Speedtech EVO 9 DRAG: 8.63 @ 164MPH in NZ

Andre from Speedtech Motorsport in New Zealand sent me an email a week ago about a 1001whp EVO 9 they recently built and tuned. The car went 9.59 in the 1/4 mile last year in full weight street/drag trim, but recently their customer Dave decided to cut out the half ass bullshit and build a dedicated drag car. Then just last weekend, Andre sends me another email with more pics and news that Dave pulled a 8.63 @ 164mph! Dave and Speedtech aren't messing around.

Obvioiusly a car of this magnitude requires a lot of blood, sweat, and tears from the shop that builds the car. Well beyond what is actually paid for in my experience. But there's a certain kind of synergy (I like this word. I learned its meaning from Dennis @ Sierra Sierra) that comes from working with your passionate co-workers (or employees), vendors that are down for the cause, and people who help out in general when creating a car that kicks ass. Oh and let's not forget about working with a customer that respects your abilities (and financial requirements). It sounds like the Speedtech team and Dave are experiencing that synergy as they approach the AMS drag EVO record. Actually I don't know if it counts or not since it's not a CT9A chassis, but Andre's EVO III ran a 8.29 @ 179.5mph. It's still an EVO right? Also for you GT-R nerds, Speedtech is the shop that handles the tuning on the Heat Treatments R32 which is CRAZY BUFF.

So here are excerpts from Andre's email so I don't screw it up trying to rewrite it all:

Above is Andre's first email from Jan. 7, 2010. I was busy catching up with all kinds of stuff and suffering from a dumb ass head cold so I didn't get a chance to reply, but then 3 days later I get an email on the 10th that included a press release from Speedtech:

“Here is another update on our EVO 9 drag car project. We had it out again on the weekend and had an amazing meeting culminating in a new PB of 8.63 @ 164 mph. We are running it again at the end of the month and we hope to push a little closer to AMS's record.”

Here's the press release from Speedtech:

Fresh from his success at the Taupo Summer Drags, Dave and the STM team took Project DS9 to the Xmas Drag Wars at Masterton Motorplex this weekend. The weather was looking promising, and by 9am the high cloud was burning off to leave a perfect summers day. The track crew had the track at its best and a fresh coating of VHT had been applied.

Dave’s first run was a pretty exciting one, as the car well and truly overpowered the track, smoking the tyres right through first and second gear. Despite almost using both lanes, and pedalling the car hard for most of the pass, Dave rolled through to card a 10.35 @ 141 mph.

For the first qualifying pass, we dulled down the launch significantly to suit the track conditions. It got the job done as the next pass was what we all came for, an 8.73 @ 163 mph! The car looked rock solid and left the line hard with a 1.33 60’. We had built the car to run into the 8’s and Dave didn’t just nudge into the 8 second zone, he demolished it! While we now had cause for celebration, there was still work to be done.

For the second qualifying pass, we didn’t touch the car other than the usual between-round maintenance. Dave set about backing up his 8.73 with an 8.70 @ 163mph. The run was basically a mirror image of the last run, with another 1.33 60’. This had Dave  top qualify in the Sport Mod division.

For the first elimination round, Dave scored a bye run as Nick Reid had gearbox issue in his Mazda R100. We made some minor changes to try and get the car to the half track quicker, however we had made the decision that we didn’t want to increase the boost until we felt the combination was maxed out. The next pass blew us all away with an 8.63 @ 164 mph! The car was getting a little bit loose now as the track was loosing some of its bite, meaning Dave was pretty busy behind the wheel.

Analysing the data after this run, we can see that there is still more in it. The car ran a 1.34 60’ on the 8.63, however it has run a best of a 1.280 to the 60’. On its own, this would drop the ET into the 8.5X region. At this stage we have only seen around 32 psi boost in 3^rd and 4^th gear, so we are still a long way off the potential of the engine. It is pretty obvious though that with the small 24.5 x 8” slicks we need to run for the Sport Mod class, that we will need a pretty good track to put more power to the ground.

After analysing the video from the runs, we also need to revise the parachute mount. When Dave deployed the chute at the end of the pass, it was pulling the rear end of the car off the ground and causing the car to get very loose, and a few heart-pounding moments for Dave.

We turned up on Sunday with the hopes of nudging Dave’s PB a little lower, however it was not to be. On the first practice round Dave launched and the car turned right pretty hard. Dave aborted the pass and cruised to the end of the strip. After an inspection in the pits we found that Dave had flat-spotted both front tyres pretty badly when he locked up the wheels at the end of his 8.63 pass. As this was obviously a safety concern we made the decision to withdraw from the final, handing the win to Ben Moorcock in his RX3.

Needless to say, Dave and the STM team are stoked with the results so far, and we look forward to improving on them in the near future. Considering the car has only completed 6 passes since its rebuild and it is already within two tenths of AMS’s world record, the potential is obvious. Dave’s next outing will be at the 4 & Rotary Nationals in Auckland. The car will also be on display at the show. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Holy shit, what a ride right?!? I dig the rotary idling in the back ground too. Notice the “kind of air shifter” which the Speedtrends guys call a “ghost shifter” since it does look a bit eerie. More specs on the car from another email from Andre after I asked him for more details. I especially liked their shifter idea for Time Attack (read below):

While Andre summarized the car in several paragraphs, I can imagine how much time and effort it took to execute it all. The Speedtrends guys certainly deserve a pat on the back. Good job guys!

Look out for an update when the Speedtech EVO 9 goes even faster.