If there is one thing that I consider myself fortunate to have witnessed first hand it has been the escalation of competition, technology, horsepower, and insanity in the world of street legal drag racing. At this point we have one five second street legal car on the face of the Earth and judging by what you are about to watch in the video below, we should have two at some point in the not too distant future. This video, made by Steve Morris at Steve Morris Racing Engines shows the 615ci test mule engine that is being used to sort the final package for Tom Bailey’ Sick Seconds 2.0 Camaro. You will see it make 3,625hp @ 7,500 RPM and more than 2,500 lb/ft of torque during the same pull. This isn’t the final product, this is a cast block engine that is close to what the billet block final mill will be but the reality is that there may be more in the bank here than we are seeing. Freaking crazy.
Obviously the target here or the perceived competition is Larry Larson and his equally nutty S-10 truck that became the first five second quarter mile vehicle with license plates ever last year in Las Vegas. Larson’s combo is similar in size (this one gives up a few cubes to Larry’s) and similar in turbos (both use twin Precision pieces) but after that, we can’t really speak to the specifics as ProLine and Morris aren’t exactly publishing a fact sheet on their particular engines at this time.
Perhaps the neatest thing about the mill comes on the upper end of the engine with the intake manifold and the fuel system. The intake is a billet piece made at the Morris Racing Engines shop and the fuel system is freaking nuts. Twin 500lb Billet Atomizer injectors sit in each intake runner to feed the engine a torrent of alcohol at high demand/high rpm scenarios and then there is a third rail that has been machined and inserted into the floor of the intake manifold that supplies gasoline for the ride between tracks. It is nicely integrated and until the camera moves near the lifter valley you’d never even really know it was there.
The engine in this video is based off of a Brodix block and brodix heads. The bore spacing is standard big block Chevy 4.84-inch stuff, and in the end this is just a bad ass mock up of the real thing that will be done with a billet block and heads. You will hear Morris mention that they plan on doing some PDRA racing at points with this car so that billet block setup will be used at times when they really want to “lean on it”. He also mentions drag week in the same breath.
Larry Larson has been out and about a lot this year with the truck. While we can’t speak for the amount of street driving we can speak for the amount of drag strip passes he has made and it has been a lot. The truck was supposed to be appearing at the upcoming Rocky Mountain Race Week event. We’re not sure that is in the cards after the engine went back to Pro Line for a service so we’ll see what happens. We’re guessing Bailey and Morris will be out with this car sometime in the next month or two.
Just freaking crazy, right?
