IT RUNS on E85 fuel, chewing through about 10 litres of the stuff in just a fraction more than 400 metres on a drag strip, and has been clocked at 230km/h in that short distance.
These are the figures Wanganui drag racer Glen Huijs has been racking up in his highly modified Mazda RX7. And those times and speeds are all happening from a standing start.
This weekend Huijs and his speed machine are heading to Meremere drag strip in the Waikato to compete in the rotary nationals. Last weekend he covered the quarter mile (drag racers still record in Imperial measures) in 9.6 seconds. From a standing start that means his Mazda was travelling at 230km/h by the time it crossed the finish line. He's hoping he'll get that time down to 8 seconds on Sunday which means his terminal speed will be about 241km/h.
Huijs is from a family with a strong connection in motorsport. His dad, Willy, showed him the way with creditable performances in speedway.
The younger Huijs runs his super-quick rotary-engine Mazda RX7 in the sports modified class and he's ranked among the top 20 in the country. The car carries a massive turbo charger which means the tiny engine generates 600 horsepower to the driving rear wheel. There are massive air intakes at work, so the turbo can suck in as much as it can to deliver punch to the engine.