Meet the 2500hp two-tonne seven-second Aussie that took

hey charger!
STORY andrew broadley PHOTOS jordan leist & kirsten nutting
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Hitter
Meet the 2500hp two-tonne seven-second Aussie that took on America
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W
E HAVE put the good folk
at the Street Machine
mailroom on high alert,
because if there’s one topic
that generates a flurry of
correspondence from our
readers, it’s the question of
what constitutes a real street car. To some, a street
car has to be 100 per cent street legal, while to
others it simply has to see regular road miles to
qualify for the tag.
No matter which way you slice it, after West Aussie
John Faraone hauled his stunning Charger halfway
across the planet to prove its mettle at Hot Rod Drag
Week and succeeded, it’s very difficult to argue that
it’s anything but. The 4185lb (1.9-tonne) monster
ate up the hundreds of miles between each track at
Drag Week 2013 with aplomb. It also ran as fast as
7.85sec@182mph, just two one-hundredths shy of
the fastest time for its class.
At 18psi, the Charger’s twin-turbo big-block
Chrysler makes 2500hp through a full exhaust and
fits entirely beneath the bonnet. Massive rubber
aside, the car still boasts the outward appearance
of a neat old RT Charger. And what’s more, it’s not
just a façade – beneath the surface, a surprisingly
high percentage of Valiant DNA remains.
Sure, the car has a rear clip and a comprehensive
funny car-style rollcage in order to comply with
NHRA tech regulations, but other than that, its body
and chassis remains 1972-issue Val hardware. The
floorpan, firewall and front chassis are standard, and
factory steel panels and wind-up glass windows are
retained. The interior trim is stock with the exception
of a set of Scheel seats, and it was only begrudgingly
that John let go of the rear seat.
“The car is NHRA-licensed down to 6.5 seconds,
and the chassis builder said there’s no way we could
achieve that and still hang onto the rear bench,” said
John. “It’s a very fast street car that races, not a race
car that drives on the street.”
While the Charger’s notoriety has grown in the
wake of its two consecutive Drag Week campaigns,
it has a long history of being one of the fastest street
cars in Western Australia.
“I bought it 24 years ago from a young guy for
$500,” said John of the car’s humble beginnings.
“The front left guard was green, the front right guard
was blue and the driver’s door was black. One of
the studs for the front seat was being held up with a
brick, so it was a bit of a roughie.”
John had a 12-second 265ci E38 Charger at the
time, and through building a series of tough V8s for
his mates and customers, he developed an interest
in building a 10-second streeter for himself. He
rebuilt his new acquisition, sprayed it orange and
assembled a 440ci Chrysler with alloy heads and a
small roller cam.
“In 1993 it was regularly running 10.7s at
Ravenswood at 3850lb weight, and by 1994 I
stroked it to 494ci and got it into the 10.4s, still
on leaf springs and with a 29x9in tyre,” said John.
He continued to develop the car, and in 1996 he
The Charger has a long history of being one of the fastest street cars in WA
ENGINE: The 572ci engine is based on
a Keith Black aluminium block with
Predator heads, Bryant crank, Oliver
rods and Ross pistons, managed by
a Big Stuff 3 ECU. Rather than use an
intercooler, the engine runs pump
fuel on the street and methanol at the
track. No intercooler means maximum
radiator frontal area. Important stuff for
the Drag Week torture test!
INTERIOR: There are no aluminium
race buckets, sheetmetal dashboards
or carbon composite switch panels
in sight. What you will find is a half
decent stereo which saw plenty of
action during Drag Week, and a 12V
fridge mounted in the centre console!
MAIN: Brilliant silver duco and RT
Charger livery, laid on by Vulcan Paint
and Panel, keeps things classy and
understated. Weld wheels measure
15x4.5in up front and 15x16in out back,
wearing Mickey Thompson 26inx4.5in
front runners and Hoosier 33inx18in
radials respectively
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built a 512ci engine which would eventually power
it to a 9.5@146mph on a 31x10in tyre, naturally
aspirated.
“It was Perth’s first nine-second street car, and
it did really well in dyno comps too,” said John. “It
was the first car in WA to make 500rwhp, 600rwhp,
700rwhp and 750rwhp naturally aspirated, and the
first to make 1000rwhp on nitrous.”
In 2000 John took it off the road to work on other
cars and, before he knew it, nine years had passed.
In January 2009 he made the call to do something
and seven short months later, it was ready to race.
Completely reborn with stunning silver duco and
a mental 572ci Chrysler big-block fed by a pair of
Garrett GT5518 88mm turbos, the car was a hit
with the punters at Powercruise, where John beat
on it all weekend.
“It wasn’t until October 2010 that I got time
I’d always maintained that if I couldn’t drive it on the
street then it’s useless.
“I never wanted a drag car, I wanted a credible
street car with a lot of power. There’s nowhere in
Australia to prove that you have a quick and reliable
2500hp street car. Drag Week is the only place you
can do it, so that’s what I decided to do.”
Unfortunately John’s transmission woes followed
him across the Pacific, and over the course of Drag
Week 2012 he managed to junk another five topof-the-range Powerglides from a number of leading
transmission shops. In fact, he had the transmission
in and out of the car a phenomenal eight times
over the course of the week, and paid $1500 for
hotel rooms he never slept in because he spent
each evening crawling around on his back under
the Charger in the car park. When you consider that
you have to perform all work without any outside
curveballs!
sevens, with a best of 7.79@184mph, full weight
and on radial tyres.
“I was happy, but it’s being going to run a seven
since 2009, and it was frustrating that it took
so long to get there because of transmission
problems. But it’s great that that the car has
achieved what it achieved in America and at Drag
Week. You’re rubbing shoulders with people that
have good resources and fast cars.”
That 7.85 not only made the Charger the fastest
Mopar at Drag Week for the second year running,
but also the fastest Mopar in the nine-year history
of the event.
Having owned this car for 24 years and an E38
even longer, we asked if John was a dyed-in-thewool Mopar man. “I love Chryslers, but I’m a car
enthusiast across the board. I’m not really a Mopar
man; I’m an engine guy. I like seeing the results on
DRAG Week never fails to challenge competitors. Here’s a brief
rundown on some of the curveballs John had to contend with:.
• Arrived in the US and noticed the car was idling funny the result of a jammed injector. Replacement injectors were
freighted overnight to the hotel and changed in the car park.
• New injectors meant starting from scratch with fuel
mapping. No dyno meant tuning the car on the street, and
trying not to get locked up in the process!
• The regulator in the alternator packed it in. MSD alternator
freighted overnight to the hotel and changed it in the car park
• More road tuning, noticed that the transmission oil smelt
burnt and the trans was getting hot. Changed converter.
• A TV interview caused lengthy delays, which meant John
arrived at Collinsville late. The car then broke the overdrive unit
on the first pass and had to be replaced.
• John drove to Memphis, ran 8.7sec, then broke it again on
the second pass. He replaced the overdrive unit with the stock
extension housing, then departed for Bowling Green.
• Noticing a noisy roller lifter 70 miles out of Memphis, John
replaced a full set of lifters.
• “When I broke the first overdrive, it was a mission to
change it in the heat with only the tools you bring to the track.
I was pumping out sweat and covered in transmission fluid.
Then, when we broke another one, it was a big blow. Then I
heard a noisy lifter and knew that the top had to come off the
motor. I was thrashing on the car ’til 3am, then had to drive
through the night to make Bowling Green and finish the event.
But that’s what Drag Week is about and that’s what makes it
so cool. It’s a challenge, and if it went smoothly it wouldn’t be
anywhere near as much fun”
The 7.85 made the Charger the fastest Mopar in the history of Drag Week
to take it to Kwinana to make a pass, and that’s
when the Powerglide transmission nightmare
became apparent,” he said. “On 18psi the car ran
8.60@170mph and broke the trans on the next run.
Fifteen ’Glides later, I still hadn’t done a real pass.”
Considerable R&D was invested in the
transmission, and with John hoping that he’d
finally found a gearbox that would cop the brunt
of 2500hp overcoming the considerable inertia of
a full steel street car, he made the call to head to
Drag Week 2012.
“The motivation to go to Drag Week came from
the fact that I’d had the Charger for so many years
and, while it had evolved and got faster in that time,
assistance, that’s a marathon effort. But John
persisted, running a best time of 8.2@170mph and
clawing his way through the event to be declared
a finisher.
American transmission guru Carl Rossler
then prescribed one of his Pro Mod XHD 210
transmissions and a Pro Torque stall converter,
and John faced Drag Week 2013 with renewed
confidence. You can read all about his campaign
in our big Drag Week feature on page 74, but in
short, the Charger’s best time of 7.85@182mph
set on day five was lineball with the class leader.
Not yet content, John drove it back to the track
in Kentucky the very next day and ran three more
a dyno, reading a number and seeing how efficient
the combination is.
“The Charger weighed 4185lbs at Bowling
Green with me in it and a quarter of a tank of fuel,
and it’s that heavy because that’s the way I want it
– a full steel street car. Nobody is making me race
a car that weighs almost two tonnes, and I guess it
will always be handicapped because of that, but I
don’t want a fibreglass race car.
“It was perfect in between tracks at Drag Week;
you wouldn’t believe how comfortable and quiet
it was on the highway, and it sat on 85mph at
2400rpm with the trailer on the back. Flick the Gear
Vendor on and it’d happily cruise at 100mph – that
If things are a little low in the rear, it could be the
immense weight of that trailer which, among other
things, contains 800 litres of methanol, plus tools
and spares. The car was getting 16 miles to the gallon
on pump gas in between tracks towing the trailer
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AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE!
Download the new and improved
viewa app, hold your phone
over the page and check out the Charger in
action at Hot Rod Drag Week
JOHN FARAONE
1972 VALIANT CHARGER
Colour: Medium metallic silver
ENGINE
Brand: Faraone Engines 572ci Chrysler
Block: Aluminium Keith Black
Induction: 105mm Wilson throttle
body
Turbos: Garrett GT5518 88mm
Wastegates: Tial 60mm wastegates,
Tial 50mm blow-off valves
Heads: Predator
Camshaft: Crower .800in lift, solid
roller
Conrods: Oliver
Pistons: Ross
Crank: Bryant
Oil pump: System 1
Sump: Dan Olsen
Fuel: Pump and methanol
Injectors: 8x225cc and 8x550cc
Precision
ECU: Big Stuff 3
Fuel system: Waterman 30gal/min
Cooling: Alloy radiator, twin thermos
Exhaust: Twin 4in system, twin
Magnaflow mufflers
Ignition: MSD 8, MSD leads, MSD
distributor
TRANSMISSION
Gearbox: Rossler Pro Mod XHD 210
Converter: Pro Torque
Diff: 9in, Strange Ultra 40-spline axles,
3.7:1 gears
SUSPENSION & BRAKES
John’s goal is to run 7.50sec on 18psi and then start
winding some boost in it. He built it to cop 50psi
thing made the drive between tracks so much easier.
We left the track at St Louis pretty late and hit a whole
heap of peak hour traffic in pretty intense heat, and the
water temp just sat on 185 degrees on pump gas; it
loved it.”
The car is due back in Australia in late November.
When it lands, John plans to do some preventative
maintenance to the diff, fix his boost control issue,
perfect the tune on 18psi and hit the track. The goal is
to run 7.50 on 18psi, and then start winding some boost
into it. John built the motor to cop a heady 50psi, so in
terms of horsepower, there’s plenty more to be had.
Will he be returning to the States for a third
consecutive crack at Drag Week?
“Yeah, I’m definitely heading back. To be honest, a
big part of why I do it is to prove people wrong. There
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has always been people making snide remarks on the
Internet or doubting my claims, so building this car,
taking it to America, driving it all week and racing it
against the best guys in the world was a good way to
put my money where my mouth is. Drag Week is the
proving ground for legitimately fast street cars and it
raises a lot of challenges.
“Because I built the car and I drive and maintain it at
Drag Week, the thought of breaking down on some
pitch black road in the middle of nowhere in America
doesn’t bother me. Aside from the rear end, the cage,
the paint, the transmission and some welding, I built
the car at home in the shed. My mate Jason’s job was
to wire up the stereo and the fridge and mix my Johnny
Walkers, and he got pretty good at it by the end of the
build!” s
Springs: 1.025 torsion bars (f);
Santhuff coilovers, 160lb springs (r)
Shocks: QA1 double adjustable (f);
Santhuff Pro Mod coilovers (r)
Brakes: Standard with Race Brakes
custom pads (f); Strange disc brakes,
twin-piston calipers (r)
Master cylinder: RRS
WHEELS & TYRES
Rims: Weld 15x4.5in (f) 15x16in (r)
Rubber: Mickey Thompson 26in X 4.5in
(f); Hoosier radial 33in X 18in (r)
THANKS
Faraone Engines/Dyno Centre for all
mechanical work and tuning, Carl
Rossler for building the transmission,
Precision injectors, Mike at Turbos
Direct, Dave and Greg Hight for storing
the car and supplying the VP M1
methanol, Claude Dragan for panel
beating the rear quarters, Vulcan Panel
and Paint for some panel beating and
the paint job, Ranch Auto Machining for
some machine work, Harris Machining
for more machine work and pressure
testing, Keith ‘Rooman’ Burgan and my
mate Jason for his help.