Dane's VK
Dane Corrick is no stranger to big horsepower. He drives a 32 Tudor with a 632 cubic inch alcohol engine that has run a PB of 9.42 @ 142.1 mph naturally aspirated. The VK is a little tamer........a little, but it is still one tough street car. Dane's VK Commodore is Everglade Green with a blue pearl, and is definitely a head turner, but it is not the looks of this car that is going to get your attention.
The VK is packing plenty of heat under the bonnet. The engine is a 334 stroker with Dave Bennett alloy heads. The crank is custom grind with SCAT 4340 H beam rods bolted to it, and a set of JE forged pistons. The cam is a custom grind solid roller Sure cam with 700 lift, pushing up the Trend push rods, Yella Terra rollers, Ferrea valves and Comp Cams Springs. This engine has been good enough to push out 460 on the dyno with the gearbox slipping. Very tough indeed. The exhaust is a 3 inch mandrel bent X pipe coming from 1 3/4 inch genie extractors.
The gearbox is a Trimatic with a 4600 Melva 9 inch converter. At the back is a 9 inch diff with 4.11:1 Richmond gears, a Strange full spool and a set of 28 spline axles. This car has been down the 1/4 mile in an impressive 11.32 @121 mph with the old engine, and he is hoping to get well into the 10s with this one once the gearbox problems are sorted.
The VK sits nicely on a set of Pedders custom springs and Pedders Comfort Gas shocks on the rear, and Holden Camira springs and Sportsriders up front. I asked Dane about the brakes and he said "They are there and they work......sort of" - Sometimes that braking area at the drags is pretty short when you don't have a chute hey buddy? The wheels are Weld Billet Tarantulas in 16 x 9 and 16 x 6 with Michelin tyres.
The interior of the car is pretty much the way GMH intended it except for the dash. The instruments have been replaced with all Autometer stuff and the shifter is a Hurst 1/4 stickwith transbrake button. The full roll cage is a Bond unit.
Dane says that going fast was his attraction to cars, and his first modified car was a VB Commodore SL/E. Dane was one of my best customers last year when I ran a nitrous refilling station at Powercruise. He definitely doesn't mind getting out on the track and racing a few other guys, and this car definitely holds it's own
The thank you list for this car is fairly long. Shamon from Bronx Race Engines - Matt from Ultratune at Indooroopilly, Hi-Torque, Chris at Pedders Southport, Lex from Russell's Automatics and Jared from Jaz Performance. If you are out at the drags and you see a guy in a 32 Tudor that is bright red, go and say g'day to Dane. He is a pretty good bloke and certainly can give you a bit of advice on building and driving tough cars.
