Superstock cars running VH engines...

[Mettler]

I went to Huntly Speedway on saturday night for a good night of watching production cars, mini modifieds, super saloons, stock cars, and superstock cars having a good bash around.

What I was most impressed with is how many teams run japanese quad cam V8 engines ! No less than three of the superstocks were running VH engines (they'll all be 4.1 or smaller, I think some have been offset ground to 3.9). Some teams were also running 1UZs. I went and had a good look at the cars, here's what I found:

One unique superstock had what is called a 'tank' chassis. If memory serves me right, the regulations specify that superstocks need to be between 1400-1500kg... and there are various chassis designs out there. The TANK chassis is specifically designed to be highly armoured around the base & wheels, not so good for handling... GREAT for blocking and ramming which is what he was doing most of the night! This particular tank was running a VH41DE putting out around 550HP.

Part of the regulations are also that you cannot run fuel injection, and these guys radically change the setup of the motors to suit. This VH41DE was running a dry sump setup, 4 - 1 headers, massive highrise manifold... the runners of which followed a similar path to the inner runners on the spider manifold, and a big 4 barrel carby on the top.

No idea as to what internal work these motors have had, but suffice to say that they get around NZ$80k thrown at them, and are revved out to about 9500RPM.

Car #96H was also running a VH engine. This one had the VH45 rocker covers, but obviously would have also been destroked to meet the regulations. Again, a very nice setup, and the engine looked great with the gunmetal grey rocker covers & red coil valley covers!!

Believe me, you had to be there to appreciate the aggressive sound of the TANK ! It was delivering some massive hits, and in the last race he spent the whole time blocking the previous race leader & ended up putting him into the wall with a very heavy hit !! The VH sounds awesome bouncing off the rev limiter with no form of exhaust muffling whatsoever, and giant flames shooting out the back of the TANK !!!

Next time I go to the speedway, I'm gonna take a digital camera with me so we can all bask in the awesomeness that is the VH engine being used in a gritty motorsports application.

[maxnix]

Sounds like a lot more fun than NASCAR!

[elwesso]

Too bad they dont allow fuel injection... Im not a big fan of controlled fuel leaks.....

[Mettler]

lol Wes, they're highly tuned, expensive carburettors, and the motors run wickedly! It's just part of the sport I guess... it's all kinda organised and run by the oldschool guys, and I guess stuff like fuel injection has yet to catch on !

[ultrapulse]

Buggar all difference in flat-out power, cheaper and easier for bush mechanics. These cars run balls to the wall 90% of the race. Just think of it as 1 big injector.

[ultrapulse]

Looks like Daves "Cambridge Engine Services" VH powered stockcar won the Waikato Championship last weekend! He must have finally got a bit more aggressive rather than his normal nana driving (from what I have been told ). Lets see how he goes in the Nationals.This is the cars small vid which I uploaded a while back...

http://smg.photobucket.com/alb...8.flv

zerothread?id=190987

[Mettler]

Nice!

Man, I'm rushing to get my setup finished by the end of the month so I can get my car through the processes of making it road legal!

[ultrapulse]

Cool, U being so close we must catch up and check on each others VH progress!

[maxnix]

Too bad they dont allow fuel injection... Im not a big fan of controlled fuel leaks.....

So true! But if you are running WOT the whole time in the bush......

[Mettler]

lol it's not in the bush man :p It's on a big open dirt track out in the country, with big grandstand seating etc. Imagine a scaled down nascar, on dirt, and the 600-800HP cars are drifting the corners.