Laying down a seven-second pass in a door car is always impressive, but being able to do it with a factory transmission takes it to a whole new level. James Kakaletris has been chasing a magical seven-second time-slip, along with a few others in their Mustangs that still use the factory 6R80 slushbox. Last weekend Kakaletris’s Mustang broke the record at the Palm Beach International Raceway and took driver Ken Bjonnes pretty wild ride along the way, nearly smacking the wall in the twin-turbo Mustang.
Putting a car that weighs over 3,600 pounds into the seven-second zone isn’t an easy task, so the team at Rarefab that built Kakaletris’s 2015 Mustang had their hands full. The car features a Coyote-based, MPR-built engine that uses an Armageddon twin-turbo system with 64mm snails to provide the boost. The factory 6R80 transmission behind the engine has a set of upgraded clutches and intermediate shaft to help transfer the power to the full BMR Suspension setup.
Video From Palm Beach Dyno
The quest for the sevens started out pretty solid for Bjonnes with a stellar 8.01 pass right off the trailer, followed by several other low eight-second hits. On one of the final passes of the day, things took a turn for the worst when Kakaletris’s Mustang got out of shape. The Mustang made a crazy left turn just past the Christmas tree and transformed Bjonnes into a Formula Drift racer, rather than a drag racer. Thankfully, he was able to gather the car up and narrowly miss the wall. On the final pass of the day the Bionnes, who also tunes the car, was able to rip off a 7.975-second pass at 173.96 mph.
Check out this video from That Racing Channel that shows the record pass and the near miss with the wall.