For someone who’s new to the small tire racing world, the idea that a single turbo could be more lethal than a set of twins would seem crazy … that is, until they meet Ziff Hudson. In the power-adder game Hudson has made a career out of going extremely fast with just one turbo, and his newest combination reinforces that. Hudson recently took his revamped an gorgeous Fox body Mustang to Darlington Dragway and peeled off a three-second pass that put the entire heads-up racing community on notice.
The booming 3.96-second pass at 190 mph that Hudson laid down is no accident — over the years he has been one of the quickest around with a single turbo combo on radials. This three-second blast makes him the first big block single turbo car to punch into the sub-four second range.
When you talk with Hudson, he makes it clear that the combo is pretty simple. “Kevin Mullins at TKM Performance built the 527 cubic inch big-block Chevy. It’s just a conventional headed motor with Brodix heads, a Thomsen Motorsports intake, Billet Atomizer 800 injectors, and a single 118mm Precision turbo. Nothing really fancy at all, just a good solid motor.”
The big three-second pass was due to more than just the motor; the car itself got a big makeover. “The car went to Racecraft and they totally redid it. They cut the whole cage out, put in new floors, made it double framerail, added a floater rearend housing, and it got all their stock-style suspension parts. We were missing the ability to make the car accelerate and front-half the track, but now with the upgraded chassis I can bring the power in quicker,” Hudson explains.
Hudson plans on running some No Time races, then will bolt on the Mickey Thompson 275s to run the Pro 275 class along with Radial vs The World at No Mercy this October.
All of this success is something that Hudson didn’t accomplish all on his own, and he’s quick to acknowledge that. “Besides all of the companies that assist me, I get a lot of help from my friends at the Wheelchair Mafia, along with Barry Mitchell, Nick Reynolds, and Robby Keziah.”
Look for Hudson and his single turbo terror to make races all over the East Coast this fall very interesting, and continue proving that two is not always better than one when it comes to turbos.