Engine of the Week is presented by
Like any addiction, many people get sucked in at a young age. However, unlike those other unhealthy addictions, Yufeng Luo has an addiction to speed. Luo is a former racecar driver and owner of Y Motorsport, a Whittier, CA-based shop, which builds out luxury racecars, drift cars and off-road vehicles.
Yufeng’s addiction to speed started at the ripe age of 13. He has since become the youngest ever Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) National Champion at age 16 and is a race winner in Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Road to Indy, and FIA Formula 4.
Teaming up with two-time Formula 1 World Champion race engineer, Ricardo Divila, Yufeng is using experience gained from years in professional motorsport to establish a custom racecar construction company in Y Motorsport with a focus on drift cars, road race cars and off-road vehicles.
The California company operates out of a 6,000 sq.-ft. facility specializing in metal fabrication, engineering, CAD design, and precision machining. Y Motorsport’s first project was to construct a Nissan Skyline R34 professional drift car. The Nissan Skyline R34 is arguably one of the most desirable sports cars in the world with less than 200 examples in the USA.
To start the custom build, Yufeng stripped the car down to the bare frame and constructed a professional drift car with technology and performance only rivaled by the world’s top OEM-built racecars. Yufeng and his team will ultimately be taking the Nissan Skyline R34 to different cities and countries to demonstrate precision driving on the world’s most challenging roads.
Yufeng is also promoting safe driving and advancing auto racing by making the sport more accessible to car enthusiasts. His company is working together with Formula 1 circuit designer, Tilke Engineering, to construct a racing resort that includes a world-class racetrack – not only suitable for professional drivers – but also enthusiast drivers and vehicles of all levels. The project will have the first racetrack in the world to be surrounded by luxury high-rise apartments with elevators that can bring cars into each individual apartment living room. Yufeng plans to open the race resort in 2023 – but’s that’s another story.
Back to the Nissan Skyline R34 – the drift car build features a ton of custom elements, but the real secret sauce is in the engine – a 427 cubic inch LS7 built by Ken Duttweiler of Duttweiler Performance and refreshed by Bruce Nogrady of Nogrady Racing Engines.
The engine build includes an RHS tall deck block machined to 427 cid. The rotating assembly features a forged crankshaft, forged rods and JE pistons and rings. The engine’s top end and valvetrain is made up of a set of Brodix cylinder heads that incorporate a Crower camshaft, Crower roller lifters, and Crower rocker arms.
Other components essential to the LS7 are a Holley Hi-Ram intake, a Holley billet throttle body, a Dailey Engineering dry sump oiling system, a Vortech YSI supercharger, direct port nitrous, a race alternator, Hooker stainless headers, and a Turn 1 power steering pump.
Everything in the engine is controlled via a MoTec M150 ECU and MoTec PDM 30, which feed to the MoTec C125 display. The LS7 runs on C16 race gas, and without nitrous, it produces a whopping 1,135 horsepower at a redline of 8,500 rpm.
The Nissan Skyline R34 also features a Holinger RD6 sequential transmission with flat shift, a Driveshaft Shop carbon fiber driveshaft, a Winters 35-spline quick change, and Wisefab drift-specific axles. It all culminates in one totally awesome drift car!
Engine of the Week is sponsored by PennGrade Motor Oil, Elring – Das Original and Scat Crankshafts. If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder Editor Greg Jones at [email protected].
