TDSAutoMag

B.A.D.D – The Rematch…

The first B.A.D.D (Barbados Association of Dragsters and Drifters) event for the year returned to Thicketts St.Philip for what seemed to have been the most anticipated drag event to date. I have to start off by congratulating B.A.D.D for doing an excellent job on hosting a successful event. With competitors ranging from full out race cars to street cars as well as bikes; it was definitely a must attend event. What really got the hype building weeks in advance, was a rumor that Roger Mayers would be bringing his WR Ford Focus WRC to set a time on the Thicketts straight. It wasn’t until a few days before the event that these rumors were not only confirmed, but he also had the intentions to breaking previous 1/4 mile record holder Suleman Esuf’s time of 10.189 seconds set in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Another expected crowd favorite was the overall 1/4 mile record holder Kelvin Daniel who previously set a time of 9.830 secs. on his Kawasaki ZX10. The stage was set, the hype was there and it was only now to see what the day brought.

Chefette sponsored starter’s tent…

Good Year tent where throughout the day had several trivia giveaways…

Sponsors Courtesy Garage had their Hyundai Velostar on display…

EK9 of Barry Best which had a best time of 12.808 on the day…

Edward St.John’s Toyota Starlet which did a time of 13.199…

Dave Davis’s Turbo charged Honda Civic hatch had a fastest time of 14.007…

Fabian Holder’s Toyota Cressida was able to put down a time of 12.917 secs…

Shane Burnett’ NOS fed SR20 powered Nissan B13 had a best time of 13.840 secs…

12.884 secs. was the best time of the day for Shawn Eversley in his turbo charged Swift GTi…

Turbo charged Toyota Runx Z that didn’t make a pass but made for a nice photo…

Another car that didn’t make a pass was this tastefully done WRX STi…

This Honda Del Sol was shared by both Kerwin Scantlebury and Karl Bovell which did best times of 15.540 secs. and 13.820 secs. respectively…

Supercharged Toyota Runx Z of Jason Downy that did a 13.607 secs…

Curtis Lee’s wide-bodied Subaru WRX STi which did a fastest time of 12.786 secs…

Jamal Batson in his Mitsubishi Mirage was only able to manage a time of 11.381 secs. before mechanical failure would force him to retire.

Sherlock Payne’s 4wd Mitsubishi Colt laid down a best time of 11.948 secs…

Barry Gilkes managed to get his Mitsubishi Lancer GSR into the 10 sec. bracket with a time of 10.925 secs.

LIME sponsored Nissan Pulsar of Anthony Archer threw down a time of 11.066 secs…

Pedahel Williams in his Mitsubishi Colt did a best time of 12.662 secs…

Due to some mechanical problems Jeremy Greenidge was unable to set an official time…

Kelvin Daniel on his Kawasaki ZX10 was among the very few that made it into the 9 sec. bracket with a time of 9.139 secs. and in doing so he set the fastest time for the day. Along with riding the Kawasaki he rode this Honda CBR where he laid down a time of 10.082 secs.

12.363 secs. was Aaron Mason’s fastest official time of the day in his turbocharged Honda Integra type R…

Event coordinator Michael Carter in his K-powered Honda Civic SiR was able to beat his previous best time of 12.946 secs. with a time of 12.706 secs…

On the day Mitsubishi was the brand of choice. This one belonging to Ricky Cozier with a best time of 11.338 secs., secured him the fastest 2wd time title.

Kerry Maynard in his Honda Integra Type R laid down an impressive time of 13.822 secs.

As I mentioned before one of the highlighted cars for the event was Roger Mayers’ WR Ford Focus WRC. The goal set in mind for this event was was to beat Suleman Esuf’s previous time of 10.189 secs.

He came out and did exactly that with an absolutely impressive time of 9.994 secs., especially since this is a circuit built car. However, the day would end on a sour note as he experienced some mechanical problems which forced him to retire.

Another impressive car on the day was Dale Hall’s turbocharged Toyota Starlet with a best time of 12.712 secs.

Dwayne Ifill in his 4wd Mitsubishi Colt put down a time of 12.163 secs.

David Balgobin laid down an impressive time of 11.243 secs. in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV…

Jamaal Sobers best time for the day was 11.904 secs. in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX…

Due to some mechanical issues Suleman had, he didn’t make it to the drags until late in the evening but it was well worth it. Not only did he beat his previous best time but he also was able to beat the time set by Roger Mayers earlier in the day.

The King retained his title with a blistering fast time of 9.788 secs.

Evo I spotted hiding close by…

That’s it for today’s post, I’ll leave you guys with a shot of Prosales’s Nissan GTR…

Congratulations to all the racers that came out and braved the start lights and I hope I’ll be seeing you at the next B.A.D.D event. And for those interested you can check out B.A.D.D for more information.

Tags: B.A.D.D, Chefette, Civic, Colt, Courtesy, Evolution, Focus, Ford, Good Year, Honda, Hyundai, Impreza, Integra, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Starlet, Subaru, Toyota

Dominic’s KP61 Build… Part 2

Let me start off by saying that I am amazed at the positive feedback this build has generated from the very first post. I had no idea that it would stir such a buzz but it’s good to see that there are still a host of KP61 enthusiasts out there.

Today I’m back with another update on this build where we’ll be taking a look at the progress so far. Interestingly enough, Dominic has taken this build to yet another level that wasn’t in the initial plans. It literally feels as though every week the level of this build is increased several notches from the last…

For those of you that would like a recap of the progress of the build thus far, I’ve provided link below…

Dominic’s KP61 Build…

You guys would have seen in the last post that a final decision had been made on the direction in which the engine build will be going. However with that out of the way, the engine builder broke the news to Dominic that the gearbox would start to fail and it would be wise to source an upgrade. Dominic being a firm believer in doing it correct the first time, went on a hunt for a W58 gearbox which originally was made for the Supra and Celica. Finding the gearbox was quite a challenge but after some searching he was able to not only source one but he also had it completely rebuilt. In order for Dominic to use this gearbox, he needed a custom built bellhousing to fit the back of the 4A-GE motor. This was yet another challenge Dominic was faced with and once again he found himself shopping on the other side of the world, yes you guessed it, back to New Zealand but in the end it all worked out for the best.

The next thing that needed to be dealt with was the clutch, yet another fork in the road which Dominic was faced with. Due to the custom gearbox setup, the clutch proved to be equally as troublesome while sticking to the rules of the build. So being hell bent on the car being as street as possible, Dominic purchased a Toda Racing clutch kit and replaced the clutch disc with a custom made ACT counterpart in order to get the splines lined up.

When Dominic purchased the car it came with a welded differential, the downside to this is that after a while it causes the floor to crack unless it’s caged. Not being a fan of a welded diff nor the idea of caging it, and with no one making a LSD for the Starlet diff, Dominic was stumped again. He started to do some research to explore what other options he had especially knowing that this build must be made of all Toyota parts. One of the options was to go with the AE86 rear end but that would be a problem because of its width, it would involve flaring and cutting and based on Dominic’s rules for this build that wouldn’t be able to work. After some much extensive research, he came to realize that a Carina rear end would fit with some modifications and would only be 3/8″ wider on each side.

Wasting no time the Carina rear end was acquired, but the mounting points weren’t the same so Dominic had to cut the and remove the perches from the Starlet rear end with a jig and weld them to the Carina one. Sounds pretty easy but anyone familiar with this kind of work knows it’s quite tedious. The perches were finally welded in place but that wasn’t the end of it.

The plan is to use the AE86 brakes as an upgrade which would be sticking within rules of being a Toyota part. However, the Carina axles wouldn’t allow for the AE86 brakes to fit as they were initially made to fit drum brakes. To accommodate for the brakes, Dominic had to get the ends of the axles machined until they were able to fit.

Naturally there weren’t any brackets for the calipers to be mounted onto. The task at hand would be to custom build brackets for the calipers, and the ideal positioning for them would be at the back of the diff but due to clearance issues with the coilovers Dominic had to position them elsewhere.

While all of this was going on…

Dominic being a long time fan of Tom’s Igeta wheels, decided to go on a search and eventually found a set located in Indonesia. To many this would seem a bit far but as Dominic was already shopping in New Zealand it wasn’t that much of a stretch and quickly had them shipped.