LoPresti Speed Merchants designs and manufactures
modifications to dramatically improve the performance of Pipers
(Cherokee, Comanche, Arrow, Seneca, Saratoga, Lance, Cherokee
Six and Seminole), Mooneys, Grummans, Cessnas. LoPresti Speed
Merchants has also provided technical services to Lockheed,
Martin, Lycoming Engine Company, Hartzell Propeller Company,
Fairchild Aircraft, Pilatus, American General Aircraft, and
Columbia Avionics, among others.
Roy LoPresti, founder
Roy LoPresti spent decades making airplanes. Now
LoPresti Speed Merchants makes airplanes fly faster. As much as
25 m.p.h. faster -- without using more horsepower. LoPresti
Speed Merchants' drag-reducing designs have earned awards and
accolades from pundits and pilots all over the world.
In 1991, after 40 years of lending his talents to
aviation giants such as Grumman, Mooney, Beech and Piper, the
legendary engineer formed LoPresti Speed Merchants, located in
Vero Beach, Florida. LoPresti Speed Merchants holds more than 40
Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) and Parts Manufacturing
Authorizations (PMAs) from the FAA, plus patents and copyrights.
Facility
LoPresti Aviation has 2 facilities on the
Sebastian airport. An experienced engineering staff
works in the state-of-the-art, computerized engineering and
design department.
LoPresti Speed Merchants uses the latest
in 3D software and plotting hardware for designing
modifications
The fruits of their efforts are the highly efficient engine
cowlings, wing tips, fairings, seals, and shapes designed to
reduce the drag caused by less-than-optimum aerodynamic shapes
on stock aircraft structures. The comprehensive cowl kits do a
lot more than cool the engines more efficiently -- they
significantly reduce the drag associated with cooling the
engine. Reducing cooling drag provides more speed, more range
and better fuel efficiency.
LoPresti designs induction systems that synchronize propeller
pressure pulses with engine intake strokes to provide improved
engine "Breathing," which produces more power. Fully adjustable
cowl flaps help fine tune the cooling air passageway geometry to
provide near optimum cruise and climb cooling. Hydraulically
sequenced nose gear doors ensure that the doors fit extra tight
to eliminate leakage drag.
LoPresti Speed Merchants manufactures mod parts from the ground
up, using carbon and fiberglass and hundreds of molds. Skilled
technicians turn the engineering drawings into the
three-dimensional molds used to create the finished parts.
A LoPresti fabrication technician makes
Zip Tips (wing tips).
A metalworking machine shop turns out the specialized hardware,
including special hinges, hydraulic cylinders, and complex steel
and aluminum structures used to integrate the modifications with
each aircraft.
LoPresti's engineering test pilots and performance flight test
engineers wring out the modification in rigorously controlled
flight tests, tweaking each mod for maximum performance.