Defying time attack logic with a Dodge SRT-4 | Fro...

Energy to the Folks

For a sticker value of lower than $20,000, Dodge would fortunately promote you a wide-eyed Neon with a beneficiant quantity of horsepower and torque going to its entrance paws. By reducing the compression ratio on the big-for-its-class 2.4-liter engine and slapping on a Mitsubishi turbo, the engineers simply achieved 215 ponies and 245 ft.-lbs. of torque in inventory trim.

Higher nonetheless, the understressed powertrain within the automobile was designed from the begin to pack on extra energy with a trio of manufacturing facility Stage packages. Again within the day, our personal GRM venture SRT-4 seemed like a powerboat and generated almost 300 ft.-lbs. of torque on the wheels with only a few catalog bolt-ons. Really power-hungry fans might go for a Stage 3 equipment, a factory-endorsed improve that included a brand new turbocharger and was good for 375 horsepower on race gasoline.

Naturally, the SRT-4 was aimed on the tuner crowd, and tuners jumped on the brand new hyper-powered Mopar missile. The bulk have been devoted to pull strip obligation and displaying off their huge wings on the road, however after we campaigned our SRT-4 venture automobile in SCCA Solo competitors with Mark Daddio on the wheel, it trophied on the 2004 Nationals in D Inventory.

A couple of of us even began flexing the super-Neon’s muscle on the monitor. One such racer, Doug Wind, latched onto the SRT-4 and nonetheless hasn’t let go.

Doug fell into motorsports by way of autocross with the Clemson Sports activities Automotive Membership throughout faculty, however he was already a fan of oddball machines earlier than that. His first cone-dodger of alternative was an El Camino SS. The truck/automobile served double obligation, hauling the CSCC’s cones and equipment to their autocross occasions. “I completed third general at my first autocross,” Doug admits, which is an ideal recipe for a lifelong dependancy.

“I obtained drawn into time trials,” he provides, explaining {that a} pal had piqued his curiosity within the turbo Neon by working an SRT-4 within the One Lap of America. “It was probably the most bang-for-the-buck automobile on the outcomes sheets.”

Doug and his pal Keith Ori set their sights on the 2006 One Lap occasion after buying a inventory used instance, however when a vendor in Palm Seaside, Florida, put a automobile with the Stage 3 {hardware} up on the market, they instantly offered their preliminary automobile and adopted the previous adage of letting someone else spend the cash on upgrades.

Doug campaigned his new machine within the 2006 One Lap of America with average success and one huge pre-race setback. “We blew the motor,” he recollects. “We met in Savannah, discovered a spot that might get every thing we wanted, and broke it in driving from North Carolina to South Bend on the brand new engine.” The recent powerplant propelled them to eighth out of 14 automobiles in Mid-Priced Sedan that 12 months, and twenty third out of 80 complete automobiles.

Doug and Keith spent the 12 months working NASA Time Trials and different occasions whereas sorting the automobile for the 2007 One Lap. Time constraints pressured Keith to promote his stake within the automobile to Doug, however that didn’t decelerate the trouble. Later that 12 months, in a Mid-Priced Sedan class that had been dominated for years by rally-bred Lancer Evos and Impreza WRX STIs, Doug’s SRT-4 completed first in school and an astounding fifth general. (The highest 4 have been a Porsche 911 Turbo, a Hennessey Viper, a 570-horsepower Toyota Supra Turbo and an Ultima GTR.)

Doug insists that the automobile was nonetheless fairly delicate at this level, with “modest” energy and 245mm tires on 17-inch wheels. “It’s all the time good to make energy,” he notes, “however dependable energy is the query. We caught with the manufacturing facility equipment for various years, however the subsequent factor we have been on the lookout for was traction–the cornering capacity of the automobile.

“We obtained the suspension sorted out the most effective we might, however we have been restricted by the chassis and the 5×100 bolt sample [on the wheel hubs],” he continues. “Customized wheels have been too costly. One of many issues we realized from Brian Smith, SRT-4 Woodhouse Racing World Problem driver, was that they have been altering their hubs each 10 hours of race time. They’d get overstressed and crack.”

Doug took this lesson to coronary heart, however solely midway. He modified out the entrance hubs on a upkeep schedule, however he had an surprising thrill when a rear wheel almost indifferent from the automobile at pace at Highway Atlanta.

Methodical Insanity

With so many lateral g’s going by way of the suspension and overstressing the manufacturing facility hubs–and no explicit class guidelines stopping Doug from doing one thing about it–he requested a buddy at a machine store to manufacture some customized billet hubs. “They’re a lot stronger,” Doug emphasizes. “They’ve been on the automobile since 2009.”

Along with their industrial energy, the customized hubs enable Doug to make use of wheels with a way more frequent 5×114.3mm bolt sample, opening the door to cheap items designed for Evos, Nissans, Hondas and extra. “We run a 15mm offset, and on the monitor I run a 10mm spacer to get clearance on the spring perch, relying on the tires,” Doug notes.

The SRT-4’s major competitors venues at the moment have been rules-liberal collection just like the Optima Final Avenue Automotive Invitational, NASA and NARRA time trials, and GRM’s personal Tire Rack Final Monitor Automotive Problem. Doug continued making the automobile sooner in all metrics by eradicating its weaknesses and bolstering its strengths. In consequence, his already fast SRT-4 morphed from a really quick street-legal monitor machine right into a jaw-dropping, space-warping, frontwheel- drive monstrosity. One with cute spherical headlights, after all.

For some time, Doug had eliminated the automobile’s antilock brake system and fitted a brakeproportioning valve, however he reequipped the ABS for the braking check portion of the OUSCI. “I want the texture with out the ABS,” he notes, “but it surely has its advantages, so I cope with the texture.”

Underneath the hood, the automobile was making almost 300 horsepower on 100 octane with the Mopar Stage 3 equipment, but it surely seems that was just the start. “I obtained concerned with Efficiency CNC in South Carolina,” Doug explains. “They constructed a head for the automobile, an even bigger valve package deal, and ported out the smaller pathways. Then they did some experiments for us and constructed a highway racing package deal. What the internals are, I couldn’t inform ya. They upgraded the cams on the similar time. It was 410 horsepower after that, a pleasant begin.”

They subsequent opened up the Stage 3 turbocharger housing and fitted bigger impeller and exhaust wheels, which saved the ability curve’s form the identical however elevated output to almost 450 horses and 460 ft.-lbs. of torque. “This automobile, for no matter cause, has all the time been very sq.. The horsepower and torque are nearly equivalent,” Doug says.

Doug had been sourcing lots of his components from Fashionable Efficiency in Texas, one of many few remaining suppliers with full Neon assist all the way in which again to the unique 1995 automobiles. Their relationship with Doug grew, and so they finally grew to become the first sponsor of his automobile.

This setup powered the Dodge, which Doug had been lovingly calling the Alpha Skittle for a number of years. The turbocharger design went out of manufacturing and made substitute components scarce, after which a minor mechanical incident set Doug on one other improve path. “A 3mm screw within the throttle physique got here out,” he recollects, “and destroyed the top and the turbo.”

Some digging revealed {that a} substitute was going to require customized fabrication and intense components wrangling, neither of which appealed to Doug. “My schedule doesn’t enable for a month of downtime to attend for an element,” he proclaims. “I make investments a variety of effort and time and cash, and I don’t need to be ready round on oddball issues. I don’t like one-off stuff once I can keep away from it.”

On the 2011 PRI Commerce Present, Doug struck up a dialog with the oldsters at Garrett, who have been selling their new GTX turbo programs. He got here away , and Garrett did a circulate evaluation for his engine earlier than providing up a suggestion.

“They got here up with a smaller turbo than I anticipated,” confesses Doug, “a GTX3071. They supplied a titanium/aluminum again finish for sooner spool. The GTX turbos are unbelievably implausible: The spool time is 600 to 700 rpm sooner than the earlier unit. It wasn’t a torque curve, it was a torque wall.”

An issue with an oil feed line burned up his new GTX turbo proper earlier than the 2015 UTCC, however Doug had simply sufficient time to name up Garrett and get a substitute–already he was having fun with the good thing about off-the-shelf parts. They despatched a barely bigger 3076 with a 5mm bigger compressor, and in a fast dyno session on an unfamiliar dyno the automobile made 616 horsepower on the entrance wheels.

The Enhance Is Free

Doug arrived at Virginia Worldwide Raceway final July having spent a number of years knocking on the two:04 barrier on the Tire Rack Final Monitor Automotive Problem. That’s a scorching time in any automobile, and all of the extra spectacular for one with front-wheel drive.

“We solely get to VIR every year for the UTCC. I used to go extra typically, however this nationwide schedule [of the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational and other events] doesn’t enable that,” he explains. “We’ve had little issues every of the occasions we’ve been there, like energy steering–simply little issues kicking us within the butt.”

Armed with a recent dose of Garrett increase and crew assist from his pal Daniel Fahr, Doug was optimistic that the added energy would carry him nearer to the 2-minute barrier than ever earlier than. He certified for the entrance of his run group, however a busted radiator hose took some time to exchange and burp, so he was late to the grid for the primary timed session. In consequence, Doug took his place in the back of the road.

“I did two sluggish warmup laps,” he recollects. “I simply went silly sluggish to make an enormous hole.”

The positioning labored, and for the primary time in an extended whereas Doug was rewarded with a magical issue-free, traffic-free lap on the UTCC. Most individuals are completely happy to nudge down their private greatest by a couple of tenths, however Doug’s first flyer was value a staggering 6.2-second enchancment over his earlier greatest time. His 1:57.828 set the file for front-wheel-drive automobiles at VIR’s Full Course configuration, and that barrier isn’t prone to be damaged anytime quickly. There merely aren’t that many crazy-fast FWD monitor automobiles on the planet.

Just like the knight-decapitating Rabbit of Caerbannog in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” Doug’s Dodge is now a candy little bundle of pure dynamite. “We’re all the time struggling a bit to search out the following weak hyperlink within the chain,” Doug mused simply after the UTCC. “This bump in energy is certain to carry new points to the entrance.”

This bore out only a few days later, when the SRT-4 stripped all of the tooth off its fifth gear. “I’ve a buddy who works at Mopar,” Doug says. “He’d by no means heard of that one earlier than.” Liberty’s Gears in Michigan doesn’t make the half, however they supplied to deal with an OEM piece for further energy.

Past that, Doug needs to spend a little bit of time campaigning the automobile with its newfound energy earlier than making any huge adjustments. “It could possibly do 160-plus in fourth gear alone. We’ve had run of reliability over the previous 12 months or so till the transmission. I like driving the automobile greater than I like fixing the automobile,” Doug laughs earlier than noting, “I might unlock some energy by transferring to an electrical energy steering setup.”

Accolades for the SRT-4 continued to roll in all through 2015. Doug earned Quickest FWD with a 161.75-mph run on the Georgia ½ Mile Shootout, and he scored the GTL Class Championship within the Optima Seek for the Final Avenue Automotive, locking down his spot for the yearend Invitational following the SEMA Present. Protection of that occasion, the place Doug was the only front-wheel-drive entry within the finals, will air on MAV TV.

Regardless of the coming years carry for Doug, he appears completely content material to proceed turning heads and shattering preconceptions along with his Dodge Neon. Right here’s hoping that 2016 brings one other Final Monitor Automotive Problem front-wheel-drive file–and quite a lot of astonished Porsche, Corvette, GT-R and Ferrari homeowners.