News Room Sport reached out to Team Mohamed’s Drag Race driver Terence Cox to get an insight into the team’s readiness for the mega showdown at South Dakota today.
The big clash will be either of Team Mohamed’s powerful GT-Rs, Goliath (black) and Godzilla (white), coming up against the rail car from Trinidad and Tobago.
News Room (NR): Another meet, how are the cars? I understand both had some modifications.
Terence Cox (TC): The cars are doing great. Goliath was the car getting all the changes this visit. It’s still on the same transmission, but the team installed a new engine to freshen up the old. It has been in the vehicle since delivery and has proven to be very reliable.
This engine sees a little more displacement and a billet block for strength. Same turbo kit but fresh turbos with a newer design turbine wheel. The team also installed a nitrous kit on the engine with the capability of adding up to 300hp to the car.
With the increased power output, the rear fenders were widened to increase the rear tire width to 13.5 inches each. On the interior a roll bar, harness, and racing seat was added for extra safety with the increased speeds from the extra power.
The white car remained the same but on the first day of testing the team found that the transmission had an issue on the last pass of the last meet. The 8.0 wasn’t a full pass as it shut off early.
They worked hard to get it changed overnight and it made a good pass today. We felt it’s ready for some track prep before pushing it much farther so we took it home and started working on Goliath’s new tune up.
NR: What will be the expected HP [Horsepower] out now?
TC: Goliath should be 1900-2000 horsepower now depending on the nitrous jets we install. The white car remains 2400-2500 horsepower.
NR: The rail car is back and seems confident that if good conditions they can top your ride. Up for that big challenge? There is also powerful Altezza.
TC: I’m really excited to see the rail car back. We had a great race last year and I think it will be even more spectacular this year with the full quarter. We both should be hitting some high speeds on Sunday.
NR: How’s the track treating you at testing thus far?
TC: The track is feeling really good. The Supra has been out testing with us and has helped put down some rubber so it’s hooking up very well. I’m looking forward to adding prep to the track and seeing how the cars perform.
NR: Any predictions on times for both cars (GT-Rs)?
TC: I’m confident the white car should be well into the 7’s this visit with a full pass. We aren’t quite sure where Goliath is going to land yet. From the data we were picking up a half second every run today (Saturday) and went the quickest it has gone here. With 20 pounds of boost and a lot of nitrous left to add to the vehicle, the fans might see a 7 second run from Goliath this weekend depending on how the track holds out.
NR: Any message for fans? It is expected to be a huge crowd.
TC: Thank you so much for all the support and coming out to the drags. The whole team appreciates it and I enjoy getting to be here to put on a show for them.
