The Officially Gassed crew is back with another stupidly close drag race. Sadly, more emphasis should be placed on the singular form of race due to an engine problem suffered by the more interesting of the two all-wheel-drive contenders.
Enter Callum and his 1994 Toyota Starlet with a GT Turbo-looking front grille and lights. Although it looks a bit scruffy, it's easy to understand that you're not looking at your usual fourth-gen Starlet. Put together by WMD EVO and Future Motorsport, then tuned by Hayes Dynotec, this fellow is running a stroked 4G63 with a displacement of 2.3 liters and running gear sourced from a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6.
The five-speed manual tranny is allegedly stock, whereas the four-cylinder monster hiding under the hood is rocking a Holset Super HX40 competition turbo. This particular snail is advertised for applications going as high as 750 ponies, which is pretty close to the estimated 734 horsepower produced by Callum's unique build.
Pictured on Nankang NS-2R performance tires, the three-decade-old thriller that's hardly a Starlet underneath has to prove itself against a tuned R35 with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S rubber. Weighing an estimated 1,740 kilograms (3,836 pounds) compared to 1,198 kilograms (2,641 pounds) for the 'Yota, the 2017 model year GT-R plays second fiddle in the power-to-weight department.
Owned by Sambo, the Nissan still flaunts the stock 3.8 liters of displacement. However, it's been augmented with the KR Stage 4.25 Performance Pack from Knight Racer, which comprises quite a few mods. From high-flow cast downpipes to 1,050-cc injectors, aluminum intake pipes, and software calibration for the sixer and the dual-clutch tranny, it is the bee's knees.
Photo: OFFICIALLY GASSED - OG on YouTube
The R35 exhales through the factory titanium exhaust, and there's also a large intercooler from MVT to mention. All told, you're looking at just around 700 horses compared to Nissan's advertised 562 horsepower for the 2017 model year. By comparison, the NISMO for Europe rolled out of the factory with 591 to its name.
In the quarter mile, the VBOX recorded 10.89 seconds at 129.42 miles per hour (208.28 kilometers per hour) versus 11.10 seconds at 133.19 miles per hour (214.34 kilometers per hour) for the harder-to-launch Starlet. Having crossed the finish line, Callum saw a bit of smoke coming from under the hood, and that was that.
Prior to the sole drag race, the boyos duked it out from a rolling start over three races. Once again, the Starlet had trouble keeping up with the GT-R. It won a single quarter-mile showdown, during which the VBOX recorded the 100 to 200-kph time. That's 62 and 124 miles per hour in the imperial system, and on this occasion, the EVO-powered Starlet proved to be quicker.
The numbers in question are 6.10 seconds over 260.25 meters (853.8 feet) compared to 6.86 seconds over 298.09 meters (977.98 feet). Unfortunately, neither time was good enough to crack into the top 15 on the OG leaderboard.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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