THREE titles in three attempts ain’t no fluke. Quentin Feast didn’t
compete in Drag Challenge 2016, but he came back with a
vengeance this year, with a new turbo and gearbox combo.
The GMPWR Torana took the lead after Day Two and was never
headed. On Day Three it ran the event’s only seven-second pass,
with a 7.99@174mph. This also nabbed him a Drag Challenge
red hat for joining the DC Seven Second Club; the only person to
do so in 2017. Back in Adelaide for the final day, Quentin’s 8.00
bested nearest rival Mark Drew’s 8.20 and he clinched his most
emphatic Drag Challenge victory yet.
“We ran up to 24psi and that wasn’t until the second half of
the track,” said Quentin. “At 21psi it made 1300hp and pulled the
dyno out of the ground. The new turbos are good for 2000hp.
We’re on top of our datalogging so we know where everything
is in its efficiency range, and it makes wicked low-down torque.”
While Quentin didn’t face many issues during the week, his
lead-up could best be described as chaotic. While the basic
404ci LQ9-based short motor is largely the same, just refreshed,
the Torry now wears LS3 heads ported by Nathan Higgins and
a pair of slightly larger 67mm turbos plumbed by pipework that
Quentin did at home. The LH has also moved to a TH400 three-
speed auto built by Paul Rogers Performance Transmissions.
“We pretty much rebuilt the car in eight weeks before Drag
Challenge, including doing the engine, putting in a new gearbox,
changing the turbos, and all new pipework,” explained Quentin.“The first and only testing at Calder it went 7.75@178mph in full
street trim on pump United E85. I got home, pulled the oil filter
and it was full of metal from the thrust bearing. I had to strip it
and Lou Ludica from Dandy Engines did the Torrington bearing
in two days the week before Drag Challenge!
“We had a couple of minor problems on the road. Firstly, leaving
Adelaide, the back door of the trailer opened as we were going
down the freeway. We had lost [tuner] Mark McCoy’s bag, and a
spare transmission worth $12,000 was about to fall out. Plus it
was so hot I melted my thong on the rollcage.”
Apart from the obligatory track prep, the crew didn’t lay a
spanner on the car from Monday to Friday.
“I checked the oil every day, but that’s it,” said Quentin. “We’ve
been doing this a few years now so we tried to be well-prepared.
We did the first two days full-time on E85 as it has a great
cooling effect, but the rest of the trip we ran 91 RON pump
juice. We were getting 20 litres per 100km from it, which is
not bad considering the weight with a loaded trailer and no
overdriven gear.”
And what’s next for Australia’s Quickest Street Car? Going
quicker, of course!
“When we did the 7.75 at Calder it pulled a 1.22 over the
60-foot,” Quentin said. “If we can get it 60-footing in the 1.1 and
push close to 30psi into it, I think we should go 7.40s at high
180mph.”AUSTRALIA’S QUICKEST STREET CAR BELONGS TO QUENTIN FEAST AGAIN
THREE titles in three attempts ain’t no fluke. Quentin Feast didn’t
compete in Drag Challenge 2016, but he came back with a
vengeance this year, with a new turbo and gearbox combo.
The GMPWR Torana took the lead after Day Two and was never
headed. On Day Three it ran the event’s only seven-second pass,
with a 7.99@174mph. This also nabbed him a Drag Challenge
red hat for joining the DC Seven Second Club; the only person to
do so in 2017. Back in Adelaide for the final day, Quentin’s 8.00
bested nearest rival Mark Drew’s 8.20 and he clinchedhis most
emphatic Drag Challenge victory yet.
“We ran up to 24psi and that wasn’t until the second half of
the track,” said Quentin. “At 21psi it made 1300hp andpulled the
dyno out of the ground. The new turbos are good for 2000hp.
We’re on top of our datalogging so we know where everything
is in its efficiency range, and it makes wicked low-down torque.”
While Quentin didn’t face many issues during the week, his
lead-up could best be described as chaotic. While the basic
404ci LQ9-based short motor is largely the same, just refreshed,
the Torry now wears LS3 heads ported by Nathan Higgins and
a pair of slightly larger 67mm turbos plumbed by pipework that
Quentin did at home. The LH has also moved to a TH400 three-
speed auto built by Paul Rogers Performance Transmissions.
“We pretty much rebuilt the car in eight weeks before Drag
Challenge, including doing the engine, putting in a new gearbox,
changing the turbos, and all new pipework,” explained Quentin.“The first and only testing at Calder it went 7.75@178mph in full
street trim on pump United E85. I got home, pulled the oil filter
and it was full of metal from the thrust bearing. I had to strip it
and Lou Ludica from Dandy Engines did the Torrington bearing
in two days the week before Drag Challenge!
“We had a couple of minor problems on the road. Firstly, leaving
Adelaide, the back door of the trailer opened as we were going
down the freeway. We had lost [tuner]]Mark McCoy’s bag, anda
spare transmission worth $12,000 was about to fall out. Plus it
was so hot I melted my thong on the rollcage.”
Apart from the obligatory track prep, the crew didn’t lay a
spanner on the car from Monday to Friday.
“I checked the oil every day, but that’s it,” said Quentin. “We’ve
been doing this a few years now so we tried to be well-prepared.
We did the first two days full-time on E85 as it has a great
cooling effect, but the rest of the trip we ran 91 RON pump
juice. We were getting 20 litres per 100km from it, which is
not bad considering the weight with a loaded trailer and no
overdriven gear.”
And what’s next for Australia’s Quickest Street Car? Going
quicker, of course!
“When we did the 7.75 at Calder it pulled a 1.22 over the
60-foot,” Quentin said. “If we can get it 60-footing in the 1.1 and
push close to 30psi into it, I think we shouldgo 7.40s at high
1 80mph.”AUAUAUAUAUAUAUA STSSS RALIA’S QUICKEST STREET CAR BELONGS TO QUENTIN FEAST AGAIN