DRAG JUNKIE
NINE-SECOND TWIN-TURBO SOARER
From an early age, Scott Tolhurst’s second home has been any quarter-mile (402m) strip of rubber-blanketed tarmac flanked by timing boards and a Christmas tree. Growing up chasing his dad the length of the country from drag strip to drag strip, it wasn’t long before Scott found himself strapped into the cockpit of a junior dragster and claiming his first New Zealand title. At the age of 17, he graduated into the big league, pedalling an eight-second rail car to achieve yet another New Zealand title before stepping into a sevensecond rail and then his dad’s Corvette for a pedal. But, when the ’Vette was sold, Scott became a man without a driver’s seat, vowing to one day build his own race car and get back competing. Nearly eight years later, it was finally time to pull the trigger and build a race car all of his own.
Daily-driving a 1UZ-FE Soarer meant that Scott had done plenty of research on the Toyota quad-cam, and he knew that, with a little boost added in, the 4000cc would more than deliver the power needed to achieve his original goal of running into the nines: “Paul Geri and his brother run a twin-turbo Capri in Australia that makes 12 or 1300[hp; 895 or 969kW] at the wheels and runs mid eights. If they could do [that], why couldn’t we?” Scott remembers thinking. Originally planning to only build a half-chassis car, the search for a Soarer to play victim began, but to no avail. He was, however, able to wrangle one that he could take a mould of, sparking the idea to go the full hog and build a full tubechassis car. Predictably, not two weeks after the body was popped from the mould, he was offered two Soarers to buy; nevertheless, he was committed to the new plan, and it was full steam ahead.
Having waited nearly eight years, Scott was not messing around when it came to the build itself, which was over in only 31 weeks, from cutting the first piece of tubing to giving it a test run. The chassis itself, which was designed by his father and himself, was built to SFI Foundation regs, and features a tube never before used here in New Zealand drag racing — Docol R8. This high-tensile rolled tube is stronger, in terms of both tension and yield strength, than chromoly and adds no extra weight. Currently, it’s only being sold in Sweden and one place in the US, which meant that the tube had to be shipped out with the help of a fellow racer. So, when a ton of bends made by a local shop came back incorrect, it was a bit of a disaster, given that the tube was not readily available here. But what build goes without a few curveballs, right? Thankfully, they were able to work around the issues, and the chassis soon came together, complete with an SFI-spec 7.49-secondor-quicker roll cage. Chassis-wise, things were kept simple and functional, with Strange uprights up front, and a floating nine-inch with Strange alloy head in the rear.
At first, the 1UZ-FE remained unmodified internally, with only a manifold and a set of Biagio turbos strapped on. Backed by the old Powerglide that Scott was used to swapping gears with in his dad’s Corvette, the unpainted and raw-looking Soarer was ready for its first test runs. The first shakedown provided a scary moment when a broken axle locked the rear end up over the finish line. But Scott managed to keep it off the wall and ready to fight another day. With paint yet to touch the panels, Scott was fielding a little flack to make the car “pretty”, as he explains: “At the start, all I wanted was to run nines and see where we get to from there. That’s why the car stayed white, which I got quite a bit of stick for. But the agreement was [that] until it runs a nine, I’m not interested in making it look pretty; I just want it to go fast — it’s a race car not a show car.”
A fully floating nine-inch with alloy Strange head spins a pair of 15x15inch Weld Alumastars wrapped in 15-inch-wide Hoosier slicks
The block has been O-ringed, while a set of Ross Racing pistons, eagle rods, and ARP rod bolts complete the rotating assembly. A custom plenum with 90mm Accufab throttle body feeds the pair of factory heads that remains stock apart from a shim-over-bucket conversion
Built for one thing and one thing only, Scott’s not interested in anything but going fast
He wouldn’t be waiting long to achieve his goal. Those nines came rather quickly for the stock 1UZ-FE, achieving a best of 9.45s before deciding that it was time to start mustering up some more power. A set of Ross Racing pistons bumped compression to 10.5:1, while new billet-wheeled Garrett GT3582Rs now call the 1U home. Old-school racer Murray Baker is responsible for screwing the new motor — which is still surprisingly simple — together. With an O-ringed block, copper head gaskets, Eagle rods, ARP rod bolts, simple it may be, but it’s tough! Built for 30psi, the current 14psi is really just scratching the surface of its capabilities. However, the factory valve springs are now holding on for dear life, and, should the team want to dial in any more boost, an upgrade will be needed first.
While those enhancements are very likely to happen in the near future, for now, Scott’s eye is focused on the racing season ahead and on jumping islands to chase another national title and have a skid at the IHRA New Zealand Nationals in March. After that, the wick will be turned up, but Scott’s keeping a level head when it comes to dialling in boost.
DRIVER/OWNER: Scott Tolhurst AGE: 30 LOCATION: Christchurch OCCUPATION: Driller BUILD TIME: 31 weeks LENGTH OF OWNERSHIP: Three years
THANKS: My parents, Kate and Trev; Phil at L&B Performance; Damon at Let’s Get Graphic; Murray at Engine Rebuilds; Simon at Towsafe Towbars; Stu at Euro Blast; Nigel at Transgear; Graham, Chris, Ricky, Phil