East Coast Assassin

Think "Porsche 911" and images of smooth slippery body lines, boosted boxer six power, agility, grace and a deep road race heritage spring to the forefront. Such tender and heartfelt aspirations mean little to veteran racer Eddie Bello. Eddie replaces the accepted wine and cheese with Beethoven image with beer, cheesebugers and full-tilt rock 'n roll. Screaming down the Autobahn is replaced with blasting down the strip, a finely tuned canyon carving suspension is now a wheel-standing straight-line attack, the beauty is the beast...you get the idea. Q

Like many of today's import racers, Eddie can trace his racing roots back to the streets; Eddie's passion has evolvedfrom the dark-lit side streets in Brooklyn NYC into his profession. But how did this East Coast assassin select the Porsche 911 as his weapon of choice? Eddie has been through a number of typical street-strip cars, including a rotary RX-7 and twin-turbo Z-car, the latter laying the foundation for his future in import drag racing. Although the Z-car was running well at events through 1994, Eddie needed a "new heights" kind of car, something exotic, never seen before in the import racing fold.

In 1995, he purchased a 1993 Porsche 911 Carerra 2. The 911 flexed an all-natural flat-six, rear-drive and aspen white paint. As is typical with many West Coast Honda racers of the day, he immediate swapped to a turbocharged powerplant. But this was no VTEC GSR engine; we're talkin' about Porsche's ultimate weapon, the twin-turbo, air-cooled boxer-six. A shakedown trip to the strip netted an 11.9-let the tweaking begin! The Porsche made a name for itself and its performance evolution can be gleaned from the accompanying chart. It was running brutally quick on street tires which caught the eye of Toyo Tires' in-house racing guru Jim Stobie. Seeing a prime marketing opportunity, Toyo stepped up when Eddie was running 10s at the strip and driving home after the race. The company sponsored him to roll on Toyo rubber exclusively. The car currently runs 16-inch Toyo RA-1s out back and 17-inch T1-Ss up front. At this time Eddie was in the 10s and the success of his assault on the 9s was the result of Toyo rubber. The car became known for its second gear, bumper dragin' wheelies and Eddie was met with a standing audience every time he staged the car.

The technology behind the e.t.s is impressive. The 1994 Porsche Turbo engine displaces 3.6 liters and shares component designs such as the crankshaft, rods and crankcase with its naturally aspirated brethren. Turbo specific pistons, cams and K-Jetronic fuel injection control team with two KKK turbos to produce 355 hp at 10 psi at the flywheel. Eddie's engine retains its 100mm bore but the stroke has gone from 76.4mm to 78mm and the compression has been dropped from 7.5:1 to 6.5:1. The engine's low compression pistons swing on custom Formula Monza titanium rods.

The evolution of the engine build-up program has spawned Bellotech, Eddie's performance shop that uses the lessons learned on the 1320 to tune street and race cars for NYC enthusiasts. Eddie put a good deal of time and effort into the cylinder heads knowing that the better they flowed, the better the engine would boost. The heads were port-matched, polished and opened up around the bowls, then fitted with 52 mm intake valves, 45 mm exhaust valves, titanium retainers and heavy-duty springs. Valvetrain events are under the direction of Elgin cams with .510 inches of duration on the intake side and .470 inches of lift on the exhaust side.

Pressurizing the meticulously prepped heads is a Bellotech turbo system. The system starts out with custom-fabricated exhaust manifolds with 1.75-inch primaries that each position one FasTrax T54 turbo. Three-inch intercooler pipe leads to air-to-liquid intercoolers featuring Spearco cores, then on to twin intake manifolds that Bellotech created in sheetmetal and then through custom 65 mm throttle bodies and into the combustion area. Boost is regulated by a Tial wastegate and Apex AVC-R boost controller.

Fueling the fire is a high-tech multi-stage injection set-up with 12 injectors falling under the control of a Haltech E6A computer. The Haltech name is certainly becoming popular as the E6-series box was the preferred choice on last month's cover car, along with many of the top Diamond Star racers we featured in that issue. Eddie uses his E6 to control 12 50-lb/hr injectors mounted on custom Bellotech rails. Four fuel pumps and two regulators use -8 lines to supply the go juice. Lighting the fire are three direct-fire MSD 7AL-2 boxes, an MSD coil, Vitek plug wires and NGK plugs.

On the Rampage Motorsports dyno in Queens, the pride of Stuttgart spun the rollers to the tune of 960 hp and 782 lbs-ft of torque. The dyno pulls were made with boost set at an eye-opening 30 psi. On the strip boost is regulated to a bit more conservative 20 psi. The Bellotech Porsche delivers power through a stock transmission with an RSR flywheel and Clutch Specialties clutch being the only upgrades.

Amazingly, the suspension section of our tech sheet reads stock on everything from the shocks and springs to the rear end. In the rear, 16x8-inch Forgeline aluminum is home to the grippy Toyo RA-1 tires of the 255/50 variety. At the nose, 17x8-inch Forgelines are joined by 225/45 T1-s Proxes street radials. Both sets of tires are DOT-approved and allow Eddie to run in-or to put it better-totally break-off all comers in the Street Class. With a terminal velocity of 160 mph, Eddie decided to upgrade to Wilwood discs all around; quite a move considering factory issues on the 911 are Brembos.

Under the body and chassis banner, the car runs a stock body save for a carbon-fiber hood. The fresh white paint was laid by Star Autobody in Mt. Vernon, New York while the graphics were made by Ruff Signs & Graphics. Inside, a 12-point chrome-moly roll cage constructed by Rosado Racing protects Eddie and adds rigidity to the frame-twisting German speedster. A Momo race-style bucket seat and RCI belts keep Eddie situated as the horizon moves up and down in his windshield en route to his multi-wheelie single-digit e.t.s.

The chassis was a stock proposition all the way into the 9s. But after its super-low, nine-second blast that changed. After a short hiatus, there were rumors of an underlying chassis set-up. Eddie designed a back-half chassis which was not used to reduce curb weight but allowed easier access to the engine. He discovered the car went from pulling wheelies in two gears to lifting the wheels in three gears. However, the 911 was soon at the threshold of the eights.

In the fall of 1999, Eddie hot-shoed the 911 to a jaw-dropping 9.178-second e.t. at 161.02 mph. The landmark pass was made during shakedown testing at Eddie's stomping grounds, Old Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. In November, the car made what many call its most exciting pass, a three-wheelie masterpiece that resulted in a single-digit e.t. But the effort, made at the IDRC International Finals at Pomona, was not enough to get the win light. Eddie lost to the eventual winner of the class, Stephan Papadakis and his Honda, but illustrated his driving skill and introduced So Cal fans to East Coast competitiveness.

Before the odometer on the Millenium had turned over, Eddie had sold the car to an enthusiast in Costa Rica. He kept the powertrain and is currently constructing a 1997 993 with carbon fiber doors and hood, but will forego any chassis mods; the '97 model has a fully independent rear suspension. According to Eddie this new 911 will be "a more elegant not as racy type of a car that resembles more of a street car." Ha! We've heard that one before.

Power Technik

Bio Box

Heroes"I haven't any really. I look to myself for inspiration and take my own accomplishments and build on them."

Zeroes"Trash-talking racers that go beyond the limit. I talk a little every now and then but I know where the line is. Some guys take it too far, beyond business and competition and produce a volatile situation. Heaven help you if you have a bad day then they really come down on you. Too often all the talking takes away from the true spirit of competition."

AccomplishmentsWorld's quickest Porsche 911; numerous victories in Street Class; keeping car straight while popping three wheelies in 9 seconds

PlansWith new car, go quicker and faster in 2000