We’ve featured some cool stuff over the years from our friends at Sneed Speed. From some ridiculous aero testing on a diminutive Mini Cooper to a C6 ZO6 Corvette track beast. When their customer Ken crashed his first Diamond Sport Motors (DSM) Eagle Talon on track, the body was basically destroyed. He purchased this second generation 1995 TSi as a replacement body, and got to work transferring his race parts over to the new car. Then life got in the way and the car sat for a few years.
Suspension & Brakes
When Ken got the car back out on the road, naturally he decided it was time to establish a baseline. He took it to a local autocross and realized that the old parts he had transferred to the new body may have been a little more worn than he had initially thought. So he then brought the car to Sneed’s Speed Shop and they rebuild the Ground Control coil over suspension that was previously custom valved for Ken’s custom spring rates. Sound complicated? It was. They then rebuilt the front AP Racing big brake kit which required many, many phone calls all over the world to find the correct parts, because the kit was custom designed for this car over 10 years ago and most of the parts were no longer in production. We keep seeing that word “custom” a lot!
Engine and Tuning
Once the suspension was handled, a new Garrett Gt30 turbo was install in place of the very custom ported hot side and billet cold side turbo that Ken had originally had installed. Unfortunately, the previously built hot side housing had cracked internally, destroying it. Once the turbo, tubular manifold and new 3” down pipe were installed, the boost was set with a new Greddy boost controller. Head of the shop Chris Sneed tuned the fueling and spark timing himself using DSM-link on the stock ECU.
With the launch control now set at 6000 RPMs and fitted with 285 Hoosier slicks, Ken’s autocross starts should be insane. Stay tuned to RFD for more cool Sneed Speed projects, and if you’re in the Winston-Salem, NC area, go stop by!
Bonus Photos
