JPC drag racing in Abu Dhabi...quite an experience!!

[Jordan@JPC]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi
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Drag racing in Abu Dhabi? Seriously? Yep, you heard that right. Apparently our friends in the East are just as obsessed with ludicrous speed as we are. In fact, the richest city in the world has just built a state-of-the-art motorsports park where no expenses were spared, called Yas Marina Circuit. The facility is nothing short of breathtaking, and features a luxury hotel bejeweled with color-changing LED's, 5.5km F1 racing course, NHRA drag strip, and enough amenities to suit a king. Yes, the folks out there really do know how to have a good time!

http://www.yasmarinacircuit.com/
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So what does this have to do with JPC? If you're serious about going fast in Abu Dhabi, Evotechnik Motorsports is one of the few performance specialists around that can show you the way. JPC started working with Evotechnik back in 2005, but it wasn't until mid-2009 that JPC was asked to help with a daunting, but incredibly exciting project. Nishad from Evotechnik had a customer that wanted to turn a stock Mustang GT into a F1R huffing, nitrous snorting monster, similar to the famous JPC race car. The customer wanted mid-8 second time slips, and wasn't afraid to pay to play. He asked for best of everything: 322 RGR long block, full Magnaflow return-style fuel system, BigStuff3 standalone, TH400 transmission, 9” rear end...the works!

Maybe almost as exciting, Nishad and his customer were one of only 108 lucky guests invited to the exclusive grand opening of Yas Marina Circuit. They asked Burcham if he would come out to Abu Dhabi and help assist in getting the car ready for racing, and also to pilot the Mustang down the strip! I don't think Justin Burcham would argue with me if I said he was apprehensive about the trip when they floated the idea out there. Aside from not being even remotely familiar with the culture, Burcham had never even left the country before! On the other hand, this was an incredible opportunity to race at the Grand Opening of the only NHRA track outside of the United States, and also to greet the people that were making the whole project possible. So Burcham agreed, and also happened to convince engine guru Rich Groh to join the fun and help tune the BigStuff3 setup once it was finally installed in the car.

In September 2009 all parties involved were given the go-ahead and wasted no time getting to work. Through a flurry of phone calls and emails the parts were ordered, including a custom billet crankshaft. The custom crankshaft was basically a modified modular crank with a large diameter small-block Ford snout. It was also cut from EN30B, which is an exotic steel alloy often used by top fuel dragsters designed to resist bending better than 4340 steel does. The worry was that the tremendous tension on the supercharger belt would bend the crank snout and eventually break it as we've seen happen many times in the past. Forged modular crankshafts are not exactly plentiful in the Middle East (go figure!), so the guys wanted to install a crank that would survive the rigors of 1000hp+ combustion events. Although the crank was a great addition, it took roughly 16 weeks to cut and grind the crank out, which prevented Rich Groh from getting much work done on the engine.

http://www.rgrengines.com/
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Rich finally received the crankshaft in late February, which is more or less when Nishad was expecting his engine to be delivered! Nishad's customer wanted to race at the Yas Marina circuit's opening day on March 18th so things were already getting tight. They had to build the engine, dyno test it, ship it across the world, install it, and tune it in less than three weeks!

Rich got to work assembling the engine and machining the parts necessary to accommodate the unusually large crank snout. Once on the engine dyno, the engine made 440 horsepower and 450 torque even with only 22 degrees of total advance and a rich air/fuel mixture. So needless to say, this thing was poised to absolutely scream once a power adder is added. So on February 27th Rich crated the engine up and sent it on its way to JPC for some final tweaks. Roadway promised the engine would arrive to JPC on March 2nd with plenty of time to spare. That would be the last time anyone felt like there was time to spare...

Roadway called JPC to let them know that their truck was stuck in Ohio due to a snow storm, and couldn't exactly determine when the package should arrive in Maryland. The best Roadway's elite operators could guess, the engine would arrive in Maryland on Wednesday the 3rd. That would give JPC only one day to complete the final touches on the engine before it needed to be shipped off on Thursday the 4th, but was still doable.

Go figure, Wednesday came and went and no engine arrived. Phone call after phone call to Roadway yielded nothing as no one could determine exactly where the engine was, at least not until late Wednesday evening. Eventually someone from Roadway tracked the engine down, and it was sitting at a distribution hub in Baltimore. Time had completely run out so Burcham had no other choice but to drag his ass out to Baltimore at 7am, pick the engine up, bring it back to JPC, and start wrenching. We should all stop and take a moment to extend our deepest gratitude to Roadway for their unshakable determination, diligence, and drive to get the job done and deliver the engine as promised!

Once the engine arrived at JPC I had a wonderful opportunity to take some snap shots of the engine as it was being readied for its journey across the world. Although everyone was running around in a frenetic rush, I was in awe at the mechanical masterpiece in front of me.

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Here are some shots of the engine before it was crated up and shipped off.

You can see the custom titanium Ferrea spring retainers in this pic above. What you can't see are the oversized Ferrea valves, nor the results of the considerable CNC and hand porting.

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Here's a shot of the Jessel double-roller cam followers. The factory followers are good roller units, but these boys are necessary for the high-lift, high-rpm duty this race engine is going to see.

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Here's a shot of one of the hogged out intake ports courtesy of RGR. You can't get a much smoother/straighter shot into the cylinder can you??

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Here's the obligatory coolant crossover mod. It's meant to prevent hot spots that develop in high-horsepower setups. Notice the iron block down in there too.

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Here's the trick 7-quart Canton race sump oil pan. This things got four trap doors and a pickup baffle to keep oil where it needs to be.

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A couple JPC manifolds preparing for battle.

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And some pics of the engine dressed and ready to roll.

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And hey, look!! The JPC team was able to get the engine together a mere 15 minutes before the deadline.

The engine had already started its long journey out East, and Justin and Rich were soon to follow. Justin arrived in Abu Dhabi at 3am on March 17th after 15 hours on the plane, and the unusual trials and tribulations one encounters when trying to fly with a slew of specialized automotive parts and tools. The accommodations were nothing short of extraordinary, but unfortunately there wouldn't be much time to enjoy the spectacular accommodations. Everyone got to bed, and prepared for the days ahead.

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continued...

 

[Jordan@JPC]

Justin and crew arrived at the Evotechnik shop and were shocked to see how far the car was from running. The longblock and transmission were bolted in, and the fuel system and intercooler were almost finished, but Justin recognized just how much work was really needed to be completed before the car was track worthy. Burcham immediately recognized that the heart-attack inducing schedule he was so happy to leave behind, followed him all the way into Abu Dhabi.

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The difference between the metric and standard fasteners was one of the many reasons why the build was progressing slower than anticipated. Most of the tools available in Abu Dhabi were metric, and you couldn't exactly run to Home Depot to grab a quick set of standard wrenches or fasteners. So everyone made due where they could. That isn't even considering the difference in standard outlet voltages, which can make electrical accessories like power inverters basically useless! Excuses aside, Burcham, Groh, and the Evotechnik crew hit the car hard, and no one complained during the 14-16 hour long days.

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Justin got his hands dirty with the mechanical goodies while Rich helped tackle some of the electrical wiring. Six of Nishad's best wrenchers also joined in on the fun and directed their energy towards the myriad of remaining loose ends that needed to be addressed. Time was ticking, and on the day they were scheduled to start racing it was time to crank the engine over and...nothing. Just pops and backfires. The BS3 stand alone was indicating a bad camshaft position signal, so the guys yanked the valve covers, checked the cam position, replaced the sensors, triple-checked the wiring, but the engine still refused to catch. As with most electrical gremlins, the problem was elusive and the team spent hours trying to find the problem. As a last resort at 4am, the guys decided to consolidate the wiring to the BS3 computer and found that the ignition switch was creating some interference. It was late, so the guys called it a night and went to bed in a futile attempt to recharge before the next day of battle.

$275,000 Ferrari dinner table:

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Everyone was back in the shop only a few hours later and made quick work of the ignition switch. The wiring was rerouted and the cam sensor was now reporting as they expected it to. They fired the engine up and were rewarded with a rowdy and gratifying idle. With that issue out of the way the team continued ticking the remaining items off of the seemingly endless “to do” list until well into that night.

The car was ready for the dyno at about 9pm that evening. Justin asked Nishad to ready his trailer and was surprised when he was told there was none. Apparently in Abu Dhabi trailers aren't a commonly used tool in drag racing. Instead, racers use rollbacks, or “recoveries” as they're called in the UAE. So anytime someone had to transport their beloved drag car, they had to tow it. “So be it” Justin thought. The recovery was requested and the Mustang was rolled on and strapped down.

The recovery arrived at ALSA for dyno tuning at 10pm and the Mustang was unloaded. Maybe not surprisingly the techs at ALSA were ready to go home and were in the middle of closing up shop. Through a combination of pleading and sweet talking, the guys were able to convince the shop to let them get a few dyno runs in that night. Unfortunately, the dyno was new and there were some software issues, so as a result there weren't any horsepower or torque readings. On the other hand, the dyno did have an eddy current brake so the guys were able to put a load on the engine. After a few successful wide open throttle runs without any leaking fluids or blown hoses, Justin and Rich were able to dial in a suitable baseline tune. The ALSA techs told Justin and crew to come back the following day for some more tuning as they'd have the software working by then. So, that's exactly what they did. The Mustang was loaded back onto the recovery.

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The crew arrived at ALSA at 10am the next morning and promptly unloaded the Mustang from the recovery. By the first dyno pull it was clear that belt issues were going to be obstacle of the day. The car was only making 19psi when in reality it should be closer to the 26psi mark. So more tension was put on the belt, but didn't really yield anymore boost. The condition of the belt was also iffy, so the guys replaced it with another 12-rib and on the subsequent dyno pull the belt shredded itself into oblivion. Upon further inspection the center idler pulley was found to be out of alignment so it was pulled off the car and was machined until it fit properly. In the mean time the guys convinced one of the ALSA employees to help build a brace for the blower since there was so much tension on the belt.

So now beyond the niggling mechanical issues everyone was dealing with, they were now down to only one good 12-rib belt, and another 12-rib that was missing about 1/3 of its ribs. And make no mistake that it wasn't as simple as, “Hey, just have one over-nighted to us.” Nope, not in Abu Dhabi. So Justin sent the Evotechnik guys on a mission to find any serpentine belts that might work. It didn't matter if they were 6,8, 10 or 12 ribs so long as they were close to the right length. They would MAKE it work. So the Evotechnik crew left in a hurry and wouldn't be seen again for many hours.

While the Evotechnik boys spent all day searching high and low for replacement belts, the rest of the crew put the idler back on the engine for one more test run. The engine finally made a full 26psi by redline and about 800rwhp with a rich fuel mixture and little timing. And with that they took the car off the dyno, loaded it back onto the recovery, and headed towards a shop for a much needed wheel alignment.

The Mustang was taken back off of the recovery once it arrived at the shop (are you starting to recognize an annoying trend here?). The techs at the shop there may as well have been looking at a space ship because no one had any idea how to adjust the caster/camber plates! Burcham of course jumped in and helped them tweak the plates until they hit the requisite specs. Things weren't quite perfect though because of some interference with the strut tower, but there wasn't anytime to waste so they packed up and went back to the Evotechnik shop for one last mad rush to tie up the loose ends. The recovery was called and again the Mustang was strapped down.

The Mustang was unloaded from the recovery and the Evotechnik shop turned into a hurricane of activity with literally dozens of people scrambling to complete their independent tasks. It was 5:30pm and the parachute, five-point harness, bolt-in cage, and some more wiring needed to be addressed before the car could hit the track which opened at 8pm (which was lucky because the track was scheduled to CLOSE at 8pm, not open!). All of the remaining tasks were finished at 8:30pm, so again the recovery was called to pick the car up and bring it over to Yas Marina. So much work in so little time, and all everyone wanted was to see that car fly down the strip.

The Mustang arrived at the track and rolled off of the recovery at 9:30pm with a dead battery. Everyone knew the lanes closed at 10pm, so the crew started frantically searching for a suitable electrical outlet at this new track that no one has ever been to. Eventually another kind driver offered up some electrical juice and brought the battery back to life.

Now it was time. Justin psyched himself up, got himself situated in the driver's seat, and lined up next to the top fuel dragsters. Wait, whaa?! Although ridiculous, Justin was lined up next to a car whose blower takes almost as much power to turn than Justin's Mustang was making in total! Not a very fair comparison, but it wouldn't matter since shortly after lining up one of the track officials placed a big yellow cone in front of the Mustang, which signified the end of the night. Needless to say, I don't think anyone was very far from having a brain embolism just from sheer and utter disappointment. After all the hard work, struggles, and effort that was probably the most frustrating way to end the day. Reluctantly, the car was loaded onto the recovery, and everyone was ready to go home and rest for the race the following day.

But wait!! Abu Dhabi isn't exactly a bustling metropolis, and there were certain roads the locals frequent when they, well, want to “test and tune” on their own time. Understanding what was being suggested, grimaces turned to grins and the crew hauled ass to a remote road to see what happens when the hammer drops.

A caravan of cars followed the recovery with Mustang in tow to the remote location where they could really let it loose. This would mark the first time anyone would see the fruit of their labor. The Mustang was carefully unloaded from the recovery onto the side of the road and Burcham made himself at home in the cockpit. Many of the onlookers donned their cameras and video recorders as Burcham locked the front tires and vaporized the top layer of the rear tires. Burcham lined up, slammed the throttle, and sailed down the road with virtually no drama. However, Burcham reported the car felt flat and after reviewing the datalog it only reported the engine making 9-pounds of boost. Upon further inspection, one of the newly installed silicone hoses had apparently cracked open. Once that was discovered, everyone decided to call it a night and again try to get some sleep before their inevitable mad-dash the following day. The Mustang was again, loaded back onto the recovery.

(Disclaimer: As you can see, this long stretch of road was completely empty. JPC and Evotechnik Motorsports do not condone street racing!!)
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The next morning everyone got into the shop and the pace was thankfully a little slower this time. There were still some issues that needed to be addressed before the car was ready to run, but thankfully the track didn't open until 4pm because of the sweltering heat. So everyone put their final touches on the car, said their prayers, and sent the car on its way into battle.

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When the recovery and crew arrived at the track the car was brought into the pits and preparations continued before the 1st qualifying pass. Unfortunately, the team discovered how limited the classes were, and accepted that they probably wouldn't stand much of a chance compared to many of the other entries. The rules were very loose in that the vehicle had to be an 8-cylinder engine, and use 29”x10.5” tires. Everything else was fair game. Most of the cars were 600ci+ nitrous-fed big-blocks installed into foxes and other gutted platforms. So far as anyone could tell, the S197 was one of the few small blocks running that day, and almost certainly the only fuel injected combination. But, that didn't dampen anyone's spirits since all anyone wanted was the payoff for their exceptionally tiring labor of love.

continued...
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[Jordan@JPC]

Burcham's turn was up so he motored the Mustang to the starting line. The first run out the car went 9.30@144 with a 1.36 60-foot. Since that was slower than what was expected, everyone turned to the datalog and identified the problem: The car was having belt issues again and was only making 19 pounds of boost. So, the guys rigged two 6-rib belts onto the 12-rib pulley but again the blower wasn't happy since it made only 16psi on the subsequent pass at 9.28 with a 1.35 60-foot. Since that didn't work, the guys grabbed the 12-rib belt that was missing most of its ribs, and threw that in there, but again the car returned a 9.30 with a 1.34 60-foot. Burcham reported the car felt really flat in the middle, and they were hesitant to run the only good 12-rib belt because they wanted to save it for the last round of qualifying. Everyone had done everything they could that day, so the team went home to catch up on some much needed sleep...after they strapped the Mustang down to the recovery...

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Saturday March, 20, the final qualifying day had arrived. The guys grabbed the one good 12-rib belt and threw it on the engine. Everyone crossed their fingers since only 20 cars would make a final 3rd qualifying pass that day, and everyone wanted the opportunity to see a strong run out of the car. It was basically now or never, and the crew only narrowly made the 20-car cut-off.

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At 4:30pm Burcham again pulled up to the line, and the track was hot. The desert sun had been baking the track all day, which wasn't going to help traction much. When the green light finally flashed the Mustang found its lost power and broke the tires loose on the scorching pavement. Burcham pedaled the car the best he could and came up with a 9.43@145 with a 1.48 60-foot. They reviewed the datalog and were thrilled to see the car was now making a legitimate 23psi of boost, and it was game on!! Burcham would be ready for the newfound power in the next run, and was excited to finally activate the nitrous on the next pass. He parked the car and let it cool down for the 1st round of eliminations.

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Unfortunately the car would never run in eliminations. Due to vague class restrictions and seemingly endless boost issues, the team would have had to post an 8.40 or better just to qualify. To put the level of competition in perspective, the low ET of the day was a 7.40 run. Regardless, the team begged for just one more run to see what the car would do now that it was making power, but there would be no exceptions. The day was over, they hadn't qualified, and the team simply watched the remainder of the event.

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So it was a failure then, right? Absolutely not!! I don't think words can properly express exactly how disappointed the team must have been when they learned that they didn't qualify, but in retrospect this motley group of guys took a shell of a car and turned it into a legitimate race car in 4 days with limited tools. More than that, it ran 9's on its first pass, and belt slip was the most significant problem to speak of. That's pretty special, and the even better news is that the fun has just begun.

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Of course Justin and Rich had to come back home after the weekend was over, but the car is still out in Abu Dhabi and is ready for its next pass. This time around they'll have plenty of time to prepare for the event, they'll know exactly what tools and equipment is needed at the track, and it seems the belt issues have been resolved. So stay tuned because 8-second time slips are in this car's future.

Abu Dhabi coast line at night:

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Okay, so not exactly a Mustang:

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Rich and Nishad chilling out at the track's lounge:

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As a final parting note, Justin Burcham would just like to extend his most sincere gratitude to Saif, Nishad, Khalid, and the Evotechnik Motorsports staff for all of their help with this project. They went to extraordinary lengths to make sure that Justin and Rich were comfortable despite being immersed in a completely foreign culture. Their unyielding generosity and hospitality, along with the incredible opportunity to race in the Middle East, made the trip to Abu Dhabi one that Justin will surely never forget.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more updates from the Middle East!!

 

[Docktour Z]

I can't believe I just read all of that. Well written piece of literature, I felt as though that damn belt was pissing me off as well.

 

[mac10chap]

thats sweet man...great pics as well

 

[GrnBullitt08]

Thats an awesome ride you guys put together with the guys over in Dubai, and it sounds like the car has alot of issues to be worked out before its fully dialed in. Cant be disappointed with a 9.28, and I believe you said that was without the bottle. Dubai looks like an awesome city to visit, especially that new dragway. Goodluck in the future with the car, Im sure this wont be this last time you guys are over there.

 

[rford426]

cool beans thanks for sharing what a opportunity

 

[Jordan@JPC]

Thanks so much for the comments guys!

I'm told that the boys back East are going to be taking the car to the track again this weekend, so I'm anxiously awaiting some results. Hopefully they've had enough time to get everything under control with the belt issues and whatnot. As soon as I hear anything I'll post an update.

 

[jeostang]

Awesome right up, felt like I was there.
What were the temps out there.

 

[Jordan@JPC]

Awesome right up, felt like I was there.
What were the temps out there.

I looked up the average temperature for Abu Dhabi in March and it only indicated a max average temperature of 82F.

http://weather.msn.com/monthly_averages.aspx?wealocations=wc:AEXX0001

In fact, JB took a picture of the "welcome back" TV screen in his hotel room, which happened to indicate the daily temperature (attached below).

But in thinking about it I remember JB telling me that it was unusually hot out there. In one video the guys are out driving at night and the car's temperature sensor was displaying a temperature in the 80's. I'll have to ask JB what kind of temps he saw at the track during the day.

Edit:

The sun was really hot. The air temperature was in the mid-90's when we were there.

 

[Infamous]

great story! i too felt the belt anguish after reading it . . .

 

[Jordan@JPC]

great story! i too felt the belt anguish after reading it . . .

I'm glad you enjoyed it Infamous!!

 

[KungFuHamster]

Holy shit @ the puzzle car...that looks like Brian Teachman's old car. Is it? he lives out in Virginia beach

 

[Dave@StreetCar1320]

Awesome write up. I love the "$275,000 Ferrari dinner table" your commentary throughout was great. Well done and congrats to the team. You guys do outstanding work. And man do those motor shots look amazing.

 

[jmgracing]

Great write up, thanks for sharing your trip that im sure we all wish we could have joined

 

[LAK3RS]

That was an amazing write up! I really enjoyed it, of course agree with the frustrations regarding the belt issues! I can't wait to see some 8's!

 

[G.T]

i can't believe i've missed you guys being in the UAE!

on another note, bofore leaving in September 2009, i designed and built the entire shop for ALSA, and even installed that Dyno you ran on
it's a small world after all

 

[Natural1]

After reading that entire article, I am dizzy. Excellent write-up to a very impressive trip guys!

 

[Bryan Rees]

Jason you are the man!! I'm so happy with what you have done with my car. I'm dissapointed ...wish I would have been there to see the track.

 

[MexGT]

very nice writeup ! That must have been a blast !