November 22nd of 2014 was the 3rd running of the Snowy Mountains 1000m event – http://snowymountains1000.com.au/.
This event is to see who is the fastest (and has the highest top speed) from a standing start over a 1000m (1km) airport runway in an regional Australian town (Cooma, NSW – close to 1000m altitude). No race fuels, no nitrous, and only on street radial tyres.
This year the event was even better for my car, no ignition or major boost issues, I had a tune on e85 with some adjusted cam tuning, new tyres and the new turbo setup. More details on my build can be found HERE.
The track was still 100m of hotmix bitumen at the start line and a regional Australian runway – not a fully prepped drag stip by any means, but a good surface to race on. The wind speed was down this year but the temperature was getting into the 30 degree Celsius mark, causing a bit of heat soak and increased IAT’s.
Best run of the day was 21.628 @ 267kph (166mph) with my 1st run pretty much identical. I held the throttle after the line a little more and had the logs indicate close to 283kph (176mph). A lot more responsive setup compared to last year with close to 1.5 seconds quicker and a 25kph higher top speed. I was 20th overall in time and 12th overall in top speed (out of 104 cars). Not bad considering I’m a privateer with no on the day support from workshop/crews, sponsors, trailer or truck. I drove to and from the track with the A/C pumping!
Pretty happy with the results considering beating some high end cars such as Porsche GT3, R35 GTR, HSV 427 and heaps of other modified cars. Would really like to knock off the GT2 or 997 Turbo next time, or have one of them in the garage with the supra!
The only issue apart from some higher IAT’s (pulling 2 degrees timing on last run) was once again a broken fan shroud, this time I managed to break my clutch fan in the process, even with the stock hood there is obviously air getting in under the hood and under the car to cause this issue – also the larger PWR radiator doesn’t help with clearance, a new method may be required next year such as shroud modifications or even twin fan setups.
Some modifications before next year I’d like to improve is under body aero and cooling, create a new airbox for the turbo, ceramic coat the exhaust manifold and dump pipe, run a new boost solenoid to allow boost by gear and also launch control.
Willall Racing managed a 16.725 @ 321kph (200mph) in the R35 GTR to take the fastest and top speed awards, this is seriously quick, especially at close to 1000m altitude. Honourable mentions go to a crazy turbo Jeep SRT managing 17.860 @ 296 and also a top speed in one run of 300kph from a square box SUV! Nissan R34 GTR with 18.029 @ 300kph, a crazy Celica TA22 V8 turbo with 19.282 @ 256kph, Modified Corvette ZR1 with 20.149 @ 291kph and also the following Supras;
Privateer Yellow Supra – 19.077 – 312kph – Great job, always love seeing non workshop cars so well!
ITP race cars – 19.703 – 312kph
Gameon Motorsports – 19.976 306kph (Low boost and popped welsh plug + FMIC piping 3/4 track) – has sec 19 and 320kph+ in it I think!
Once again the 2JZ providing a strong platform, although the AWD grip and power of the GTR is very hard to match without some serious investment into the supra platform.
A great variety of cars were on display again from Aussie and American muscle such as HSV W427, Monaros, clubsports, Toranas, FPV, Falcons, GTS’s, Corvettes, European power houses such as the Porsche 911 GT2, 911 997, 911 GT3, some fast Volkswagens, Mercs and BMW’s, A little British such as an Ultima GTR, Jaguar XJR, clubman’s and of course a great range of Japanese cars such as the Supra, Nissan GTR (32-35), Lexus ISF, Mazda RX3 and RX7, EVO and WRX.
A huge thanks goes to my tuner (ESP Racing), the organisers, sponsors and competitors as it was a great day out with some amazing cars and drivers. Looking forward to trying to crack 275+ next year and hopefully cracking into the mid to low 20’s unless someone can sponsor a 3.4lt build with some boost! The only concern I have for next year is getting beaten by my wife in her new MY14 R35 GTR – this must not happen, there may be more boost increases required 🙂
Some pictures and videos below.
Both of my runs;
Private Yellow Supra launch;
