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SpeedTech Motorsports breaks EVO Record

  • Written by Ben Silcock @ STM
  • Published in Auto News

SpeedTech MotorsportsFeb 22nd 2010
SpeedTech Motorsports (STM) Project DS9 Claims fastest Evo (IV-IX) World Record – 8.420 @ 167.6 MPH!

After being let down by a damp track at the '4 & Rotary Nationals' last month, Dave Stock (owner and driver) and the STM crew were eager to get the car back to Masterton Motorplex for the Central Nationals this weekend. The weather gods were kind to us, with hot temperatures and not a cloud to be seen.


After setting up our pit, Dave went out for his first run of the day. An alternator charging issue cut the run short when the low-voltage warning caused Dave to abort the pass around the 1000' mark. The STM crew fixed the issue easily and Dave got back out for the second qualifying pass.

The first pass had shown that there was plenty of traction available on the well prepped track, and some small changes were made to try and push closer to AMS's world record. The time slip validated these changes with an impressive 8.420 @ 167.6mph, beating the long-standing AMS record by a slim two thousandths of a second. This time came with a 1.26 60' time which surprised us all!! Coincidentally Dave had also just reset the NZDRA Sport Mod ET and MPH records.

After running across the weighbridge to satisfy the NZDRA officials, we still now had to backup the record to within 1%. For those interested, the car tips the scales at 1118 kg (2460 lb) with fuel and driver, so it is definitely no lightweight! After the usual between-round maintenance, Dave lined up for his third qualifying pass.

The last pass of the day was a little bit loose off the line with a slower 1.34 60' time, however Dave still ran through with a 8.46 @ 167 mph to back up his NZDRA records and qualify 1st ahead of Matt Buttimore's RX4 (8.63 @ 161 mph).

STM-David Stock EVO 9Dave and the STM crew took the opportunity to relax and celebrate his new world record on Saturday night over a meal and a few well earned drinks with the team - not too many drinks though as there was still work to do on Sunday, and another early start!

Sunday's weather was a repeat of the previous day, and we were eager to try and nudge the record a bit lower. Sadly the first practice pass showed the track was nowhere near as good as it was on Saturday, and Dave had a big pedal as the car moved around in second gear. The timeslip showed an 8.52 @ 167 mph which was as fast as Dave would go on the day. The remaining two passes included an 8.61 and then a very loose 9.03 in the final where Dave managed a holeshot victory over Matt's quicker 9.02.

While the whole team would have loved to go into the 8.3X region, the track just wasn't there. Dave made the choice to run in Sport Mod which requires the car to run on a 24.5 x 8" slick, and this really limits how much power we can apply to the track, particularly in the lower gears. To get these Sport Mod cars to run the numbers, we really need everything in our favour and Sunday just wasn't going to be the day for us.

Keeping things in perspective, the results so far have been simply stunning with Dave breaking AMS's record after around 18 passes in its new guise. The STM team have been gradually creeping up on the times with small changes to boost and setup each run. The 8.420 saw a maximum of 40 psi boost in 4th gear,
with less boost in the lower gears, so there is plenty left in the combination. We are hoping to be able to run in the 8.2-8.3 range at 170+ mph once we lean on the engine a little. Getting these times is going to require a near perfect track however due to the limited footprint of the small slicks. We can only hope that we will get this chance when the Dave competes at the NZDRA Nationals at Meremere on the 19th-21st of March.

A big shout out to Craig from Spark Tech who has been great to deal with and has bent over backwards to help us out! And finally a big thank you to AMS for setting the bar so high in the first place. It wouldn't be much fun if there was nothing to aim for, and Dave had your record in his sights for quite some time. Hopefully this might inspire you guys to bring the car out and try to run quicker.

 

 

Related links :

SpeedTech Motorsports: http://speedtechnz.com/
Masterton Motorplex: http://mastertonmotorplex.co.nz/

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