“Super-Stang” Proponent Stays the Course!
For Surrey British Columbia’s Dal Sangha, the end result for a long personal passion for Ford Mustangs is one of the most radical and impressive drag racing vehicles for all of Canada……
Sangha is yet another Canadian participant who comes from within one of drag racing’s best loved but arguably “fringe” categories; the Fast Street Car racing genre. His racing career so far oozes with both dedication and determination.
Dal Sangha’s turbocharged Ford Mustang has evolved into one of Canada’s quickest and fastest “Pro Street” cars.
“I first started racing in the late 1990s with my 1988 Mustang street car,” Dal reflected. That was just like many others around North America. We had a fast street car and got the bug to go faster and faster with nothing but bolt-ons. The car started off in the 13 secs zone and graduated into the 12’s, 11’s and so on. That car had a 347″ small block Ford and ultimately went as quick as 7.89 secs @180 mph before it was mini-tubbed to allow bigger tires. It started off running nitrous and then Vortech supercharers, before switching to various turbocharging setups.”
“But like all speed junkies I wanted more,” he continued. “I met up with with Rob Guazzaroni (Diversified Metal Works) and we decided to update the car with a 25.2E chassis to make it legal to run 6 in the six seconds zone. We started racing that car in our local Pro Street class (CPSA) in 2003 and the car ran a best pass of 7.59 secs @189 mph — before I crashed it. We rebuilt the car over the next winter to help accommodate 34.5″ tires with a new back half and also new front tube chassis and then added a new carbon fiber body built by Token Fiberglass to the updated chassis.”
Over many season’s Dal Sangha morphed this 1988 Mustang into various versions.
“The rebuilt car was debuted in late 2004 now running on methanol and weighing 2540 lbs. With only a few shakedown passes we loaded up and went to Las Vegas to run in the PSCA Pro Street class. As a Pro 5.0 car we ran a 7.20 secs@206 mph off of the trailer with a 400″ small block Ford using a powerglide transmission and a PT106mm turbo. Then our 3rd pass netted us a 6.80 secs @209 mph! We were shocked that we ran as fast as we did – because we had run only in the 8 secs zone while testing back home.”
From that point on – Dal and his crew have continued with their seemingly never ending task of completing many upgrades throughout subsequent seasons. That included a switch to twin turbos followed by another setback when the car crashed and was totalled in 2008.
Dal Sangha
Sangha’s group showed continued resiliency however as they were quick to shake off any residue effects and carry forward their evolution. Fast forward to today, the team’s current and state-of-the-art late model turbocharged Mustang is at the pinncale of all that.
“This particular car was debuted at the Street Car Super National at Las Vegas in 2010,” Dal revealed. “The car was built by Diversified Metal Works (in Cloverdale, BC) and the chassis is surrounded by a Hairy Glass carbon fiber 2009 Mustang Pro Stock body. We use a 430 CID small block Ford engine and it makes big power by using twin GTX 88mm Alamo turbochargers which are controlled by Turbosmart 60mm waste gates. We run it on methanol and the fuel delivery is handled using a BS3 EFI system that is with 2 sets of 160lb/hr injectors plus a set of 225lb/hr injectors.”
With more then ample horses to play with, the team’s focus now has been more on power managment and their performance graduation in that department has been very impressive.
“We have run basically the same small block Ford and a twin turbocharger combo since 2006,” Dal continued. “But over the years we upgraded the turbochargers, engine block, transmission and torque convertor. The issue before has been that the car couldn’t always handle it. But we have gone from running 6.8 to 6.1 secs with it. Our quickest and fastest pass yet came last November at Las Vegas when we went 6.14 secs at 239 mph.”
One of the questions that does come to mind is that with a car that is now so capable why does the team continue on in Pro Street versus say more of a focus on mainstream Pro Mod class racing?
“We like to run Pro Street because it has weight breaks for all types of power adders and engine combos,” Dal explained. “We would love to run some Pro Mod — but the reality is we would be outgunned running a 430″ Small block Ford amongst 900″ nitrous motors, bigger block turbo cars and supercharged Hemi cars.”
It’s very apparent that Dal has accomplished a lot as a 100% independent racer.
“I am self employed as a finishing carpenter and I’m fortunate to have two young sons, two young daughters and a loving wife that support me,” he concluded. “I also have some great support from my crew which includes engine builder Chris “T-Bone” Trenholme and Brent Davis.”
Dal was also quick to cite the backing he receives from; Lucas Oil Products, High Performance Engines, Diversified Metal Works, Alamo Turbochargers, Ocean Park Ford, Permatex Canada, JE Pistons, Smith Brothers Pushrods, SCE Gaskets, TurboSmart USA, Speedwire and JS Powersports. He also credited the car’s great looking brilliant orange paint to expertise at Jan’s Precision Autobody.
Racing fans can look forward to a rather busy 2014 racing schedule for his team which will include the marquee “Doorwarz” and CPSA Pro Street races held at Mission Raceway (in July and August) and also the JB’s sponsored Rocky Mountain Shootout at Edmonton next Labour Day weekend. Sangha also has firm plans to return to Las Vegas for Street Car Super Nationals next fall.
Photos and Posting by: Bruce Biegler
