Supercharged ZX10-R Sport Bike Terrorizes Cars And Riders Alike

Just like 2-seat supercars or dedicated track cars, sport bikes aren’t very practical devices but when used for their intended purpose, give an experience that is a feast for the senses. In cases like this ZX-10R, one of the sensations that you may feel would exhilaration and terror in equal measure.

As is comes from the factory, the Kawasaki ZX10-R is already a wild-looking and performing bike with a 175 horsepower (at 11,500 rpm!) engine powering a 170 kilogram package. That’s a power-to-weight ratio of more than 1 hp per kilo. But tuners being the crazy people that they are, engineers at A&A performance decided that this bike could use a little more power. Like 50% more. They developed a kit for the ZX10-R that has a Rotrex C15-60 centrifugal supercharger running 8psi of boost, Walbro high-flow fuel pump and a custom fuel map for the EFI system. As a result, this ZX10-R now has 220 horsepower.

Says A&A on its website, “Without changing any major internals, you can have a bike that will significantly outpace the brand new crop of litre-bikes and pretty much anything else you come across, for around one-third the cost of a new machine. Best of all, you retain all the rideability you currently enjoy”. They also warn that “While the power produced is remarkably controllable, the instant nature of the throttle response and the never-ending power supply means that beginner riders need not apply”.

This bike would be a perfect platform to use a performance calculator on. The figures you would get would probably be unbelievable if all you were using the calculator for up to this point was on cars.

Bonus video of a stock 170 hp ZX10-R versus a 700 rwhp Corvette. One can only imagine the bike with 220 hp.

Source article is here.

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'65 Corvette Combines Classic Lines With Modern Hardware

This is what happens when you get a Corvette tuner who has the imagination and means to create cars that are works of rolling art.

Brent Jackson supposedly spent 5 years conceptualizing and building this car and the results are nothing short of spectacular. This particular car looks like a 1965 Corvette but it is and isn’t at the same time. That’s because underneath the body lies the chassis of a much more modern C4 Corvette, which was in production from 1984 to 1996. So you can appreciate the considerable time and labor it took to modify the body to fit it onto the C4 Corvette chassis. In place of 1960-era parts, this Corvette now has a five-link IRS rear suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, and many other features that are standard on modern cars.

Topping off these chassis mods is a Nelson Racing Engines NRE-355 that produces 800-1000 hp on 91-octane pump gas. Peak power comes in at a conservative 6,000 rpm, while the torque peak is at 3,900 rpm. Engine internals include a Dart block with a GM steel crankshaft, Callies 4340 forged connecting rods, custom JE pistons, and Brodix Track 1 cylinder heads. The hydraulic roller camshaft lets the engine idle smoothly at 800 rpm. Stomp on the throttle and two Turbonetics 60mm turbochargers spool themselves up to hurl this Corvette down the road. An Electromotive EFI system handles the fueling and engine management duties. Behind the engine lies a Tremec T-56 Viper transmission with a Centerforce clutch, while a Dana 44 diff with 4.11 gears is driven by a custom aluminum driveshaft. Given this data, it possible to gauge the performance of this car with a proper performance calculator.

Since this is Brent Jackson’s demo car, he says that “he’s just working” when he cruises this monster Corvette around his environs.

Source article is here.

 

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GT500 Shows Tuning Potential With A Few Bolt-on Mods

John Hennessey shot to prominence with his mega-horsepower Dodge Vipers, which introduced the world to 600 horsepower V10s made from pure Detroit iron. Since then, Hennessey has been synonymous with high output cars. This time around, the tuner took a look at the new Shelby GT500 and decided that Ford’s top toy would make a good base for a car that would bear the Hennessey name.

In a testament to the tunability of Ford’s supercharged V8, the Hennessey Venom 600R uses only bolt-on mods, such as a smaller supercharger pulley, a high-flow intake system, MAF and ECU recalibration and a stainless steel exhaust to extract 605 horsepower and 590 pounds/foot of torque from the otherwise stock engine. At $19,500 though, the price of these mods seem a bit much, even with a 1 year / 12,000 mile warranty. With the right performance calculator, one may be able to approach reliable levels of 600+ horsepower while spending less than half of what Hennessey charges. Because a complete performance package does not end with a powerful engine alone, the money saved can be spent on well-thought out drivetrain mods.

The video shows what a supercharged 600 hp GT500 sounds like. With Ford’s new muscle car, the playing field has been opened once again to the performance wars that characterized the early years of the muscle car era.

See source article here.

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Suzuki Cappuccino Perks Up The Driver Without Coffee

The Suzuki Cappuccino is a Kei-class car in Japan, which means that it is a tiny car by anyone’s standards. Japanese limits for the Kei class mean that the Cappuccino is only 129 inches long and 50 or so inches wide. Even the 3-cylinder engine is tiny, displacing only 657 cc. Turbocharged and intercooled, its official horsepower figure is 63 hp. Total weight for the car is 700kg with a 50/50 weight distribution.

As we have seen previously, imagination has very few limits when it comes to owners’ visions of what their cars can be like and this Cappuccino from Fighter Engineering in Japan has turned out to be an extreme example of what Suzuki’s Kei-class car can be. The Japanese tuner has stroked the engine to 800 cc and reworked the turbo system so that it now produces 205 horsepower. Every other part of the car has been upgraded, from the 16-inch wheels and 4-piston brakes to the stripped out and lightened body with carbon fiber hood and dashboard. A piggyback ECU has also been added and interior shots reveal a rollcage to stiffen the tiny body. Compared to other cars featured in this blog, the horsepower rating for this car is still low but with the 700 kg body further lightened, imagine the power-to-weight ratio of this tiny car. It should be a lot of fun to drive.

This particular pocket rocket’s performance figures would be very interesting to see with a performance calculator if we had its current weight and an e.t. figure for the quarter mile.

Video of the car on the dyno.

See the source article here.

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Incredible 034Motorsport GTI-RS Stomps On Tuned Compact Car Wannabees

The Volkswagen Golf is generally considered a nice car which, in its hot-hatch variants, offers decent performance in a compact package. Volkswagen tuner 034Motorsport took a look at a Golf GTI and hatched a plan to turn the tuning world on its ear with their vision for what a hot hatch Volkswagen Golf should be like.

After obtaining a salvage Golf GTI in the early months of 2010, the car was gutted in preparation for the installation of an Audi V6 with a transaxle sourced from an Audi 100. This layout was necessary because the Golf was intended to be a mid-engined beast from the moment it was conceptualized. To handle the anticipated power, a rear suspension from a Porsche 996 Turbo was sourced and installed, including 11-inch wide Porsche Turbo wheels for the rear. The Audi engine, at 250 hp, was deemed too wimpy for 034Motorsport’s purposes and so a single turbo setup was configured. The single turbo setup allows quick turbocharger changes and so this GTI-RS can be setup to run with 600 to 1200 horsepower. Engine management is handled by an 034EFI Stage IIc ECU. All this power means that aside from the suspension, Porsche brakes were also used to slow this beast of a car when the corners come up.

This picture of the mid-engine install shows first-class fabrication proficiency and top engineering skill. At the European Tuner Grand Prix, this car cleaned up in the dyno challenge and road course events. The only reason it didn’t also take the prize in the drag race challenge is because the engine’s massive output caused an axle output flange to shear, thus ending its dominant performance. A very detailed writeup and spec sheet is available at the tuner’s website and with all the specs and figures detailed, it would be very interesting to have a performance calculator on hand to play around with various what-if scenarios.

034Motorsport GTI-RS page can be found here. 

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Tracked Snow Dragster Aims To Beat 1000 Foot Record

For racers and athletes suffering winter spells for half of the year, there is nothing as frustrating as spending the next five or six months waiting for the weather to turn so that normal activities can be resumed. In the case of drag racers Jim and Bernie Warning and Paul Groth, they turned the adverse weather into an opportunity to break a speed record while their dragster was sidelined for the winter.

The goal of the trio is to have their dragster, known as Frozen Assets, try to break the mark of 200 mph in 1000 feet from a standing start. Their dragster was built by Spitzer Race Cars and into this chassis was installed a 2000 horsepower Proline Race Engines mill. The car also features a quick-change diff and a spray system for the rear drive system, most probably to help with the traction. What’s unusual about this dragster is that instead of rear drag slicks, a pair of studded tracks have been installed with small skis in front.

Watch how the drive system works to accelerate the car from a standing start. From the way it goes, it looks like breaking the record is attainable. Together with the quick change rear end, calculating the horsepower and ratios needed to break the 0-1000 foot record would have been an interesting exercise.

See the source article here.

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Esprit NSX Is The Ultimate Honda NSX Configuration

When the Honda NSX came out, it was hailed as the affordable supercar due to its mid-engine configuration providing superior handling, a sleek design and a VTEC V6 providing 270 horsepower at 7100 rpm. Not long after, tuners began modifying it to improve its performance even further. Even though the NSX is currently not in production, tuners keep on modifying existing models to levels that even the factory could not have imagined. Which brings us to the Esprit NSX. This beast of an NSX is arguably the most extreme example of what can be done to an NSX. The carbon fiber body parts, aero aids and chassis reinforcement are only half the story.

The Esprix NSX’s engine has been rotated 90 degrees, from its original transverse mounting to a longitudinal mounting position. This was so that it could be fitted with a transaxle that is used for the Japan GT Touring Car competition NSXs. Then, twin turbos were added to bump horsepower to the 600 horsepower mark. Every major component was replaced, with the exception of the crank, which was balanced and blueprinted. The heads were treated to porting, polishing and CC’ing. The parts list for the engine alone would fill a page and includes names from the most trusted component manufacturers in Japan like TODA, Trust and Esprit itself. Making these parts work together reliably takes some serious performance calculations and years of experience. The NSX may be out of production but thanks to dedicated tuners like Esprit, Honda’s supercar continues to stamp its presence in the sports car scene.

See the source article here.

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2011 Peugeot 908 Racer Aims To Repeat Previous Year's Successes

The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP is a sports prototype racing car built by French automobile manufacturer Peugeot to compete in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race, beginning in 2007 and which the company eventually won in 2009. It first competed against the Audi R10 TDI, becoming the second diesel engined sports car from a major manufacturer. This was Peugeot Sport's first Le Mans effort since the end of the Peugeot 905 project in 1993. It won 19 from the 28 races in which it raced between 2007 and 2010.The body is a carbon fibre monocoque instead of a conventional open structure. This configuration offers better rigidity and lower weight. Front and rear suspension are linked, steering is electrically powered, and the magnesium wheels are by BBS. The car measures is 4.65 meters long and and weighs 925 kg or 2,039 pounds.

The Peugeot 908 is powered by a 5.5 L (340 cu in) HDi diesel engine, the maximum size allowed by Le Mans Prototype rules. Its configuration is a 100° V12, the angle having been chosen to lower the center of gravity. Its output is over 730 horsepower and torque rating is 890 ft-lb. Oil systems are developed by technical partner Total. The electro-pneumatic controlled gearbox, designed and built by Ricardo, is longitudinal with 6 gear ratios, and the differential is self-locking.

Peugeot V-12

1. Twin Garrett external waste-gated TR30R turbochargers

2. Fabricated headers that go from 12-into-6-into-1. Each exhaust valve gets its own primary header tube

3. Bosch common-rail injection system that uses MS17 engine management

4. Twin common-rail injection pumps driven off the camshafts

5. 100-degree 5.5-liter V-12 aluminum cylinder block

6. Dual diesel particulate filters

It’s very interesting to see the impact of alternative fuels and technologies in the sport of motor racing. History has shown that these technologies eventually make it to everyday cars, where it benefits the average joe.

See feature article here.
 

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