(hat tip to Flickr user Zerind via S:S:L for the awesome intro image.  Wish I had one of my own…)

Boost Logic Supra Texas Mile Run

Hey, it’s only a six cylinder, right?  This tweaked MKIV Supra Turbo sports a full Boost Logic engine build and turbo setup, and delivers and approximated 1295 bhp around 35 psi of boost.  Watch as the driver of this beastly machine wrestles with multiple-gear wheelspin to reach a terminal velocity of 246.2mph. Absolutely insane.

Underground Racing Twin-Turbo Lamborghini Gallardo

Kind of a long video, but worth watching.  I don’t know who Kyle is, but he’s one lucky dude -- two twin turbo Vipers and a twin turbo Gallardo?  Nice.  The video documents three runs in a rather over-dramatic fashion, but when the slowest run is 231 mph, it’s understandable.  The sound of that car going WOT in first gear once he’s out of the box is absolutely hair-raising.  V10 plus twin turbos?  You gotta love it.  Kyle managed an incredible 241.7mph at last fall’s Texas Mile.  High five on that one, buddy.

EVOMS Porsche (996) 911 Twin Turbo

This one’s from the Spring 2009 run of the Texas Mile.  It’s a previous-generation 911 Turbo tuned by EVO MS in Arizona.  This six-speed AWD Turbo car gets a face-punchingly violent launch and traps 231.7 mph.  Not bad for street tires and a full interior!  Also, don’t those turbos sound like sex?

GM LS-X Powered Mazda (FD3S) RX-7

I’ve always said it was intrinsically wrong to put a small-block Chevy motor in a car that originally came with a turbo rotary.  I’m man enough to admit, that at 196.2mph, I’m freakin’ wrong.  Oh my god that thing sounds amazing.  This one’s from the Fall 2009 event.

Heffner Performance Ford GT Twin Turbo

Heffner Performance is quickly becoming a name brand when it comes to slapping turbochargers on exotica that was already absurdly fast.  In this case, they converted a Ford GT supercar from it’s natural supercharged 550bhp state to a 1000+bhp twin-turbo beast.  Best run: 222 miles an hour!  Most dramatic has to be the third run, where the driver of this rocketship gets a little too eager on the gas pedal and takes an agricultural excursion.  Man, that’s a lot of boost.

Hennessey Cadillac CTS-V V700

Hennessey Performance Engineering loves to brag about the performance capabilities of their cars.  And when you’ve got a four-door Cadillac that traps 185.3 mph in the standing mile, I’d say you’ve got a damn good reason to be proud.  This one has the HPE V700 kit, which is basically a blower pulley and other bolt-on modifications.  God lord does this thing sound ferocious.

Subaru STI?!?

I don’t really think of Subaru STI’s as being standing-mile drag cars, more like canyon-road annihilators or 1/8th mile dragstrip beasts.  Still, this massively turbocharged Impreza managed to do 189.5 mph.  Not a whole lot of details available on this run, but that’s gotta be one of the fastest pancake-fours out there.

AMS Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution

AMS Tuning’s Lancer Evo managed to hit 228mph in the standing mile (a record for 4-cylinder cars at the Texas Mile), before blowing a piston through the block and catching fire on their last run.  The way this car accelerates is simply unreal…

MkIII Golf VR6, 208 MPH

There’s clearly a whole lot of turbocharger going on with this black MkIII Golf VR6, because how else is a 12v VR going to trap 208mph in the standing mile?  Absolutely nuts!  HPA’s twin-turbo 4WD R32 was only running in the 170′s, making this all the more impressive with the slow take off out of the gate he got.  Crazy fast!

Hennessey Viper Venom 1000

This run’s from back in 2007, but I’ve got to show some love for the twin-turbo Viper.  Another Hennessey product going really fast, everyone act surprised…

Kawasaki ZX-14

Obviously not everything at the Texas Mile was sporting four wheels -- some of the fastest stuff out there were two-wheeled crotch rockets of the Japanese variety.  This all-motor Kawasaki ZX-14 managed 218mph, which has got to be terrifying on a bike.

Turbo Suzuki GSX-1300R Hayabusa

Speaking of bikes, here’s one that’s even more extreme: a run from 2007 with a rider on a turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa superbike, doing 232mph.  Listen to that thing just howl flat out!  Totally nuts.  These riders have got the biggest balls of anyone ever.  How do you keep the front wheel down on a turbocharged 1300cc sport bike, anyway?

HPA VW R32 FT565 Twin Turbo

This one’s not nearly as fast as the other VR6 Golf in this post, but it sure gets off the line a whole lot faster.  The twin-turbocharged 565bhp 3.2 VR6 with Haldex AWD managed 169mph through the traps… not bad for the People’s Car!  Also, I’ve never met a VR6 that I didn’t love the sound of.  HPA Twin-Turbos are no exception!

For more information on the Texas Mile, you can visit their website here.  The next event will be held October 22-24th of this year, so if you’ve got the cajones, bring what you got and see how fast it can go!

]]> http://www.carthrottle.com/texas-mile-video-compilation/feed/ 0 http://www.carthrottle.com/a-portrait-of-my-driveway-in-5-years/ http://www.carthrottle.com/a-portrait-of-my-driveway-in-5-years/#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 22:45:11 +0000 James http://www.carthrottle.com/?p=5611 So, one of my favorite automotive mind-stretchers is hypotheticals. “What if…?”  What would you buy if you had $500,000 to spend on automobiles, right now?  What’s your favorite great car from an awful brand? (It’s a toss-up between the Genesis Coupe and the Buick GNX)  What would you drive if you were Conan O’Brian?  You know, hypotheticals.  It’s that tired conversation you have at Denny’s at 1 in the morning over a cup of coffee with a car buddy.  It keeps your mind going.

But they’re usually far-fetched.  So let’s be a little more realistic about it.  What’s gonna be in your driveway in 5 years?  10 years?  What would you like, that you could feasibly attain?  That one’s more challenging.  When the invisible hand of fate isn’t handing you that winning lottery ticket we all hypothetically dream about, what do you realistically want to get you around?

Some people would take the “put all your eggs in one basket” cart, and finance a new car with a warranty and all the powerful new car smell (mm, adhesives and polymers!) and drive to work, make payments, and not care.

If you’ve been reading my writing, you know that doesn’t describe me.  I’d personally like to have a fleet of old, partially-running European crap from the 80′s and 90′s.  The goal is to keep at least one running at a time.  I’m assuming here that I’m living out in the boonies (which I’d like to) and that i have some understanding neighbors.  Let’s take a trip through my automotive psyche and see what’s gonna be cluttering up my driveway in 5 or 10 years.

1) My ’88 Saab SPG.

I can’t get rid of this car.  It’s bitten, and I’m hooked.  Sure, with my $3k I could’ve probably found a stick-shift mid ninties double-wishbone Accord and been reasonably amused and mechanically unchallenged.  But this car has SO much character.  And the body’s in such good shape, it would be a shame not to preserve it.  So here’s what I’d want to do to this one to get it the way I like it…

As far as appearance, really, 900 3-doors are just lovely.  I would want to lower it about an inch (using decent springs and some bilsteins) and obtain some of the 9000 Super Aero 16″ wheels – same bolt pattern, 1″ bigger, very pronounced lip.  With thanks and credit to Paul Campagna on SaabCentral.com, I really want it to look something like this:

I’d leave it otherwise fairly stock.  Modded APC on the way, keep the Forge dump valve I have, potentially go to 9000 2.3L injectors and a 900 2.1L N/A 3.0 bar fuel pressure regulator, potentially a better intercooler…  but the main point would be to have a classic 900 that runs well, sounds great, and is comfortable.  Oh, and fix the rust in the trunk.

2) Saab 9-3 Viggen

As pictured, only preferrably in a 5-door.  I’d also except Steel Grey, but not that garish Electric Blue.  The Viggen is the über-Saab, the combination of the small GM900 platform and the hottest motor from it’s bigger brother the 9-5, a torque-rich 2.3L turbo four.  Sumptuous seats, great looking, mmm… daily driver.

3) A Merkur XR4Ti

Can you say, project car?  The Merkur will have ultimate sleeper potential in a few years, when everyone has completely forgotten what they are.  Of course, it’ll be a massive pain in the arse trying to find one, but that’s ok.  Tremec T5 tranny swap, SVO head, BIG T3, big injectors, maybe MegaSquirt… gutted, caged, loud as an AC/DC concert, and sideways all the time.

4) Volkswagen Corrado SLC

The Corrado SLC was the first car I ever honestly lusted after.  Well, to be honest I’m not sure if it was a G60 or an SLC, but when I first started wanting a car – at about age 13 – it was a Corrado.  The car’s clean, minimalist lines still look fresh today, and the tight proportions and powerful stance make the Corrado look like more than the Golf-Passat bastard child hybrid it really was.  But it was a fantastic car, and i’ve been told it’s good to buy the car your heart’s always desired at some point, so you know I’ll have to have a Corrado.  I would just do a full 3″ exhaust with a Flowmaster and a test pipe, an induction kit, coilovers, TT brakes and some BBS RC wheels – like the Corrado pictured above.  But make mine Emerald Green.

5) BMW E30 M3

The E30 M3 is a living classic, a tribute to when “M” stood for “Motorsport”, and from what I’ve always heard, an absolute handful and a half to drive.  I’d probably feel guilty driving it, and chances are I’ll never be able to afford one – they’re pricey! but if my hypothetical house had a hypothetical garage, the M3′s what would be parked in it.

Of course that doesn’t leave room for the early Acura NSX, the Lotus Elise I’m buying when I strike it semi-rich, a V12 Mercedes (everyone should own one twelve-cylinder car, I think), an old Esprit Turbo, an origina 6-series…  You know, sometimes cars are more like a plague than a past-time.

10) Subaru EJ20ET

Displacement: 2.0L
Mechanical Layout: 180° Horizontally-opposed Flat Four
Valvetrain: Dual overhead cam, 4v/cyl
Aspiration: Turbocharged
Applications: Subaru WRX

The EJ20 is one of the most unique sounding powerplants out there.  It’s got this off-beat staccato burble to it that’s just ummistakable -- you can always tell when a souped-up Scooby is coming down the road.  The truth is, it’s science -- it’s the unequal length headers and single-scroll turbocharger that give it that odd resonance.  STi “fixed” this “problem” in later GD-generation Imprezas, and they’ve never quite sounded the same.  For your aural amusement:

9) Volkswagen 24v VR6

Displacement: 2.8L/3.2L
Mechanical Layout: 15° V6 with shared head
Valvetrain: DOHC, 24v
Aspiration: atmospheric
Application: VW Jetta VR6/GLI, GTI VR6, R32, etc.

The VR6 has an absolutely delicious sound to it when it’s been uncorked.  It’s mostly due to the 15º angle of the V as well as the shared head -- making it more like a “staggered” inline 6 than a real V6, but whatever.  It sounds like a mixture of BMW straight six and Porsche air-cooled flat six, both of which sound amazing to my ears.  And it’s always coming out of such innocuous looking hatchbacks and stuff…  lovely sound.

8) Nissan VQ35DE

Nissan VQ’s seems to have two voices: one high-pitched, metallic and full of valvetrain noise like an old high-strung race engine.  The other voice is a little darker, a little deeper and more melliflous, a big dog’s bark.  It’s an instantly recogizable sound, and it’s s ound that comes out of a myriad of different tailpipes -- the VQ is under the hood of a large majority of Nissan/Infiniti Products.  And with good reason -- it’s been on Ward’s 10 Best engines every year since the award’s inception in 1995.  Bask in the glory.

Displacement: 3.0L/ 3.5L/ 3.7L
Mechanical Layout: V6
Valvetrain: DOHC, 24v
Aspiration: atmospheric
Application: Everything from the 350Z to the Maxima to the Quest minivan to the Pathfinder…

7) BMW S54B32

Displacement: 3.2L
Mechanical Layout: Inline 6
Valvetrain: VANOS, DOHC, 24v, ITB
Aspiration: Atmospheric, Baby!
Application: BMW M3/Convertible, Z4 M Roadster/Coupe

Race bred, knife-edge honed to perfection, and meaner than a bobcat in your basement.  That about describes the sounds that emanate from the rear end of E46 M3′s.  It’s that raw, metallic rasp that is so distinctive -- sure, it’s muffled up nice and quietly in most other BMW’s, but the M3 has the full vocal range it deserves.  And oh what a range -- 8,000+ rpm of screaming BMW is always nice.

6) Audi RS4 4.2L FSI V8

Displacement: 4.2L
Valvetrain: DOHC, 32v, Direct Injection
Aspiration: Natural
Application

It’s hard to put your finger on quite why the RS4′s V8 sounds so damn amazing.  But you can’t argue it doesn’t.  Maybe it’s the basso profundo undertone and the high-rev wail of 8,250 rpm.  Maybe it’s the throttle growl with open exhaust.  Who knows?  But the RS4 V8, used in the RS4 super-sedan as well as the R8 supercar, sounds magnificent.  My goodness.

5) GM Gen II/III Small Block V8

Displacement: 5.7L/6.0L/6.2L/7.0L
Mechanical Layout: V8
Valvetrain: cam-in-block, 16 valves
Aspiration: natural
Application: Chevrolet Camaro Z28/SS, Corvette, Z06, ZR1, Cadillac CTS-V, Pontiac GTO, many others.

You just can’t have a list of “best sounding engines” without a gold old-fashioned American pushrod V8, and as far as sounding nasty and V8-ey, the LSx is where it’s at.   It’s a simplistic sound, a huge amount of induction roar as 348 cubic inches (LS1 guys, you know it’s true) haul your F-body down the road faster than the other next F-body next to you.  Redneck noise?  Perhaps.  But LS is GM for POWER,  and the LSx has it everywhere -- in a lightweight package.  That’s why there’s so many of the blasted things everywhere, blaring out that so well-known V8 rumble.  You gotta love it.

4) Audi 10v/ 20v Inline-5

Displacement: 2.1L/2.2L
Mechanical Layout: Inline 5 cylinder
Valvetrain: (dual)overhead cam, 10 valve (single cam) 20 valve (twin cam)
Aspiration: turbocharged
Application: Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro, Audi quattro, Audi 200 20v, Audi (ur)S4 and S6, etc.

Audi’s 5-banger has an absolutely distinctive howl to it that you just won’t mistake for anything else.  It’s knife-edged sharp, but has a touch of a warble to it -- that extra cylinder makes for some interesti ng harmonies.  A glorious sound in WRC trim.

3) Honda C32B

Displacement: 3.2L
Mechanical Layout: V6
Valvetrain: Dual overhead camshafts, 24 valve
Aspiration: Natural
Application: Acura/Honda NSX

The crown jewel of Honda’s engine stable -- and considering Honda is a brand that’s always been about the engine -- that says a lot.  The C32B was the second iteration on the NSX supercar engine, evolving from the 3.0L C30A  into 3.2L 290bhp spec.  It has a wonderfully mechanical, raw sound to it -- and it just revs forever and ever.  Lovely.

2) Lamborghini Twin-Cam V12

Displacement: 5.2L
Mechanical Layout: V10
Valvetrain: Dual Overhead Camshafts, 48 valves
Aspiration: Natural
Application: Lamborghini Countach

Do words really need to be said?  Just listen to the clips.

1) Porsche Carrera GT V10

Displacement: 5.7L
Mechanical Layout: V10
Valvetrain: Dual Overhead Camshafts, 40 valves
Aspiration: natural
Application: Porsche Carrera GT

Race-bred lightweight V10, the cream of the crop of Porsche’s road-going cars, an astronomic redline, a flywheel so light it sounds like there isn’t one -- the Carrera GT’s engine is aurul venom, headed straight for the center of your brain via your eardrums.  You’ll shiver.  It wins.

Well, that’s my top ten.  Feel free to leave what you think should be honerable mentions in the comments.  I personally am heartbroken that I can’t fit in the E92 M3′s V8, the BMW M1 engine, the Maserati 4.3L V8 in the Alfa 8C, the Aston Martin V8, air-cooled 911′s, the Nissan RB26DETT, Ford Modular supercharged V8′s, the Honda F20C (From the S2000) with individual throttle bodies…  oh, and ditto on the Toyota 4AGE… well, you know how these lists can go on.  Let’s hear your take on it!

Step one, meet up at a local burger joint and talk smack for a while:

On the left is Patrick’s Audi TT 1.8T Quattro with modifications, to the right is John’s Nissan (S14) 240SX with a Skyline GT-T motor swap (for real!), and on the right is Brandon’s Volkswagen GTI VR6.  Not pictured: my Saab.

Here we are departing town, headed out to where the nice roads are.  And look!  The Saab hasn’t even broken down yet!

Another shot from inside John’s car of us getting into traffic on I-98.  The weather was just absolutely gorgeous.

Now we’re finally getting somewhere, somewhere greener where the roads aren’t clogged with Camry Hybrids doing 5 under the speed limit.  Thank goodness.

We basically split off of 98 and took a loop around the outskirts of Durham, finally coming to a stop at this “haunted barn” which is an NC historical site.  Gratuitous photo shoot ensued:

All lined up like ducks in a row… This is a nice shot.

So next time you’re bored… just try driving until A) you don’t know where you are, and B) you’re no longer bored.  You never know how much longer you’ll be able to enjoy doing that.

Also, watch this space for a feature article on John’s Skyline-powered 240SX in the near future, as it’s definetely deserving of one.  And hey, enjoy the drive.