At the end of the day, it will be more than competitive, even without the new developments we've been working on. Yes, it's a lot of work and a lot of money, but it's what we have to do.
At least we still have a venue with the NDRA to showcase the new car. It could have been worse; we could have spent the time, money and resources for absolutely nothing.
Hopefully, the rules will remain unchanged for a couple of years. This will give all of the racers a chance to develop the equipment and add some stability to the class structures. I understand our sport is new and still evolving, and changes are made with the best intentions, but without a stable rule book, it's impossible for us to develop and make practical improvements to the racecars.
Banning BobWe're re-running last month's Banning Bob segment with the photo that was supposed to go with it. Enjoy.
My altered Ferrari 308 BB was probably one of the wildest racecars I ever constructed. With a chrome-moly Pro-stock-style chassis, powered by a blown, flat-twelve Testarossa engine, it was slightly off-the-wall for the powers that be.
It wasn't the car I chose, as unusual as it was, or the fact that I was running a twelve cylinder, 5-liter engine against the domestic V8 crowd.
What really did the trick was my choice of supercharger.Back in 1991, the only practical off-the-shelf solution was a Roots-type blower. I was convinced there had to be a more efficient way of generating boost for my 12,000-rpm Ferrari engine.
After spending a lot of time looking at my options, I decided to create my own answer based on a massive 118mm Holsett turbocharger that would be mechanically driven rather than driven by the spent exhaust gases.
I fabricated a gear drive system that spun the turbine up to 85,000 rpm and the end result was probably a forerunner to today's popular centrifugal supercharger systems. The system generated around 50 to 60 pounds of boost and was a perfect match for the high-revving boxer engine.
When I turned up with the car at the races and ran a 7.02 E.T. on a 7.50 record, the NHRA decided to outlaw anything but Roots-type blowers and it also decided it didn't like my air-water intercooler system.
The new rule changes made the project a dead duck and the car still gathers dust in my storage unit today.
- FWD with 16x32-inch tires. More tire =more traction=better E.T.s
- Center-drive driving position. For safety reasons we built the car as a center drive. It provides better visibility for the driver and better protection in the event of an impact.
- Three-liter, four-cylinder 3RZ Toyota engine. More cubes = more power.