The vehicle belongs to Bernie Towns, an engineer at HighMount Exploration and Production – a natural-gas-focused energy company based out of Houston, Texas. Towns decided that his ride deserves to be offered a custom treatment and, as a result the vehicle’s engine was heavily modified. The topless car now offers 800 hp and 1,000 lb-ft of torque, which allows it to play the quarter mile game in 10 seconds and offer the top speed that exceeds 200 mph (320 km/h).
However, the engineer wants to convert the tuned ride to run on CNG (compressed natural gas). He doesn’t only want to create a CNG speeder, but aims to beat records, aiming to hit 230-240 mph (370-386 km/h). The project is being handled by Speedriven, which might even receive support from Mercedes-Benz USA.
“Audi has the current record, at 364.6 kilometers per hour that they set back in 2009. That’s just over 225 mph, which they did in a heavily tuned Audi S4 making about 700 hp,” explains Towns. “That wasn’t standing-mile speed or anything, that was all they could get out of that car. The Mercedes has a bigger engine to start with, and it’s a slipperier car – from the factory at least. By the time this is all said and done, we’ll be making at least another 100 horsepower over the record Audi, and Mercedes has already given us a better aero package to work with. 230 mph to 240 mph run on CNG powered fuel.”
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