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8-Second Ride: Sondra Leslie’s Limited Street Fox-Body

By Stephanie Davies March 25, 2019The 2019 National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) series began in Bradenton, Florida, on March 1. Sondra Leslie of Crown Point, Indiana, was there and ready for battle. Leslie’s 1985 Vortech-supercharged MPR Racing Engines-powered Fox-body dominated the Limited Street field throughout the majority of the weekend. At the conclusion of the weekend, Leslie would find herself in the finals.

Through the first two rounds of qualifying, Leslie was the only racer in the field running into the 8-second range (a 8.90 pass at 155.52 to be exact), before Michael Ciborowski joined her there in the third round.

The two would go head to head in Round Four – the final round – where Ciborowski would get the jump at the tree by a hundredth and top her 8.844 pass with his own 8.841.

“Mike is such a great sport,” Leslie told us. “I love racing with him. That race was the most fun race of the weekend.”

Prior to Leslie’s incredibly successful weekend in Bradenton, her Fox-body has run a best pass of 8.57 at 160 mph, and she is confident that the coming NMRA Atlanta race in April will be one for the books.

“After Bradenton, we received a converter from Lenny at Ultimate Converter Concepts. We have already tested it, and we are very happy with the results. After Georgia, we’ll have a Bosch stand-alone system ready to be put in the car. That’s our plan for now.”

As for Vortech, well they’re very happy to have Leslie on their side.

“Vortech is proud to have Sondra and her team be part of the Vortech Racing Family,” they told us. “She has taken the racing community by storm, along with the help of her crew chief Ken Bjonnes, Palm Beach Dyno, Strange Engineering, MPR Racing Engines, and Vortech Superchargers. She is a top contender this year for the Championship.”

Leslie’s Fox features a Vortech V-2 Ti Supercharger with an Air-to-Air Charge Cooler. The unit features a 3.6:1 internal step-up ratio and uses helical cut gears. It is capable of up to 950 horsepower on modified vehicles, with a superior 75% peak efficiency. Vortech says it has a maximum boost rating of 26 psi, and is ideal for the latest generation of improved breathing, high-power street and strip engines. Leslie’s car also features Vortech’s Maxflow BV-57 Valve.

On the flip side, Leslie knows that her continued success is a team effort.

“I of course have to thank my sponsors,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to do this without them. Ken at Palm Beach Dyno, if we didn’t have him, we wouldn’t have a season. Of course, my family as well. We’re on a mission to win a championship this season, and I would like to do that in honor of my dad. He has backed me and helped financially, and I want to show him that everything that he has invested is worth every penny.”

You can catch Sondra and her Fox-body at any one of NMRA’s races this season – she plans to be at each and every one of the remaining five events. She is also shooting to be at Mod Nationals, Haltech World Cup Finals, and No Mercy in September.

Article Sources

Vortech (805) 247-0226