JUST SHORT OF THE GLORY

It was finally time to put the wagon to the test. Using professional Ono Sokki testing equipment, the wagon was placed on its favorite playground to shoot for its top speed: the streets of Japan. On a remote road, the wagon pushed its way through the gears and achieved its fastest speed of 311 kmh, which is just over 193 mph. While this speed would cause most consumers to pucker, falling short of 200 mph left the wagon’s owner wanting for more. Further testing on the Wangan proved fruitless, as the engine needed to make more power.

[pullquote]THE WAGON PUT DOWN 750 HORSEPOWER and 535 LB-FT TORQUE[/pullquote]Tazawa and his staff went back to work on the wagon, fitting it with a new Garage G-Force tubular manifold. This new manifold featured a V-band flange to mate with a mammoth Garrett GTX4294R turbocharger. Retuned at 29 psi boost pressure, the wagon put down 750 horsepower and 535 lbft torque on the Dynapack.

GRAND DEBUT

The upgrades were completed just in time for the wagon to make its debut in the Garage G-Force booth at the 2014 Tokyo Auto Salon. Positioned among dozens of high-profile Club RH9 project builds, the wagon stood out among the EVO builds. Fitted with Voltex wide fenders and side skirts, along with a Varis carbon fiber diffuser and roof spoiler, it earned plenty of attention and captured the interest of more than just a few attendees.

Despite the attention garnered at the Auto Salon, this Wangan Wagon won’t enjoy the satisfaction of fulfillment until it reaches its goal. Now producing even more horsepower, reaching its objective of 200 mph should be just a smash of the throttle away.