BLOCKBUSTER
> THERE’S NO RB30, LS OR EVEN A HOLDEN V8 IN THIS VL CALAIS - WE’RE TALKING TWIN-TURBO BIG-BLOCK INSANITY!
AT SWAN HILL ON DAY TWO OF DC 2018, THE VL MANAGED AN 8.30@160MPH NOSING OVER IN THE TOP END – SOMETHING WASN’T RIGHT
BRENDAN Cherry is a veteran of
Street Machine Drag Challenge. He entered the very first event back in 2014 when we had just 18 cars, and he’s been at every DC since. From 2014 to 2016 he competed in his stunning HQ Monaro, powered by a couple of different turbo LS combos. But at the beginning of 2017 he sold off the monster HQ to fund his dream car – an HK Monaro.
The HK was already a bit of a weapon when Cherry bought the thing, having been built into an elite-level show car by its previous owner and equipped with a Merlin 572ci big-block Chev. The car was perfect to a lot of people, but not quite how Cherry wanted it, so he put twin Borgwarner S480 turbos on the bigblock and went racing!
In 2017 the Monaro competed in Drag Challenge, driving across South Australia and Victoria, clocking up plenty of road miles and track abuse along the way. No one could quite believe the torture Cherry put the stunning Monaro through.
But while it looked ace, the car didn’t really perform to the driveline’s full potential, due to the small 255 tyres, the car’s hefty weight and a suspension design that wasn’t ideal for drag racing.
So for 2018 Cherry built a whole new car with good mate Josh Ploeger. Taking Josh’s tidy VL Calais and the driveline from the Monaro, they built a more race-focussed car with bigger 315 radials and more sophisticated suspension. The car was tried and tested a couple of months ahead of Drag Challenge
IN THE SUMMERNATS 32 HORSEPOWER HEROES DYNO COMP, THE TWINTURBO BIG-BLOCK LAID DOWN A WHOPPING 1469HP AT THE HUBS
2018 for street reliability, but at the track the big-banger combo damaged the TH400 only a week before the event.
With the ’box fixed, they then hurt a bearing in the bottom end while tuning on the dyno. But Cherry and crew weren’t giving up on their DC dream, replacing the bearing and making it to Calder Park the next day for Day One of Drag Challenge 2018. Unfortunately the transbrake wasn’t working, so the VL didn’t perform as hoped.
It was back to Frank at Allsparks to fix the transbrake and replace the thermo fans to help keep it cool on the street, before driving through the night to Swan Hill Dragway for Day Two. The car managed an 8.30@160mph nosing over in the top end – something wasn’t right. So Cherry pulled the pin and decided not to compete at Mildura the next day, with the aim of coming back to race at Swan Hill on Day Four. The team worked all day Wednesday to replace a head gasket, machine a head, replace the valves and get it all back together.
With everything buttoned up, they arrived at Swan Hill on Day Four ready for action, but luck just wasn’t on their side. The VL struggled for traction and eventually hurt the cylinder head on the opposite side to before, so they packed her up and headed home.
Since then Cherry has got it all working properly and even took the car to Summernats earlier this year, where he came runner-up in the Horsepower Heroes dyno comp. The twinturbo big-block laid down a whopping 1469hp at the hubs, second only to Bubba Medlyn’s monumental 2483hp.
While it made massive grunt on the dyno, the big-block coughed and spluttered its way to that figure with ignition issues. At that point Cherry was still running a fairly archaic distributor ignition system, but since then he has upgraded the dizzy and set the timing with a crank trigger sensor. He also added a Racepak dash to keep an eye on the engine’s vitals.
Now the boys just need to get to the track to continue their charge towards that elusive seven-second quarter-mile!