The very first car for the drag I was trying to use was Opel Calibra 2.0 16V. Unfortunately the car found itself too heavy, even having that very attractive engine, the results were poor enough...sold.

The next step was to find the lighter Opel with the same engine. I chose this exact model of the engine after carefull checking all the possible info about the tuning possibilities, found it counted as one of the best N/A (normally aspirated) engines ever made - actually the story tells it was made for Opel completely by Cossworth. The lightest serial body could be a CorsaA, cancelled because of lack of choices at the search period. The next one was AstraA (Astra Mk3) or KadettE (Astra Mk2) - those models are a lot more available to find any good. Then again, to choose between those two the main reason was I never care about the exterior look for a such kind of car - Astra isn't needed then, with its perfect looking shape.

In a month or so the car was found and delivered to me. In nice condition, it was done 168k, almost no rust, having original GM LSD installed as well, as ATE Power Discs and brake cylinders with Ferodo Racing DS2500 brakes pads. Some other additional stuff was found there also. At the moment I've already contacted SBD Motorsport's chief Steve Broughton and bought from them all the parts I needed for the engine. The project started.

After 1st rebuild the engine had 227 HP @ 7400rpm and 224 Nm @ 6300rpm, but with serious power drop at the range 4300-5200rpm. Dang, that was difficult to race having standard gearbox F20 with its gear ratios, dropping to 2nd from 7900 to 4600...anyway, the car was fast. But somewhere in the middle of the racing season the engine cracked while going home. The 2nd rebuild came.

After 2nd rebuild we lowered the compression ratio from 12.7 to 11.2 ( as it was constantly detonating using 98 octan), some other custom changes were made - the power dropped down to 219 HP @ 7600, but the curve came much more flat, without any uncomfortable downs. At this point the season was successfully finished, winning all the races the part was taken.

The winter time was spent for the 3rd rebuild, as I wasn't happy with how the engine works. It was bit noisy (if you understand what I mean), and mainly I was afraid of the valves breaking because of the standard springs at too high revs. At the same time I've decided to replace those custom made camshafts I used before, as I suspected they aren't working as good as the they should be. Sure we also replaced the pistons to the new designed shape, and old injectors ( originals, they were screaming hard at 98% load) to the Peco's High Flow.

Current specification of the car looks something like:

243 HP @ 7800rpm, 260 Nm @ 6200rpm.

1998 cm3, stroke/bore 86.0/86.0, compression ratio 12.2

Pistons - custom made.

SBD 304 and 295 degrees high lift camshafts.

Self-made vernier pulleys.

FSE adjustable fuel pressure regulator.

Conrods - VW Golf GTI.

SBD Throttle bodies.

Peco High Flow 480ccm injectors.

MBE fully programmable ECU.

SBD Astra kitcar exhaust manifold.

Friedrich Motorsport GroupA 63.5mm stainless steel exhaust system.

Momo ceramic clutch.

Quaife Automating Torque Biasing system.

ATE Power discs/cylinders, with Mintex 1177 brake pads.

Balanced crank with the flywheel lightened by approx. 1kg.

Stripped body with the main interior removed, front seats custom made plastic, Sabelt harnesses, Momo st.wheel.

The original tachometer disabled, with the VDO 10k rpm analog tachometer installed, lambda analyser and shift light also.

Standard gearbox F20 with 3.55 final ratio.