I think I can answer that for him.
Not sure exactly how much motor it takes, but I heard in the neighborhood of 1200-1400 HP (at the motor). The car should make that or close to it. They think aerodynamics may be an issue as the front A-arms might create a vortex of air slowing the car down.
As for the car being tuned. It was tuned twice. the 2nd time it made more power, but it was tuned using 91 octane and not full boost. he wants it to be reliable. He can turn up the boost and run race gas and it should make numbers close to what it needed when the time comes for space shuttle lift off.
Think we should split this topic?