BUILT TO BURN
The sport of drifting has changed a lot over the past few years, and many drivers — from the grassroots all the way to the highest echelons of Valvoline D1NZ National Drifting Championship competition — have realized that there’s plenty to love about big-displacement, big-power, and big-torque American V8 power plants. This month, we poke around Carl Thompson’s incredible 454ci LSX, a hypo atmo-breather that sings the sweetest of songs.
Subtlety has never been pro-drifter Carl Thompson’s strong suit. The D1NZ competitor has always had a penchant for making a scene, starting years ago with unreasonably fast Corollas, before many feathers were ruffled when his absolutely monstrous, turbocharged, quad-rotary Toyota Aristo drift car completely broke the internet. More recently, a run of V8-powered Nissan Silvias has kept the Aucklander very much in the spotlight. Carl recently took one of these machines to the States, where it made a big splash both at the SEMA Show and online, thanks mostly to its incredible engine package.
Based around a dry-sumped LSX block, the 14:1-compression-ratio motor has been pushed out to 454ci using a 4.125-inch Bryant Racing billet stroker crankshaft, connected to Carrillo rods and CP pistons. Carl has worked closely with
Tony at Marsh Motorsport, as well as his sponsor Mast Motorsports, to put together his version of the ultimate drift LSX.
“I’m not going to pretend I knew everything from the beginning — there was a lot of trial and error to get these engines to where they are now,” Carl says.
It’s this ability to figure it out for himself that originally saw the once diehard Japanese motor fanatic make the switch to American muscle. “Back when I was running my rotary, it felt like I was still on the outside,” he explains. “I was pouring everything I had into my car, but it always seemed like builders and tuners kept everything secret — like I wasn’t allowed to see how, what, and why they did what they did. The V8 world is totally different, Tony [Marsh] has taught me so much — I’ve come a long way from when I brought him my first engine a few years ago. Old boys like him don’t mind teaching us young guys, and that makes a big difference.”
The fact that Carl now tunes the MoTeC M130 ECU that controls his various LSXs himself on his own Mainline dyno, shows you just how much things have changed.
The other big advantage with an engine like this is the availability of off-the-shelf parts. Carl is able to build the exact motor he wants, with all the characteristics he wants, without having to go down the very expensive and very time-consuming custom route. This particular engine is built to scream at high rpm, making the bulk of its 850hp (at the wheels) from 5800rpm before topping out at 9000rpm — Carl says that the engine can rev higher, but there’s little point for his particular application. This is possible thanks to some very trick Mast Motorsports 10-degree canted valve Mozez heads, filled with Mohawk rockers and 937 Keyway lifters from Jesel.
The motor absolutely gulps down air through a Mast Mozez tunnel ram and twin 2400cfm throttle bodies, and dumps gases out via 21⁄8-inch primaries and twin 3½-inch stainless exhausts, while E85 gas is provided by 1700cc ID injectors fed by three Bosch Motorsport pumps.
The build is designed for instant, face-melting throttle response — invaluable in the world of drifting.
This is arguably one of the greatest-sounding LS motors ever built, here in New Zealand or anywhere else in the world. The savagery and violence of this howling V8 are something that should be experienced in person, preferably sideways at 124mph. Failing that, you can head over to themotorhood.co.nz, search
‘Carl Thompson’, and settle in to watch — and hear — Carl tearing apart Hoonigan’s Burnyard facility in California late last year.