As we close out this November issue, we look ahead to the next opportunity to bring our GT-R to the dragstrip. If you remember from last issue, our GT-R managed a 10.34- second elapsed time. While this accomplishment is extraordinary on many levels, we have still not reached our primary […]
Read MorePart 14 PROJECT RH9 GT-R | Into the 10’s with 9’s Not Far Away
Photos by Sami Sharaf // Text by Michael Ferrara Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 During the weekly DSport magazine meeting, it is decided that we will try to get as many vehicles race-ready for an upcoming import drag racing event at California Speedway in Fontana, California. Our plan is to have […]
Read MorePart 13: PROJECT RH9 GT-R | 10-Second Power, 11-Second Timeslips 11.25@ 133.7mph
“Should have…could have…would have…” Our most recent trip to the strip with our Project GT-R proved to be full of both trials and tribulations. While many questions were answered, a number of new questions and concerns surfaced. Text & Photos by Michael Ferrara Persistence Pays The original plan was to […]
Read More1014 Horsepower, 9-sec EVO VIII
Imagine a world without boost. High-performance street engines would make around 100 horsepower per liter. Racing engines would only be able to squeeze out 130 horsepower per liter. In this boost-free world, a five- hundred horsepower streetcar would need an engine that is over five liters in displacement. Heavy, large- […]
Read MorePart 12: Ported & Flowed: Part 3 | Computer Models Versus the Dyno on our RB26 GT-R
In our last installment of Ported & Flowed (October 2004), we mentioned that our next step would be to put the computer model to the test. This test would occur when we installed the ported cylinder head along with the camshafts on our GT-R. Then we would optimize the fuel […]
Read MorePart 11: Ported & Flowed: Part 2 | Flow Numbers, Flow Velocity and Horsepower with our GT-R
You’ve probably been told or heard from someone that “an internal combustion automotive engine is just a sophisticated air pump.” Here’s the truth. What you have been told isn’t entirely accurate. First, a pump is a device used to move fluids and it operates at relatively low pressures. Air is […]
Read MorePart 10: PROJECT RH9 GT-R | Pump Gas: 505whp Attained, 600whp Possible?
Last issue, we said “when we get back on the dyno, we won’t be surprised to see 500-plus horsepower on 91-octane with a boost and power curves that we never believed possible with turbos so big. As predicted, we accomplished our mission with 505 horsepower registering on the dyno after […]
Read MoreGran Turismo Subaru STi | Virtually Built In GT1, Now A Reality
Driving games have gripped gamers and racing fans since the early 80’s with the release of Pole Position in video arcades. This led to the development of more realistic driving games that pinnacled to the revolutionary Gran Turismo video game for Sony’s Playstation in 1998. Touted by Sony as the […]
Read MorePart 9: Project RH9 GT-R | Test & Tune
Giant peak horsepower figures made on race gas make for great headlines. Just the mention of a “1000-horsepower Supra”, “740-horsepower WRX” or “500- horsepower EVO” draws attention. While peak horsepower numbers are real and exciting to any enthusiast, these high- caliber numbers tend to distort the total performance picture. This […]
Read MorePart 8: Project RH9 GT-R | GT-R Back in Black, Getting Ready to Attack
We almost forgot why our Project RH9 Skyline GT-R was our dream car. With a broken factory transmission, our Project RH9 GT-R went from its daily- driven, head-turning glory to a very-large obstacle in our garage. While obtaining another factory transmission would have had us back on the road in […]
Read MoreHomegrown: Our Project Pro-Am Honda Civic EK Comes to Life
To Street or not to Street, that is the question. Do we allow our Project EK Civic to roam the streets or do we dedicate it to a life spent in garages, trailers, dynos and drag strips. With this project, we have reached a crossroad that many of our readers […]
Read MorePart 7 : Project RH9 GT-R | A New Mission
Guess what broke on Project RH9? Another factory transmission. Old school Turbo readers might be seeing visions of another Project Talon in the works. To be honest, I’m picturing the same thing. Text & Photos by Michael Ferrara Back in the days, Project Talon chewed up every single available transmission […]
Read MorePart 6: Project RH9 GT-R | Building a 1000 Horsepower, 9-Second Daily Driver
Call us a little crazy. No. Instead, just call us insane. As we continue to improve the performance of our Project GT-R, we also continue to raise our goals. In many ways, this project mirrors our experience with the magazine as a whole. We make progress every issue and we […]
Read MorePart 5: Project GT-R | Slowly but Surely, We Sort Out the Problems
Last month, we promised to upgrade the fuel system, do a compression check, do a leak-down test and more to figure out why our GT-R had made a step backwards in terms of power output. We were then going to strap the car back on the dyno and give it […]
Read More9-sec Street/Show/Strip Supra | Overcoming Tragedy to Build 919 HP JZA80
The JZA80 twin-turbo Supra is arguably the best import-performance vehicle to be sold in the United States. For brothers Tony and Kyle Nino, the Supra was their dream car. Older-brother Tony purchased this Supra in June of 2005 with the intent of building a 700-horsepower, daily-driven street monster. During the […]
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