Aussie Drag Monster

There's no denying the contribution that chassis man and motorsport veteran, Darren Mood has made to the sport of drag racing. But when most of your time is spent working and crewing on other racers' cars, it's easy for your achievements to go unsung. Sure, Darren has had some really cool cars in his past but helping other people go fast has been his main game for a very long time.

That changed when in 2013 Darren took delivery of his latest racing weapon - this 1988 model Ford Mustang. It is built for one thing, to go as fast as physically possible on a radial tyre. And that's something it does well. Really well, in fact.

Thanks to its 444ci small block Ford and twin Precision Pro-Mod 88mm turbochargers, this relatively small capacity Ford V8 makes around 2000hp. Clearly power management becomes the name of the game and Darren and his crew are creeping up on the potential of this awesome machine with a current PB of 7.81sec @ 190mph.

While the car was first campaigned in the USA it has seen significant modification since its arrival in Australia. The rear end for example has been completely reworked by Darren. Similarly the car now sits lower over its 15x13in Weld Racing wheels. And that's to say nothing of the reworked engine and turbo combination.

Darren is a dab hand at making fast cars faster and with the benefit of his years of experience running Mood Motorsport and with literally dozens of drag racing builds under his belt, nobody in their right mind doubts that this epic twin-turbo 'Stang will soon follow the same path as those that have come before it - dead straight and oh so fast!

Rear end has been extensively revised by Darren to his own specifications including the use of custom Mencer Motorsport shocks.

Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials - the top dog in radial tyre racing worldwide.

For Darren, drag racing is a real family sport and he loves getting his kids involved. (Maybe he'll adopt us too!)

Special thanks to Darren and Mood Motorsport.