Don’t worry, you are not in trouble for backtalking, the belt we are talking about is for your engine. Drive belts are not the most flashy items, but a good belt is worth more than you think in terms of performance. A broken or slipping belt can mean the difference between win and a loss on the strip and when it comes to timing belts, it can be the thing that keeps your engine together entirely. Dayco is one of the premier drive belt manufacturers for high-performance applications, but what makes them special?

Since the early 1970s, Dayco has been building OE belts, researching and developing better technologies and manufacturing processes to keep up with the higher demand placed on modern accessory and performance drives. Our focus today is on supercharger drive belts, of which Dayco makes a few versions, both ribbed and cogged.

What Is A Blower Drive Belt?

Dayco classifies its race-series drive belts as “Blower” and “Supercharger” classes. The difference being “Blower” belts are cogged like a timing belt, and “Supercharger” belts are ribbed, like a typical serpentine belt.

Dayco “Blower” belts come in 8mm and 11mm pitches, which is the center-to-center width of the cog tooth itself. The 11mm-pitch belts come in 84mm and 97mm width with 145 teeth. These are the top-dog belts, made with a special hybrid carbon cord encapsulated in a specialty rubber compound, combined with low-friction PTFE fabric over the cogs. The PTFE coating helps reduce belt wear. These are cogged belts, so there is no slippage to worry about from the PTFE. The 8mm-pitch belts were developed to handle the stresses of 4,000-horsepower Top Alcohol and Pro-Mod engines. They are available in 50mm, 75mm, and 84mm widths and four different lengths. The reduction in friction is one of the key points that sets Dayco belts apart from the others.

“One key reason we prefer the Dayco belt is its outstanding reliability,” says Amanda Hoover of Chris Duncan Race Cars. “In high overdrive screw blower applications, we get six to eight runs per belt, while in low overdrive screw blower and roots blower applications, we average over 30 runs. This far exceeds the performance of previous belts, ensuring less lost runs from belt breakage and less maintenance costs.”

In Dayco terminology, the ribbed serpentine-style belt on the left is a “Supercharger” belt, while the cogged belts are “Blower” belts.

Do I need a “Blower” or “Supercharger” Belt?

Which belt and drive system you need all depends on the boost level. Dayco recommends running a cogged belt (Blower) on any engine with boost levels of 15psi or higher. It’s at this point, a ribbed belt (Supercharger) will start to experience slip, it simply can’t hold up to the strain.

Supercharger belts come in six-, eight, and ten-rib widths for street car superchargers, such as ProCharger or Whipple. Each belt is manufactured with an aramid-fiber-reinforced EPDM rubber, along with super-stiff PET cords, which give the Dayco Supercharger belts the durability needed, even in extreme conditions. These belts do not use PTFE, which would cause slippage. Instead, the face of the belt has a much higher friction coefficient factor to ensure the belt doesn’t slip under higher boost levels. “We’ve also started using the Dayco belt on belt-driven ProCharger applications with the same great results” Hoover says, “This consistency across different setups highlights the belt’s versatility and reinforces our trust in its performance.”

While the idea of having a Top-Alcohol engine in our daily sounds awesome, we usually opt for something in the sub-1,000-horsepower range. Dayco Supercharger belts ensure that your ProCharger, Whipple, or Magnuson ribbed drive won’t slip when you need it most.

The PET cords are the key to a good Supercharger belt. The cords are what hold the diameter of the belt, as resisting stretch is paramount to a drive belt staying in place. A cheap belt will stretch, losing grip on the pulleys, then you have little to no boost when you need it. Dayco performed extensive testing with Watson Racing in the development of these race-series belts. Typical applications for the Supercharger belts include OEM sizing for late-model factory supercharged vehicles, including the ZR1 Corvette, ZL1 Camaro, and Dodge Demon/Hellcat/Redeye platforms.

Dayco uses cross-side stitching, which helps spread the load across a wider area of the belt. If there is a tear or small break, the stitching not only pulls the tension across the belt so it doesn’t break, but also provides a visual marker that the belt is nearing its failure point. Knowing when to change the belt is critical for competition. “The design of these belts is definitely better than what we have used previously,” says Chuck Watson of Watson Racing. “We noticed a huge difference under boost conditions because the belt was able to keep its grip and help us cross the finish line.”

Made in North America, Dayco Racing belts are quickly becoming the go-to belts for racers and main-street bruisers. Check them out at DaycoAftermarket.com for more information on belt sizing and get a grip on belt slip.

Because Dayco uses PTFE fabric over the cogs, there is very little friction between the belt and the pulley. Friction equals heat, and heat kills belts.