patrickt- no,...no,...no lol
No loans for my hobbies. The only one I've ever had was for our house and I paid it off in 2001. I sold my Pro-Street Camaro and my wife's 68' Mustang for a large down payment. We agreed that after we paid the house, we would build a Hot Rod or Cobra, and we did. The same with the sprint car. If we didn't have great sponsors, we would not race. We have a "toy fund" for all the toy's, if the piggy bank is empty, we don't dig into savings.
mjmacqua- the torque also matters but, not as much because, in these light cars, a lot of torque just blows the tires off. HP is better for ME, for top speed and higher RPM's. If you have a heavy 3,100 lb car, you do need the high torque to get the car moving.
With aluminum heads, 10.5 compression is fine. I'm at 10.2 with steel heads with no detonation.
(I have to leave right now but will continue latter)
(wedding to attend and racing the sprint tonight. be back asap)