BURNS UNIT

> CHASSIS GURU CRAIG BURNS AND HIS FAMILY HAVE ONE OF THE TOUGHEST RADIAL CARS IN THE COUNTRY WITH THEIR THREE-SECOND MUSTANG

SYDNEY’S SCF Race Cars has built a reputation as one of the best race fabrication shops in Australia. The number of killer cars they have built or had a hand in setting up would rival the biggest and most famous race shops in the USA.

For owners Craig and Shellie Burns and their boys Cory and Joel, racing is a family affair. “A while back we decided to get the boys into Junior Dragsters, and we all just loved it,” Craig says. “It’s an awesome class with a lot of great people having fun. It restored my faith in the sport by putting the fun back in it. There were times when we were due to race at Sydney but it was pissing down, so we all just hauled down to Heathcote to race and were back home Sunday night for work on Monday. That’s the way racing should be: uncomplicated and fun with family and friends.”

But given the time and energy they devote to fixing and building other people’s cars, it’s amazing that the Burns brood could still muster the enthusiasm to build a world-class radial car that recently ran nine three-second eighth-mile passes in a row at the Kenda 660 Series meet at Sydney Dragway, with a 4.04-second pass on only its fourth hit!

The car is a blown 2004 Mustang Pro Radial machine. It has the capacity to change classes and run a slick at some stage, but it’s staying radial for now.

“We decided to build a car with some pretty simple rules: it had to run a three on a radial, five on a slick, and my boys had to build it with me,” Craig explains. “From the outset we were going to do it right – use the right parts and surround ourselves with the right people. Sure, it’ll cost a lot, but it only costs up front. If you build it with junk it takes five times as long and you end up spending double. Then you get disheartened and sell it off without achieving anything.”

Craig actually bought the motor two years before the family started work on the car. The Mike Janis-built blown Hemi was a real sweet deal with only 20 passes under its belt from new. It’s a 521-cube Brad Anderson combination with a set of Brad 8X heads and a PSI D-rotor screw supercharger that they have been running at 120 per cent overdrive for around 50psi of boost.

The car itself is out of Florida, via well-known racer Kevin Fiscus. “Kevin told us to get on Craigslist and start searching in a growing radius from his address,” Craig says. “While I was up in Darwin racing the Junior, I got a call from Shellie to say we had bought a car. Kevin went and picked it up off the car lot, drove it home, pulled the driveline and seats out and slipped it into a container along with a one

THE MUSTANG RAN NINE THREE-SECOND EIGHTH-MILE PASSES IN A ROW AT THE KENDA 660 SERIES MEET AT SYDNEY DRAGWAY