Nitto Tire 2006 King Of The Street - Royal Rumble

Sixth Place - Tom Burns

Every Mustang starts out stock, but when a performance enthusiast gets his/her hands on it, the car can be made to perform beyond stock parameters. Such is the story of Tom Burns and his '03 Mustang GT.

When Tom purchased the car, he began with the usual bolt-ons. When he found Modular Powerhouse in Marietta, Georgia, the GT took a turn in the performance direction. Tom purchased a Vortech T-Trim Mongoose kit from MPH, and installed it at his Reston, Virginia, home with technical help from MPH's Tim and Andy Barth. "After it was installed, I drove the car to MPH for a fine-tune, and they got 413hp and 421 lb-ft of torque out of an otherwise-stock combination," Tom says.

Roughly a year later, he was back at MPH's doorstep in need of more power to make the car more dragstrip-oriented. The transformation entailed a twin-turbo installation, an MPH-built 4.6, a built automatic transmission, and an equally strong 8.8 rear. That combo rang the bell to the tune of 600 rwhp. After a couple years, Tom decided to go back to a more streetable setup, ending with the current power adder and a Kenne Bell 2.6 Mongoose kit installed by MPH.

On the Ride and Drive, we almost ran out of room in our notebook since we had so much to say. There was a lot we liked about Tom's GT. The 'cage featured swing-out door bars, making entry and exit a breeze. The exhaust was also the perfect combination of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: quiet when you were just putzin' down the street, but loud when your foot is in the water pump. Off the throttle, the exhaust was one of the quietest in the bunch.

But what detracted from the car's daily driver, throw-the-keys-to-anyone status was the race-derived Lentech Racing AOD-E transmission, manual valvebody, and reverse lock-out. A manual valvebody means you must shift the car into the next gear using the shifter; it doesn't go by itself. We found it difficult to get accustomed to since our cars don't have them. Of course, to Tom it's not a big deal, he's used to it; if you're not, you probably won't get it right the first trip down the street.

The other item that counted against Tom was the fact that the car loaded up when we put the gas pedal through the water pump. It was kind of our fault in the first place. Since the power and rpm come up so quickly in First, it has to be shifted almost instantly. We bounced it off the rev limiter, causing the computer to load the engine with fuel to keep the engine's innards inside. We had to sit on the side of the road while the computer reset itself enough for us to restart.

One aspect we loved about the Lentech AOD-E is the transbrake. If you've never experienced a transbrake, you need to because it's a blast. In a nutshell, a transbrake lives up to its name-it stops the transmission from moving the car until the arming switch is let off. It's mostly a race-only piece, but it's a lot of fun on the street. With the switch armed, you can rev the engine while the transmission is in gear, but it still gives the engine resistance, helping turbocharged combinations. Tom's GT didn't need a transbrake with the instant boost made by the Kenne Bell-supercharged combination, but combined with a Continental 5,000-stall converter, it was that much more fun.

What hurt Tom's score in the end was the car's 440hp number and the manual valvebody. The Dyno Numbers and Ride and Drive segments are the two most important categories, and these were Tom's weakest point showings, hurting his final score.

Here's a breakdown of how Tom's GT did: