05 Mar Bad Ass Black Mamba
Of the many race VW’s running transaxles prepared by Rancho Performance Transaxles, Damian McKenzie’s awesome Black Mamba is certainly one of the most unique. This is a home grown effort with most of the work being done by Damian and friends in his out of his garage in West Palm Beach. Competing in the heavily contested Modified Sport Compact category Damian’s best ET to date of 8.83 and speed of 153.04 is well worth note in that the car has just scratched the surface of its potential, which ultimately lies in the mid 7’s. 
Basically the car is built around a 1972 Super Beetle stuffed full of a 900+ horsepower Mazda rotary 13B engine running on VP M1Methanol. Power is transmitted to the pavement via one of Rancho’s race prepped Mendeola MD4-2D transaxles. Other engine and clutch specs include a GT42 turbo with HHS GT 60mm wastegate, McLeod adjustable twin disc clutch, MSD 2 HO x 2 distributor and SS Blaster coil, Chassis Shop Blow Off valve,1600 cc x 12 injectors, Waterman Mechanical pump and Microtech LTX 12s engine management system. Mamba’s chassis features a pan back half with 32” ladder bars, 4130 Chromoly cage, custom struts, Strange shocks and Jamar/Willwood brakes. Total car weight is just 2065 with drive. If you’re into drag racing and anything related to VWs this is a car to keep your eyes on. 
