Al Anabi Performance / Doha, Qatar
The modern muscle-car world changed—for the better—in 1984 when the Buick Regal Grand National was introduced with a turbocharged V6. It ushered in a new era of performance that didn’t require a V8 to be quick. By the time the 1987 Grand National hit the streets, they were running in the 13s, and as the decade turned over to the 1990s, a feud with the Fox-body Mustang genre ensued for dragstrip supremacy. Fast-forward 30 years and there is a V6 that has taken the buzzin’ half-dozen crowd to a completely new level of insanity: the KH Series V6.
The concept began several years ago when Al Anabi Performance owner, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar, discussed the project with Alan Johnson. The two were involved in fielding a Top Fuel and Funny Car team in NHRA drag racing, and Al-Thani also had several Pro Modified cars at the time. Johnson owns the engine manufacturing company Alan Johnson Performance Engineering (AJPE), to which Al-Thani asked if it was possible to take one of the company’s 5300 Hemi engines and remove two cylinders to create a V6 combination from it. The KH Series V6 was born, and it has changed the way you will look at a six-cylinder engine from now on.
The 5300 Hemi engine block and cylinder heads are made from billet, making the modification to the design just a matter of computer design work and letting the CNC machines do the rest. The AJPE block features a 5.300-inch bore space, which is significantly wider than a standard big-block Chevy, which uses a 4.84-inch spacing layout.
There were only a handful of KH Series V6 engines made for Al-Thani’s performance shop/racing team, Al Anabi Performance, and one of them found its way into its Outlaw 10.5 C6 Corvette. Working with the masterminds at Pro Line Racing, the project was finished in the United States before being shipped back to team’s country of Qatar. The unique Outlaw 10.5 race car made its debut during the 2015/2016 Arabian Drag Racing League race season. Team driver Moe Atat pushed the Corvette to the brink of the 3-second zone in the eighth-mile in the first few outings. By the end of the season, the Corvette had reset the Outlaw 10.5 record with a best elapsed time of 3.87 at nearly 200 mph. The record is still standing more than a year later, and Atat is currently leading the Outlaw 10.5 championship at the midseason mark of the 2016/2017 Arabian Pro Series.
Short-Block
The block is an AJPE/KH billet engine block that is solid, meaning there are no water jackets. It is a 90-degree, V6 engine design with a bore spacing of 5.300 inches. The bore space is the center-to-center measurement between the bores; a larger bore space allows for a bigger diameter bore size. Each of the cylinder bores for this KH Series V6 is a robust 5 inches in diameter, and Pro Line Racing filled those holes with Bill Miller Engineering (BME) pistons. A Bryant Racing billet crankshaft features an undisclosed stroke, but our best guess at displacement is somewhere around 560 ci. BME also supplied the forged-aluminum connecting rods.
Cylinder Heads/Camshaft
Like the engine block, the cylinder heads are custom AJPE/KH splayed-valve, billet cylinder heads, but these have water jackets to help keep it cool. Pro Line Racing tapped Crane Cams to build a custom camshaft using an AJPE 70mm billet cam core. The only specifications revealed were that the duration was in the mid-270-degree range at 0.050-inch lift. AJPE teamed with T&D Machine to custom build 1.8:1 aluminum shaft rocker arms specific for this type of engine.
Induction
Striving to make 3,500 hp requires a significant induction system, and it all starts with a pair of Precision Gen2 Pro Mod 98mm turbochargers. The air is forced through a pair of 105mm throttle-bodies before it enters a custom Hogan billet/sheetmetal intake manifold. The maximum manifold pressure is unknown, but rumors around the racing world put it at more than 50 psi of boost.
Fuel System/Engine Management
Everything at this level is huge when describing the fuel-supply requirements. A Waterman mechanical fuel pump feeds 16 Billet Atomizer fuel injectors, and each one is rated at 700 lb/hr—to put that in perspective, a production 2013 Corvette ZR1 relies on eight 56-lb/hr fuel injectors. The latest EFI technology is required when you have 16 hoses spraying VP Racing Fuels M1 methanol fuel into the engine. For that, the Al Anabi Performance team employs a FuelTech FT500 engine-management system with assistance from an MSD Grid ignition system. Pro Line Racing’s Steve Petty handles the tuning chores on the beast.
Drivetrain/Chassis
The engine is backed by a Rossler two-speed transmission that is based off a TH400 three-speed. The first gear is removed to reduce the numerically high First gear, and it essentially uses Second and Third gears only. Jerry Bickel Race Cars built the chassis and the car began life as a C6 Corvette before a SFI 25.2 chassis was constructed within it, complete with upper and lower framerails for rigidity. Rolling stock consists of a pair of Mickey Thompson 33×10.5W tires, which help earn the car’s best 3.87-second e.t., a record for the Outlaw 10.5 category.
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