WA Super Sedan racer Lindsay Szep is preparing a turbocharged comeback with a fresh engine to take him in a new direction.
Szep blew a motor in 2011 and with little left to salvage he decided to take some time away from racing.
“I broke a conrod bolt in my 408 (cubic inch) Cleveland that led to a complete engine blow up,” he explained. “It destroyed the whole short motor. The only parts that were salvageable were the top end, heads, manifold and injection.
“I parked the car up as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to replace it with, so it just sat there.” Szep’s motivation rose in 2014 and after seeing what was being accomplished by turbocharged Ford motors, he targeted a new challenge.
“I decided to move out of my comfort zone and away from a V8 and made the choice to install a BA XR6 turbo motor.
“I have never had anything to do with turbocharging or computers, so I am really into uncharted waters. Selling off all the unbroken Cleveland parts has been able to buy and build a very tough motor.”
Szep said the new motor would be running methanol fuel but would be essentially standard, with the addition of forged internal components to ensure strength.
“Being a whole different combo I have had to remake and fabricate a lot of new parts to make the new motor fit,” he said.
“It was a tough decision to move to a six cylinder as I am a die hard V8 man, but I feel that moving forward with this motor is the right move.”
With a personal best performance of 8.84sec. and 243kmh on the drag strip, Szep wants to step up by a few tenths of a second.
“I’m really hoping to be able to run 8.50sec. or faster to run in the new Top Sportsman category,” he said.
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