The Fastest Street Legal Car In North America

This is the Sorceress, a 5000 horsepower 1984 Hurst Olds. With a top speed of 260 mph and a 5.8 second 1/4 mile time, this beast of a machine with bolt-on plates is the fastest street car in North America, period. The owner Rod Tschiggfrie (Xrod) gave a quick tour of this land missile to the folks over at 13 20 and the Hoonigan Channel. Let's take a closer look at what makes this thing tick.

Overview

Now one look at the Sorceress and you think, and you think Dragster. Well, it is that yes, you can also take it out on the road because this car has headlights, turn signals, and is on IOWA plates from Dubuque. It's still got the original VIN upfront and is insured as well.

What makes this car particularly interesting is that Rod the owner has had it since new, ever since he first drove it off the showroom floor back in '84. While he'd like us to believe that it is essentially the same car, let's just say that he has tinkered with it a little. Okay, now tinkered would really be an understatement wouldn't it?

Aside from the taillights, pretty much everything else has been modified. He started playing with it back in college when he supercharged it. Rod initially set out to build a car that he could maybe drive on the road, hit some car shows, and do some racing as well.

A couple of hours of work and you can switch it back and forth between the two. However, over time the racing bug clearly has bit him big time and the car you see now is an evolution of that very aspect. Let's just say ' It got out of hand'.

The Bespoke Body

Now it's a no-brainer that this thing is built for speed and hence it looks far from what it was stock back in the day. What you're looking at here is an eight-year build and Mike Spitzer of Spitzer Enterprises put this thing together.

The base car is an '84 Hurst Olds and it was reworked and modified heavily. It features an all-chrome-moly tubing with NHRA 25.2 certificate, that forms the roll cage. Around the window line, Rod bought a 3" wide metal strap, that was 1/8th of an inch thick and 20 feet long and welded it to the side, which is what makes up that rising beltline.

Aerodynamics professionals had to come up with ways to make the Sorceress as slippery as possible. They had to come up with ways to direct air from the top of the roof to underneath the airfoil and that spoiler in the rear.

Now considering that this is a streetcar, Rod also went ahead and added an electronic hood release to make his life easy while on the road. The front end just weighs 57 pounds. Overall the subtle use of chrome on the rims, the silver, and red accents works great against all the carbon fiber.

The Cockpit

Now more than anything, this is essentially a track weapon that just happens to be a streetcar. While it may not look like it, Rod has gone the extra mile to make it more comfortable on the inside.

There isn't much in the way of design, but if you love carbon fiber, you sure are in for a treat, you'll find it pretty much everywhere, be it on the doors, the center tunnel, the seats, or the dash. Even the strengthening crossbars are made out of carbon all in pursuit of making the car as strong and as light as possible.

As for creature comforts, you've got

- Leather seats, or rather racing buckets with leather on it

- Power windows

- Cup Holders

- Carpets

- An all-digital dash with Nav

- A banging Stereo with 6x9 speakers in the rear

- Back-up camera

- Traction Control

Unfortunately, there's no air con, but I suppose that is a small price to pay and the car sure does make up for it big time with all the speed.

The Power

Okay, let us address the elephant in the room. That engine gives the Sorceress its ballistic force. Now there are a lot of options on the aftermarket and Rod could have just gone ahead and plonked any of those engines. However, just as with the bodywork, he wanted to do something unique under the hood. His team did a lot of research with the aim of looking for something that could hold a lot of water and be efficient enough to stay cool on the street.

Dick Maskins and his buddy Fred Mandoline managed to put water through the head and the block, so as to enable it to run for extended periods of time. The 640 cubic inches 10.2-liter V8 engine with twin-turbo's (110mm) has a very short stroke with 4 900 size pistons that offer great efficiency. The 6" exhaust on this thing is bigger than your fist and it exits behind the driver, like a proper streetcar.

This thing easily runs 75-80 pounds of boost and 68 pounds of backpressure. Because it has a flex-fuel sensor in it, the Sorceress can run on regular E85 pump gas that goes straight into the 25-gallon tank or even 88 octane Ethanol. It burns anywhere between 4 to 5 gallons of fuel per race.

After three years of work, the end result? 5000 horsepower and the engine revs to over 9000 rpm. It can do 208 miles per hour in 1/8 of a mile, and 260 at 1/4 mile, which according to Rod puts it in top company, making it one of the top two fastest cars in the and the top two quickest cars in the world. Now obviously you need proper slicks to get the job done and the Sorceress switches it up from the DOT-approved street-legal tires to a proper set of 36" Hoosier racing slicks out on the race track.

How Fast Does She Run?

These runs took place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a couple of months ago back in January. Off the bat, on the first pass, she was able to pull in a 5.91 seconds at 258.86 mph followed by an even faster 5.88 seconds at 259.01 mph. The following day, Rod and his team were back, looking to go even faster and they punched in a stonking time of 5.85 seconds at 260.56 mph.

Let's hit the strip

After burning rubber at the drag strip., it was time to hit a very different kind of strip. As they say, when in Rome. Now considering Rod was in Nevada and just outside of Sin City, it was a no-brainer to run this thing into town and hit the Vegas strip. A nine-year-old got the ultimate birthday present when he got to ride along with Rod in the 5000 horsepower Sorceress on the Vegas Strip.

To Wrap it up

This is a car that looks like it's going a million miles an hour while standing still. But frankly, according to Rod, the very things that make it a street car also add a lot of unnecessary weight. Without, the added weight, the Sorceress would easily be up to 300 pounds lighter making it far more competitive

I guess that is a trade-off Rod is willing to make so that he can say that he has a Drag racing car that he can happily take it on the street as well. This Speed Machine looks just as good on the drag strip as it does on the pavement and given enough space, the Sorceress is capable of 300 mph.

FAQ

Q: Which is the fastest street car in America?

With a 1/4 mile time of 5.85 seconds at 260 mph, the Sorceress is the fastest street car in America. Given enough space, it is capable of going over 300 mph

Q: Which is the fastest stock street car?

With an average top speed of 282.9 mph, the SSC Tuatara is the fastest stock streetcar

Q: Has any car hit 300 mph?

The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport has officially broken the 300 mph, but it was not a production model

Q: What is the fastest American muscle car?

With a 0 - 60 mph of 2.3 seconds, the Dodge Challenger Demon is one of the fastest American muscle cars

Q: What is the fastest American made car in the United States?

With an average top speed of 282.9 mph, The SSC Tuatara is the fastest American made car in the United States

Q: Which is the fastest street car in America?

With a 1/4 mile time of 5.85 seconds at 260 mph, the Sorceress is the fastest street car in America. Given enough space, it is capable of going over 300 mph