Wednesday, November 5, 2014

  Fastest Hearse: AMS "Madness" Hearse breaks Guinness World Records record (VIDEO)

West Chicago, IL, USA -- A performance shop, AMS Performance, based near Chicago, took a 1996 Chevrolet Caprice that it found in Knoxville, Tenn., and gave it a hot-rod makeover; the 6-liter Chevrolet V-8 from an old van was worked over and power was boosted to 1,000 horsepower and a new engine was installed to boost horsepower to 1,300 horsepower; the hearse is good for zero to 60 miles per hour in 2.26 seconds and a 9.94-second quarter mile, which sets the the new world record for the Fastest Hearse, according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/ .

  Photo: A 1996 Chevrolet Caprice hearse has been converted into a dragster. It has 1,300 horsepower, yet still plenty of room for a coffin. Photo: AMS Performance
( enlarge photo )

The Guinness World Records' record for the fastest quarter mile in a hearse is 12.206 seconds and was achieved by Shane Hammond (Australia) on the TDRA Dragway in Tasmania, Australia, on 20 February 2010.

  Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the longest parade of hearses; it consisted of 107 hearses and was achieved by Nuvema N.V. Nederlandse Uitvaartverzekering Maatschappij (Netherlands), in Baarn, Netherlands, on 30 August 2012.

   The story starts with AMS Performance vice president Arne Toman and his plan to build something different, the Auto Week reported.

  He began looking into the world's fastest hearse in 2008 and found out the Guinness World Records' world record was only a 13.72 at 98 mph for the quarter mile. AMS thought it could beat the record handily.

  AMS installed a GM LQ4 6.0-liter V8 with a 4L85e transmission along with an intercooler, turbocharger and roll cage. Toman says he kept the internals simple, only adding new metal head gaskets, head studs, a cam and valve springs.

   The AMS Hearse sprinted to 60 mph in 2.26 seconds. It did the quarter mile in 9.94 @ 137 mph and the half mile at 161 mph.

    The AMS Hearse is completely streetable and can be driven anywhere comfortably with the A/C on and is really quiet through the mufflers yet pulls a wheelie on its way to a 9 second pass and easily hit over 160 mph in the half mile. As fast as it is, there is still room for improvement.

    "Since its last outing and 9 second passes, we have installed a mild forged 370ci engine from AES, a new rear differential from Strange Engineering, a stronger transmission from Andy's Performance Trans and a bigger drag radial to push it a lot harder.

   "The new set up allows for 1300 hp on tap. My future goals include a 9.5 second quarter mile, 175 mph in the standing half mile. The goal is to someday eventually attempt a 200 mph run on a closed airport runway."