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 […]
Read MoreBecoming the World’s Most Streetable 8-second R33 GT-R
Back in May 2015 the D’Garage R33 battled through early issues and multiple test days to finally become a member of the famed RH8 club. Now running as smooth as ever the D’Garage GT-R continues it’s journey to push the boundaries of a street car by going even faster.
Read MorePart 4: Project GT-R | Smaller Turbine Housings Good, Tuning Issues Bad
The orders have been placed, but parts delivery for the GT-R is taking longer than expected. This downtime has enabled us to get back on the same DynoJet chassis dynamometer at XS Engineering to evaluate the performance of the engine with the smaller P13 turbine housings in place. As it […]
Read MorePart 3: Project GT-R | 749 Wheel Horsepower Found, One Transmission Lost
It’s the night before the biggest race of the year. The BFGoodrich Tires IDRC International Finals presented by ICEMAN Intakes is coming to Los Angeles and the DRAG Sport Project RH9 GT-R is going to be ready. The IDRC International Finals mark the biggest import drag racing event on the […]
Read MorePart 2: Project GT-R | 655 Rear Wheel Horsepower and More on the Way
It’s official. We think we accidentally built the most-powerful GT-R in the U.S. At least, it’s the most powerful one that we know about. The previous record holder was the nitrous-fed “Big Bird” from Motorex. Big Bird generated 654 horsepower at the rear wheels. Text & Photos By Michael Ferrara […]
Read MorePart 1: Project GT-R | Building the First RH9 Skyline in the U.S.
Meet our DRAG Sport Project GT-R. This is a 1996 Nissan Skyline GT-R V- spec. Before the turbocharger upgrade that you are about to see, the car generated almost 380 horsepower at the wheels. That’s enough to run in the 112-116mph range in the quarter mile, with low 12-second elapsed […]
Read MoreOne Bad ‘Bish | 712whp Demo Car Exemplifies Buschur Racing Philosophy While Chasing the 8s
“No bull” has been the tuning the development philosophy behind Buschur Racing since the beginning. Always a skeptic, David Buschur would test each and every component on the track before recommending it to others. If a part didn’t make the car run quicker, it simply wouldn’t be sold. Today, that […]
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