Being an American drag racer in Thailand is never easy, but I am here to report that dreams do come true! Immediately after building the drag truck you see here a few years ago, the two "drag strips" closed. Oh no! The car sat in my garage until six months ago when two young Thai guys built a two million dollar, state-of-the-art drag strip outside of town, Bangkok Drag Avenue http://www.bangkokdrag.com/home.htm)!! What luck! I got to work in a test and tune mode, making changes as needed.

The local scene is an "imports" racing scene (with one 454 big-block
Chevy-powered, tube chassis, all fiberglass Camero). There are no
dragsters. However the record is a 7.95 at 185 mph, which isn't too bad. In
addition to "open" class, there are several engine, tire size and
weight restriction classes (e.g., DOHC 6 cyl, 2800 pounds, and a 245 series
drag radial class called "Pro-6" which runs in the low 10s ). There
are brackets from 20 down to 12 seconds (that's right, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 second brackets). You can pay to enter as many
brackets as you like. We use "total time" for the index: the timers
start when the light goes green, not when you break the beam. I actually
like this; there are very few red lights. You wait at the line, rather
than slow the car down track. There is also a handicap start bracket,
but you must use a "whole number" (12, 13, 14, . . . . etc.) for your
TOTAL TIME dial-in. This is a very interesting style of drag racing
that you might want to ask your local track to try.

My drag truck is set up for the fast brackets (12 and 13 seconds), and runs 11.70s off the box with a very mild tune. It is a 1990 Mazda
Familia, a model that is not imported to the USA. The motor is a MicroTech ECU controlled, turbocharged 2500cc (151 cu.in.) DOHC Toyota 1JZ straight 6 with HKS cams. The 1JZ is coupled to a Toyota A340 automatic transmission (ECU shifted at 7200rpm), with a racing valve body and 4200 converter from MV Automatics in Australia. The narrowed rear end is from a Nissan 1-ton truck with a locally-made spool (4.63 gears) and re-hardened stock axles. Front disc brakes are early Mazda RX7, while the rears are Wilwoods. A homemade leaf-link suspension hooks the soft compound M/T 26X10 slicks very well. I worked with the Works Power shop here to build this 1900 pound racer, although I use MacTec and the Noi N2 Garage to maintain it, and Stryder Performance Dyno to set-up tune it. I would like to thank my sponsors MacTec, Stryder Performance Dyno, MicroTech, Glasurit Paint, VVP 4X4 Center, and Ampoline Oil. If you are ever in Thailand, please come out to the track. A map and contact information is available on their web site.