John Mihovetz Lowers Ford Mod Motor Record To A Blistering 5.88!
At last weekend’s Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas, there were records broken and new personal bests set left and right, but none may have been as satisfying, both for the team that accomplished the feat and the massive community they represent, than John Mihovetz blasting into the 5.80s in his Ford modular motor-powered Mustang. The mod motor camp has a natural and fierce rivalry with Chevy’s LS faithful, and Mihovetz put a dagger through the heart of the bowtie brigade with yet another lowering of the mod motor record, which now stands at 5.88 seconds at nearly 255 mph.
The ultra-light Pro Stock-style chassis that houses the diminutive modular beast wears a carbon fiber S197-style body and tips the scales just north of 2,500 pounds, which is a major factor in the car’s absurd performance. However, the bulk of the credit goes to Mihovetz and the ACCUFAB Racing crew for spending years fine tuning the 281 cubic-inch powerplant into the record-setter you see here.
The engine, which at last contact with ACCUFAB, boasted a factory aluminum 4.6-liter block and a Bryant aftermarket crank. The heads, which are also factory pieces, come from the venerable Ford GT powerplant. Thanks to Mihovetz’ dedication to his craft, the bottom end is able to withstand astronomical boost numbers nearing 60 pounds! Needless to say, John is getting all he can from the pair of Precision turbochargers hanging off the end of the headers.
While the season has likely ended for the ACCUFAB team as far as competitive racing goes, this group is not likely to kick up their heels and relax. It’s a likely bet that the car is already being freshened for the 2016 season, where Mihovetz and crew will see just how much further they can lower the record.
– Jeremy Patterson – Dragazine.com
Notes: Besides the 5.883 ET run and the 254.90 mph run, here are a few more from this weekend, some from qualification runs and some from elimination runs, in no specific order. 5.950 @ 249.72, 5.942 @ 253.14, 5.947 @ 253.14 (yup, the same mph on this run), 5.933 @ 254.04 and 5.962 @ 251.30. John was having some issues with tire shake going into 2nd gear on pretty much all of these runs, which he’s pretty sure has something to do with a lock-up clutch problem. Once he fixes that, he told me he can “turn up the power”. Car weight was 2510# with driver.
This is the quickest and fastest Ford powered race car in history, using Ford production block and heads. For comparison, the famous SOHC 427 blown Ford powered dragsters in the mid 1960’s, running on 85% nitromethane, ran in the high 6’s and under 220 mph. Connie Kalitta’s best run was 6.81 @ 219, and Don Prudhomme’s best run was 6.73 @ 213. These Top Fuel dragsters weighed in at about 1250#.
