The Q Collegiate Power Challange

The Exton team had some problems with their induction system during the dyno pulls, but the basic engine layout did them well. Exton chose to use a long-rod, short-piston setup in their 302, topping it off with Ford Z Racing heads ported and polished at their school. Summit Racing and Comp Cams supplied special items, too, and the final product looked good under the hood.

After the tailshaft problem was fixed, the Exton team made short work of the slalom course, running the fastest of all four schools with a time of 6.12 seconds.

Modifying FFR's chassis or rollbar was not allowed, so each car had the required rollbar in its stock location. The brightwork looked good on the Exton team's roadster--a fact noticed by the judges, who gave them second in the fit and finish category. The air filter in the passenger's foot compartment is functional.

UTI Houston's dyno god, John Zuniga, gives the Exton driver the GO! signal to start their dyno run. Though they managed a 324.10-horsepower run, one of the brackets that secured the rearend wasn't welded in place, and it shifted the assembly during one of the pulls. This was not good, and the troubles from this mistake followed them throughout the day (and would have earned the team a hard-luck trophy if there was one!).

In an effort to unbind the rearend, one Exton team member jumps on the cut-off wheel and starts to modify the brackets to get things working again.

The extent of the car's problems came to light when some initial testing Saturday morning found more broken parts. It's no fun pushing a race car back to the pits!

Exton ran the second-fastest time over in the quarter-mile with a run of 11.796 at 115 mph, which was done with some trepidation after all the trans and rearend work the car needed!

The next problem with the Exton car was the tailshaft housing, which broke due to the binding problem from the previous day's dyno pull. The team, after locating another housing back at the Houston campus, used the Reliable Transport car lift to get the car in the air while FFR's Mark Dougherty performed some quick welding duty.

The "Nightmare Blue" waterbased paint came from Auto-Air Colors, the sponsor and official supplier to each team for all their paint needs.