This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go out to North Carolina with some folks at Mobil 1 for a weekend filled with automotive insanity. We made a stop to a very famous shop on the outskirts of Charlotte, Underground Racing. It's a shop that houses hundreds of thousands of horses under its roof and is an automotive fan boy's wet dream.
THE ART OF UNDERGROUND RACING
"An automotive fan boy's wet dream"
(Posted 05/25/2010 on SpeedHunters.com)
Story and Photos by: Linhbergh Nguyen
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go out to North Carolina with some folks at Mobil 1 for a weekend filled with automotive insanity. We made a stop to a very famous shop on the outskirts of Charlotte, Underground Racing. It's a shop that houses hundreds of thousands of horses under its roof and is an automotive fan boy's wet dream.
The shop floor is filled with Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and Dodge Vipers. I heard there's even a few Audi R8s hidden away....
The Ferrari F430 in the foreground has had its engine ripped out for a twin turbo treatment.
This was my first ever sighting of a Lamborghini Murcielago SV... and it also did not have an engine inside of it. The guys at Underground Racing ripped out the Lambo V12 to throw on two turbo chargers. Yeah, you heard me correctly.
The SV may not have its engine but at least the interior was still intact! Oh what an interior it is.
I couldn't help but a bit fan-boyish and stole a moment to sit in the SV's seats. Not the most comfortable seats in the world, but you feel instantly luxurious as it hugs you in with its suede delightfulness.
We'll take a look at this Gallardo in full detail very soon. Grab the desktop wallpaper of it if you haven't already!
Another Gallardo without an engine on the lift.
A stage one twin turbo Gallardo kit starts at a mere $39,000 and you can go all the way to a stage three which would put you down just a little over $100k. But for that price, you get a reasonable and tame 1000 wheel horses. If you want 1600 WHP and fly at 250+ miles per hour on a standing mile in Goliad, Texas, then that'll cost you just a bit more....
Undergound Racing currently holds the record for a standing mile at a sanctioned event -- 250.1MPH!
These turbo kits are a work of art aren't they?
What you're looking at is Underground Racing's twin turbo kit for the Murcielago. These kits start at a reasonable $59,000 for 700 wheel horse power and can go up to $109,000 for 900 wheel horse power! Completely affordable, right?
Underground Racing also includes a 2 year / 24,000 mile warranty on all their Turbo Kits as long as the car is serviced with Mobil 1 15W50! The warranty has no affiliation with Mobil 1 at all, they just believe in the product that much. Who else do you know offers any sort of warranty on their aftermarket parts?
Every single piece of the turbo is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.
This is just pure, high end art.
Another shot overlooking the Murcielago's kit.
Check out this custom intake manifold made out of billet aluminum.... a work of art this is.
Lamborghini V12s just laying about.
...and also a few V10s.
In a darker corner of the shop sat this Lamborghini transmission. New gearing for a standing mile? Perhaps.
Underground Racing has a lot of customers that ship their cars overseas to their shop in North Carolina. This right hand drive Gallardo came from England.
Here's a Gallardo engine slowly getting put back together. It's beautiful, is it not?
Outside sat a very intimidating looking lifted Ford Excursion. It's owned by a very loyal Underground Racing customer.
And that very loyal Underground Racing customer is the owner of the 241 MPH Texas Mile Gallardo. A full feature on that car is coming.
Quite the shop isn't it? You can go ahead and wipe off that drool now.
-Linhbergh
