If you had the opportunity to attend the PRI show in Orlando, then you probably heard the buzz in the drag racing community: mountain motors will be bigger and badder than ever in 2008.

Leading the charge will be the new 5.3000 bore spacing engine that Sonny’s Racing Engines spent much of 2007 developing. With displacements of 864, 904 and a whopping 940 cubic inches, this new breed of mountain motor will feature bores of 5.000 to 5.0800 and strokes of 5.500 to 5.750 inches, these engines should produce 2,000 raw horsepower and more.

Mountain motors, once found only in Pro Stock & Pro Mod, have become commonplace in many different classes going all the way down to Super Comp and Super Gas. Their use continues to rise in proportion with the influx of centrifugal blowers and turbochargers in various heads up classes.

If you had the opportunity to attend the PRI show in Orlando, then you probably heard the buzz in the drag racing community: mountain motors will be bigger and badder than ever in 2008.

Leading the charge will be the new 5.3000 bore spacing engine that Sonny’s Racing Engines spent much of 2007 developing. With displacements of 864, 904 and a whopping 940 cubic inches, this new breed of mountain motor will feature bores of 5.000 to 5.0800 and strokes of 5.500 to 5.750 inches, these engines should produce 2,000 raw horsepower and more.

Mountain motors, once found only in Pro Stock & Pro Mod, have become commonplace in many different classes going all the way down to Super Comp and Super Gas. Their use continues to rise in proportion with the influx of centrifugal blowers and turbochargers in various heads up classes.

“There’s no really difference between building this and a 5.000 bore spacing engine,” said Sonny Leonard. “This engine series is about an inch and a half longer than the 5.000 and weighs about 2 lbs less than a 784 hemispherical head engine with our Ultra Lite CNC program. It will bolt right up to your transmission, but you’ll need a different set of headers.

“People often ask how big a mountain motor can go,” he continued. “Right now, the 5.300 bore space series is it. You can go up to 900 cubic inches for nitrous and 950 to 960 naturally aspirated.”

Engines like the 5.300 series are expected to make the Pro Mod nitrous racers more competitive against the blower cars. There should also be some places for these in Outlaw 10.5 where nitrous racers are running heads up against turbo cars. A number of sanctioning bodies have already incorporated this new engine into their 2008 rules, such as ADRL, AMS Pro Modified, Fun Ford, IHRA, PMRA, ORSCA, PSCA and more.