Predator – All New Powerplant, Will We See 200MPH? – 07
Do you reckon you’re into drag racing? There are a few people who
live and breathe the sport, but not many I know are as dedicated as Mark
Bardsley. For Mark, this is not a pastime or a hobby, it’s not even a
sport, it’s his life. It’s something he puts 110 per cent into. When not
at his job at Advantage Tyres he’s either racing, working on, cleaning
or displaying his Camaro. Unless he’s down at Champion Dragway, doing
his bit as a track official…
Mark found working on the late Murray Taylor’s Top Alcohol dragster far more interesting than school, and spent many hours being taught lessons in life by certain Pukekohe Hot Rod Club members, a corruptive influence on the lad for sure. No one can remember exactly who’s responsible, but someone christened him Festus, a name that those who were around then still call him by today.
Next came the awesome car many associate Bars with, truly one of New Zealand’s most impressive street and strip machines, the infamous ’67 Camaro. Mark raced this car at every possible meeting, and got the ET down to a creditable 10.1 while still cruising Queen Street most Friday and Saturday nights. However, having a car most of us would kill for wasn’t enough, Bars wanted more.
He’d always admired a certain ’68 Camaro race car built by the Shadwick Brothers for BB/TS. “It looked great, had a good history and no expense was spared.” The car was up for sale in pieces, and Mark was keen. Jonah Lomu was spending lots of Friday nights down at Champion Dragway, and Mark took him for a ride in his street Camaro one night. Jonah loved it, and had to have it. Lots of South Pacific pesos changed hands, Jonah had his new Camaro, and soon after Mark had his.
This ’68 Camaro was originally built by Alan and Bruce Shadwick as their personal race car. Anyone who has ever met the twins knows perfection is the only acceptable target, and the Camaro more than makes the grade. The car was purchased as little more than a shell, and Al chopped the roof, removed the drip rails and leaned the windscreen back to aero up the package. The fibre front has a moulded-in front air dam, and the car’s boot lid was replaced by a rear wing that blends into the bubbles on the rear guards. Mark has since made the bubbles even bigger, as the Camaro’s new slicks and rims have reached jumbo proportions.
Engineering kit, and hang off the bottom of the Strange struts. There’s a Pinto steering rack to point the rocket with, but setting up the back end of the car has more to do with where it’s gonna go… The rear end also features bulk Strange componentry. The nine-inch nodular iron centre section, 40-spline spool and floating hubs all came from its catalogue, as did the four-piston callipers and rotors. What the clever brothers did was build a showpiece car that was virtually bullet proof, ensuring the Camaro could handle whatever was placed into the engine bay. They chose a 358ci (5867cc) Rodeck with an 8-71 Supercharger and Lenco transmission, a combination that screamed its way into the 7.40 zone.
it was hardly recognisable. Gone was the red, white and blue and in its place was a vivid green, several intimidating murals and the name ‘Predator’. With the addition of Wayne Yearbury to advise Mark on tune-up issues, the team was in business.
Mark’s first outing in the car at a street meet taught him a few things about blown alcohol doorslammers. Like how they can swap ends real quick on a slippery track, and how dancing the two-step with Mr Guardrail can ruin your whole weekend. However, those
who know Bars well knew it wouldn’t take him long to repair the ruined fibreglass and get back out there, and he was ready for the opening meeting.
To his credit these are difficult vehicles to drive and Mark was competitive from the get-go, not an easy thing to be when the car has already bitten you once.
Predator made plenty of finals, and more often than not Mark’s opponent would be Craig Brown. Given the close, almost incestuous
relationship between these guys the art of the wind-up gets more and more finessed with every encounter. Mark says, “I like racing Brownie, we always have some good close races. I quite often lose on the lights, but they’re always good fun.”
It uses more Crane equipment to open the titanium valves that reside in the Alan Johnson cylinder heads. The intake is a work of sheet metal art, but will probably be hardly noticed under the massive 14-71 Littlefield Retro High Helix Supercharger. Mark claims he’d be happy running low sevens, but at 57 per cent overdrive I reckon he’s telling porkies. Looking for mid sixes more like… An Enderle buzzard catcher sits atop the huffer, while the engine-driven fuel pump pulls fuel out of the Sims Metalcraft fuel tank and pushes it into the complicated serious of bleed-offs, by-passes and return lines so that just the right amount of fuel gets ignited by the Mallory/MSD ignition. The fuel system is where the power is found in these engines, and this set-up is bound to receive the Yearbury tweak.
Connecting the Lenco to the engine is the Crower 10-inch triple plate clutch, something that is almost standard in Kiwi Top Doorslammers now as everyone tries to find the perfect balance of power to traction. Finding power is the easy part for this team, it estimates the engine to have around 2500hp (1864kW). That’s a lot of horsies. Personally, I can’t wait to see this revamped machine hit the track. You should be there to check itout too, after all, how often do you get to see a 200mph (320kph) car show?
Mark found working on the late Murray Taylor’s Top Alcohol dragster far more interesting than schoolYoung Mark was doomed to be a drag racer, his future was completely out of his control. His dad worked at the same garage as Wayne Yearbury, and where Yearbury was there would be a pile of degenerate drag racer types hanging around with names like Gubb, Smith and Taylor.
Mark found working on the late Murray Taylor’s Top Alcohol dragster far more interesting than school, and spent many hours being taught lessons in life by certain Pukekohe Hot Rod Club members, a corruptive influence on the lad for sure. No one can remember exactly who’s responsible, but someone christened him Festus, a name that those who were around then still call him by today.
Infamous for the famous
Mark’s first car of note was a tidy SS Commodore. It was raced occasionally at street meets, but Mark was far more likely to be found up on the start line filling in for the legendary Plank. His next car was the famous big block Chev pushed HQ ute. Tubbed, blown, and very, very green, it ran a no traction best of 11.5. It saw regular street use, and Mark received a new nickname from his peers, one most people are more familiar with, Bars.Next came the awesome car many associate Bars with, truly one of New Zealand’s most impressive street and strip machines, the infamous ’67 Camaro. Mark raced this car at every possible meeting, and got the ET down to a creditable 10.1 while still cruising Queen Street most Friday and Saturday nights. However, having a car most of us would kill for wasn’t enough, Bars wanted more.
He’d always admired a certain ’68 Camaro race car built by the Shadwick Brothers for BB/TS. “It looked great, had a good history and no expense was spared.” The car was up for sale in pieces, and Mark was keen. Jonah Lomu was spending lots of Friday nights down at Champion Dragway, and Mark took him for a ride in his street Camaro one night. Jonah loved it, and had to have it. Lots of South Pacific pesos changed hands, Jonah had his new Camaro, and soon after Mark had his.
This ’68 Camaro was originally built by Alan and Bruce Shadwick as their personal race car. Anyone who has ever met the twins knows perfection is the only acceptable target, and the Camaro more than makes the grade. The car was purchased as little more than a shell, and Al chopped the roof, removed the drip rails and leaned the windscreen back to aero up the package. The fibre front has a moulded-in front air dam, and the car’s boot lid was replaced by a rear wing that blends into the bubbles on the rear guards. Mark has since made the bubbles even bigger, as the Camaro’s new slicks and rims have reached jumbo proportions.
Strange things
The Shadwicks also built the chromemoly chassis and four-link rear suspension. The front wishbones were constructed using a StrangeEngineering kit, and hang off the bottom of the Strange struts. There’s a Pinto steering rack to point the rocket with, but setting up the back end of the car has more to do with where it’s gonna go… The rear end also features bulk Strange componentry. The nine-inch nodular iron centre section, 40-spline spool and floating hubs all came from its catalogue, as did the four-piston callipers and rotors. What the clever brothers did was build a showpiece car that was virtually bullet proof, ensuring the Camaro could handle whatever was placed into the engine bay. They chose a 358ci (5867cc) Rodeck with an 8-71 Supercharger and Lenco transmission, a combination that screamed its way into the 7.40 zone.
What the clever brothers did was build a showpiece car that was virtually bullet proof,
Big or small?
When Bars bought the car it was engineless, and he had planned going the blown big block route. When Murray Smith advised him he couldn’t build anything better than the Camaro’s old motor for the same money, Mark made a deal and the small block Rodeck and Camaro were reunited for a few years. At the car’s unveilingit was hardly recognisable. Gone was the red, white and blue and in its place was a vivid green, several intimidating murals and the name ‘Predator’. With the addition of Wayne Yearbury to advise Mark on tune-up issues, the team was in business.
Mark’s first outing in the car at a street meet taught him a few things about blown alcohol doorslammers. Like how they can swap ends real quick on a slippery track, and how dancing the two-step with Mr Guardrail can ruin your whole weekend. However, those
who know Bars well knew it wouldn’t take him long to repair the ruined fibreglass and get back out there, and he was ready for the opening meeting.
To his credit these are difficult vehicles to drive and Mark was competitive from the get-go, not an easy thing to be when the car has already bitten you once.
Predator made plenty of finals, and more often than not Mark’s opponent would be Craig Brown. Given the close, almost incestuous
relationship between these guys the art of the wind-up gets more and more finessed with every encounter. Mark says, “I like racing Brownie, we always have some good close races. I quite often lose on the lights, but they’re always good fun.”
How fast?
Those days have probably drawn to a close now. Mark has updated the Camaro yet again. Gone is the small block and the BB/TS class, now the car features 526ci (8620cc) of Alan Johnson racing engine. For those unfamiliar with the name, this man is probably the top fuel tuner on the NHRA drag circuit, and is known for being one innovative, clever dude. Before he entered the Top Fuel ranks, he raced Alcohol Dragsters and dominated with class with a Pro Stock style wedge head rather than the Hemi head most of the competition was using.My point — Mark has one serious engine under the glass hood of his Camaro.My point — Mark has one serious engine under the glass hood of his Camaro. It’s assembled by Murray Smith of Papakura Engine Specialists, the same guy who builds Craig Brown’s and, oh, about a 100 other racers’ engines. The monster motor features a foundation based on an alloy block, Crower crank, Brooks alloy rods and Arias pistons, just your standard run of the mill Pro Mod components. There’s a Crane cam of “we’re not telling” lift and duration.
It uses more Crane equipment to open the titanium valves that reside in the Alan Johnson cylinder heads. The intake is a work of sheet metal art, but will probably be hardly noticed under the massive 14-71 Littlefield Retro High Helix Supercharger. Mark claims he’d be happy running low sevens, but at 57 per cent overdrive I reckon he’s telling porkies. Looking for mid sixes more like… An Enderle buzzard catcher sits atop the huffer, while the engine-driven fuel pump pulls fuel out of the Sims Metalcraft fuel tank and pushes it into the complicated serious of bleed-offs, by-passes and return lines so that just the right amount of fuel gets ignited by the Mallory/MSD ignition. The fuel system is where the power is found in these engines, and this set-up is bound to receive the Yearbury tweak.
200mph!
Once burned the spent mixture is rudely shoved out the exhaust port into the beautiful HPC-coated 2.5-inch zoomie headers built by Terry’s Chassis Shoppe. “Terry has always put a lot of work into all of my cars, and he outdid himself with what he has done to this deal,” Mark says. Inside the car there’s a seat and a full complement of Auto Meter gauges, but the only thing most people notice is the Lenco four-speed. Seven seconds isn’t much time to go through four gear changes, but it’s actually a bit easier for Mark as this car used to have five forward gears.Connecting the Lenco to the engine is the Crower 10-inch triple plate clutch, something that is almost standard in Kiwi Top Doorslammers now as everyone tries to find the perfect balance of power to traction. Finding power is the easy part for this team, it estimates the engine to have around 2500hp (1864kW). That’s a lot of horsies. Personally, I can’t wait to see this revamped machine hit the track. You should be there to check itout too, after all, how often do you get to see a 200mph (320kph) car show?
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