment my focus is with that market for the time being.”

This was a satisfying install in terms of increased confidence in their durability over that of the original units. To top it off, the Gate Racing belts match baby’s Vista Blue paint quite well.
This was a satisfying install in terms of increased confidence in their durability over that of the original units. To top it off, the Gate Racing belts match baby’s Vista Blue paint quite well.

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