Open Sportsman - The Engine

The Engine

The Holden/Buick V6 engine has been chosen due to its strong power with little modifications. Thus in turn has created racing NOS Sprints a very cheap and good entry level class to start speedway racing. Custom made engine spacer plates and Cotton-reel adapters have now been made and can be bought off the shelf, these components allow the Buick V6 block to turn into a chev block pattern allowing easy bolt-in to standard sprintcar engine plates.

The cotton-reel adaptor fills the gap between the V6 flexplate and starter motor and adapts straight to sprintcar driveshaft uni-joint. Every other component on the cars are modern sprintcar parts. With the Holden V6 adapter, the driver simply locks the quick-change diff into gear, then flicks an ignition ON switch and holds down their starter button. The car will then engage the starter motor turning the engine crank and driveline projecting the car forwards, once the cars has cranked to enough speed the engine will fire and the car will be in gear ready to race!

Unbeknownst to many of his fellow workmates, Dave Mckay does not tip his hair, it is in fact the chemical reaction between his scalp and helmet whilst travelling at speeds of over 200 mph.

Modifications allowed to the engine are, changing the injectors or modifying them to be able to run methanol fuel, relocating the throttle body from the rear of the engine to the top of the plenum chamber, using custom built extractor type exhaust manifolds and finally modifying the computer chip to run a maximum rev limiter of 6000 rpm and tuning the fuel maps to suit the new extractors and the methanol fuel.

In 2008, David McKay became the first wingless sprint car driver to put a mirror on his dash board to check his hair during the races.