To those who meandered by, it looked like just another Torch Red 2020 C8 Corvette. Unfortunately, Caffeine & Octane can do that to you.
You can easily overlook something extraordinary when you have hundreds of beautiful cars and thousands of people milling around. Today that “something extraordinary” came in the form of Anderson Dick and his world record-holding C8 Corvette.
As you know, Anderson is the CEO of FuelTech, and their C8 holds the world record for the quickest C8 Corvette at 8.973 seconds in the 1/4 mile. In addition, producing 1,350 horsepower at the rear wheel is a feat that none have yet surpassed.
Though truth be told, Emilia Hartford and her crew are definitely working hard to regain the title.
We first met Anderson at C&O in November 2020. At the time, his twin-turbo beast was producing 750 horsepower to the drive wheels, which was impressive so early in this new generation’s product cycle.
We traveled to FuelTech’s ultra-clean facilities at Ball Ground, Georgia, and posted this story back in November 2020. FuelTech’s Ferocious New 750+ WHP Twin Turbo C8 Corvette.
Before we get into our recent conversation with Anderson, let’s take a moment and get you caught up with the problem traditional tuners have with the C8.
New Global B Electronics
For tuners, the issue has been, and always will be, GM’s new Global B electronics architecture. This recently developed electrical architecture provides the structure for future enhancements.
On the list are active safety features and GM’s hands-free highway driving system, Super Cruise. Global B handles roughly five times the data flow as GM cars on the road today.
That equates to as much as 4.5 terabytes of data processing power per hour.
This processing power needs to be protected by the latest in hardened cybersecurity for obvious reasons. Thus, Global B is currently a significant obstacle for tuning companies due to these special proprietary security measures.
The reason is the C8’s ECU can recognize attempts to modify its code. If it does, it may shut down while you’re working on it to save its factory settings. So, in essence, you could have a non-functioning brick on your hands.
The solution is a stand-alone ECU for the engine management systems, and if you want to go faster, one for the transmission. Fortunately for FuelTech, they specialize in those stand-alone systems and have for many years.
Congratulations Are In Order
What follows is our conversation with Anderson Dick at a recent Caffeine & Octane event in the Fall of 2021.
Rod Worley – Editor – Anderson, congratulations on setting the C8 Corvette world record of 8.973 seconds in the 1/4 mile!
Anderson Dick – CEO of FuelTech – Rod, thank you. We’ve been working hard to bring the horsepower up and find a solution to the clutch challenge.
The significant achievement was figuring out how to control the clutch. We put in a second FuelTech FT600 unit to provide us with greater programmability to the clutch to solve the problem.
From there, we felt we were ready to go to the track in pursuit of an 8-second quarter-mile. We’ve been to the track three times.
Each time we’ve consistently run low 9 second times. We had to replace the engine because I kicked out a rod one time.
Fortunately, we finally broke into the 8’s a couple of weeks ago in Orlando.
Rod Worley – Editor – Your C8 Corvette is an R&D project car to refine and showcase FuelTech technologies. So what’s next?
Anderson Dick – CEO of FuelTech – We wanted to be the first to run a 1/4 mile in the 8’s. Surprisingly, the world record was set with our C8 weighing over 400 lbs heavier than a stock C8.
So now, we’re making some weight reduction moves to get the car down to stock weight. In addition to the weight reduction, we will change out the turbos, cylinder heads, and a different clutch.
Rod Worley – Editor – Are you thinking mid to low 8’s with those changes? And what is your long-term ET goal?
Anderson Dick – CEO of FuelTech – Hmm, thinking 8.6 seconds, maybe 8.5 seconds in the 1/4 mile with the weight reduction and upgrades. I’ve got a long-term goal of getting down into the seven-second range, but that will take a while.
Definite Sleeper Qualities
Rod Worley – Editor – Drag racing is the most popular form of motorsports in the United States. It’s also the motorsports discipline in which FuelTech USA built its brand.
No doubt that expertise comes in handy here. Did you say you’re running two onboard FuelTech ECUs?
Anderson Dick – CEO of FuelTech – Yes, we’ve got a FuelTech 600, which controls the timing, throttle body, fuel boost control, nitrous launch control, and data logging. We use a second FT600 ECU to handle the transmission.
That one controls clutch pressure and the cooling system on the clutch.
Rod Worley – Editor – What surprises me is that if you close the frunk and the back hatch, the car looks stock on the outside.
Your C8 has that sleeper quality about it.
Anderson Dick – CEO of FuelTech – We understand that we couldn’t stray too far from OEM appearance to be a valid build.
Rod Worley – Editor – What were your goals when you first took on this project?
Anderson Dick – CEO of FuelTech – This wasn’t about how many kits we would sell for the C8. For us, there were two goals.
The first was about facing the challenge and solving the various problems. What we learned here can be applied to our other racing platforms.
The second was marketing through brand awareness. Marketing has changed so much in the past two years.
Today you’ve got to demonstrate innovation and show accomplishments. You have to be more than a banner or a sticker on a race car.
You have to prove that you can show up and do something different.
Backstory On FuelTech
FuelTech is a well-known, multi-national vehicle technology company, especially for drag racing. Their specialty is engine control units (ECU) for various high-performance motorsports.
They also create hardware and software solutions for advanced transmission controllers, which proved to be critical for this world record.
For this C8 project, the team designed an EFI setup that uses a custom jumper harness that allows an FT600 ECU to regulate fuel and timing in the twin turbos. The ECU controls the secondary fuel system and activates it when the intake manifold sees positive pressure.
The FT600’s internal boost controller governs the wastegate functions and other power management options. In addition, this controller allows FuelTech to customize the power curve at the dragstrip with a laptop.
The current 1,350 wheel horsepower record is mainly due to a new transmission strategy they developed specifically for this test car. The team created a bespoke wiring harness that allows a second FT600 to control the transmission functions.
The engine and transmission ECU issues that lockout most C8 Corvette tuners can be overcome with the innovations from FuelTech.
FuelTech Sets The Bar High
Rest assured, someone right now is hatching a secretive plan to overtake FuelTech and claim the world record for themselves.
However, FuelTech’s 8.973-second C8 Corvette quarter-mile world record has one caveat. To significantly modify a C8, you must know how to sidestep GM’s Global B electronic architecture.
Few automotive companies have expertise in building custom ECUs. Fewer still have FuelTech’s proven history of dragstrip success.
If I were a betting man, I know where I’d put my money.
So next time you visit Caffeine & Octane, and you’re surrounded by hundreds of beautiful cars and thousands of people milling around. Please take a moment to look around.
Anderson Dick from FuelTech and his world record-holding C8 Corvette might be there.
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