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Mark Sheridan (Mark Sheridan) Plymouth Barracuda in 1971 lived a dual life of street cars and racing cars. Mark and his friends Paul Hobby and Harry Palmer invested a lot of time on this classic Mopar, making it a killer street machine.

If you look up "gearhead" in the dictionary, you might actually see a picture of Mark. His father was a mechanic, owned a beautiful car fleet, and liked racing cars. Mark also spent time working with a family and friend who loves motorsports, and he took him to turn the wrench through Europe.

At the age of 17, Mark met Paul, who was building a custom PA Cresta, and they became good friends. At that time, Mark got his first Mopar, a 1973 Dodge Challenger. Money is tight, and the Challenger is Mark’s only car, so he must learn how to do it himself. Mark, Paul, and ultimately Harry, often beat his challenger on the way home from the Riverside Cruisers car club gathering and have a ball to do so.

The trio likes to go for a ride on the Challenger, but compared to Paul's massive power Dodge Aspen, it's docile. There is nothing to see in this car, but Mark slid through Aspen's gear on the track for a 12-second pass. Although by today's standards, the 12-second pass does not sound impressive, it was so fast at the time that it made Mark fascinated by drag racing.

Mark’s drag racing circle of friends also includes Colling and John Mullen, the two brothers imported the HEMI power Mopar that Mark really likes. In 1985, Colin prepared to sell the barracuda he owned at a high price. Mark wanted this car, so he calmly explained to his wife that he needed their life savings to buy it. His logic is that Cuda will be a good investment, he can repair the car and sell it for a good profit. Just like that, Mark was the proud owner of his Cuda in 1971.

When Mark had it, Cuda was not running, but he quickly corrected the situation within a few days. Mark planned to make only a few modifications to the engine, but he soon fell into the predicament of a full rebuild. After he started the car, he decided it was time for painting work and some changes to the engine compartment for good measurements. Mark was bored with this car and wanted to drive faster, so with the help of Paul and Harry, Cuda had its internal organs removed to reduce weight. It also had a suitable roll cage.

Mark wanted faster speeds, so he contacted his friend Sean Powell to modify the car to a strut front end and change the rear suspension to a trapezoidal bar setting. The original factory doors, fenders, hood and trunk were also replaced with composite parts.

"The need for speed continues, so I bought a set of original B1 heads for the engine. Soon after, I also got Koffel blocks and cranks. By this time, the Cuda had evolved into a track-only car. I I purchased all the engine reconstruction parts through Dave Koffel, and finally got a 543 cubic inch rolling mill. I also rebuilt the gearbox with racing parts to help with the extra power, and I also bought a new converter. I didn't realize the full potential of the combination, but learned a lot along the way, especially trying to keep the oil on top of the head, because it liked to eat putters at first. This is a great engine and it likes to spin," Mark said.

Cuda eventually entered Andy Robinson's chassis workshop, where it received a narrowed Ford 9-inch rear end with larger rear tires. Since then, the car has continued to develop, so Mark and Paul built their own pipe benders so that they can do more of their own work. This led the two to build their first interesting car cage.

When Mark's family began to grow and his career began to take off, Cuda was relegated to just compacting concrete in his store. Mark and Paul started riding motorcycles because it was easier to do so than to put on Cuda and spend the whole day on the track. After several serious motorcycle accidents, their wife said it was time to park the bike, which meant it was time to figure out what to do with Cuda.

Mark wanted to enjoy Cuda, so he started to research how to make it more suitable for the street. After talking to Tim Banning, Mark received a 572 cubic inch fuel injection HEMI with a 14-71 supercharger. Tim and Mark work together to find a way to make BigStuff3 run Big HEMI. For Mark, the fuel injection learning curve was very steep, but he was able to solve the problem in the end. Mark mainly drove the Cuda on the street, but when he took it to the track, it ran an impressive 9.10 best result at 151 mph.

The 9-second pass was good for a while, but in 2011, turbocharging became more and more popular as the preferred afterburner-this caught Mark's attention and ignited his fast flame again. Mark did some research and decided to pick up a pair of 88mm snails, as well as his new air intake for HEMI. He worked with Andy Frost, the driver of the famous Red Victor machine, to help install a torque converter for his Powerglide gearbox. Andy also introduced Mark to the tuner Shane Tecklenberg, who helped take Mark's Cuda to a new level.

In 2014, Mark, Paul and Harry decided to compete with Cuda in the Street Eliminator category. The course does not have any restrictions on the engines you can run, but it requires you to use pumping air, pruning the whole street, and complete a 28-mile cruise. Cuda shines in the class. In its first game, it went from the previous best of 150 miles per hour at 9.08 to an astonishing 8.01 mph at 172 miles per hour.

Unfortunately, during the event, Cuda's engine began to experience some problems, and the chassis only passed the 7.50 certification. Mark wanted to speed up the pace, and the rapid renewal of the car in order to achieve this goal turned into a large-scale reconstruction. This car was delivered to Andy and Luke Robinson of Robin Race Cars so that they could build a brand new chassis for Cuda.

When the car was in the Chassis Salon, Mark began to install a new engine for Mopar. Ordered a 521 cubic inch Noonan Race Engineering HEMI cylinder block and water jacket and a set of Noonan cylinder heads. Carl Stevens of Xtreme Racing Engines helped Mark select the rotating components of the engine and provided the parts. Mark also selected a new Reid TH400 gearbox, Neal Chance torque converter and MoTeC M1 ECU package. A pair of Precision Turbo & Engine 98mm Gen II Pro Mod turbochargers was chosen to provide power.

Mark and Harry picked up the car from Robinson Race Cars and set about installing pipes for the car, making windows, and completing other tasks for Cuda. Kevin from KSV Looms wired the car and created custom wiring harnesses for all MoTec hardware.

It is not easy to make a car of this caliber, and trying to do so in the UK also faces a series of challenges.

"I want to make this car myself as much as possible, but it takes much longer than I want. When you make almost all the custom brackets and other parts, it only takes time. In addition, some parts cost The time is much longer than I expected. This is the shortcoming of the United Kingdom-we don't have the luxury goods of the American store at our door, and almost everything needs to be imported. Sometimes, shipping, tariffs and taxes can be a real killer," Mark Say.

The planning and hard work that Mark and his team put into Cuda really paid off. Mark knew that this construction would not come together without the help of many people.

"I really need to thank Harry and Paul for all their help on this project. Andy and Luke of RRC did a great job in racing. Noonan Race Engineering, Bruder Machinery and Xtreme Race Engines provided a lot of help for the engine. I also Thanks to Shane Tecklenberg, Kevin, Andy Frost of KSV Looms, Jeff Bohr, Luke Biggin, Dale of DRE, FEV Fire Systems, Rick of Firecore, Leo of Barnes Systems, Wright Fabrications and Dollar Motorsports," he said.

Mark Sheridan and his avid Mopar friends really made a special car. This 1971 Barracuda lives in a rare territory where the best streetcar/zone car in the world lives.

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