Tweet
Sideways, Stuttgart Style.
We swing by the Porsche garage, cough on burnt rubber and thank Hankook for bringing a prancing horse. UPDATED WITH VIDEO
We don’t care if Porsche-philes think that turning the last “true” Porsche into a drift car would be sacrilege. Tyler McQuarrie, Hankook Motorsports, and JIC Magic Suspensions don’t seem to care either. For years now, drifting has been dominated by Japanese steel and carbon fiber. American metal has been making inroads as of late, and sure, there have been a smattering of Bavarian Motor Works products here and there. But a Porsche—an upside-down bathtub with the motor hanging out behind the rear wheels—is hardly the proper layout for a drift car, right?
Ditch that misconception. We caught up with the Hankook team out in Wall, New Jersey, as they prepped their 993 GT2 for the Formula D event for Saturday, Sept. 8. Even though the car is still in the development and testing phase, it was showing that it could slide with the best of them. Having 600hp ripping at the beefy 315/30/18 tires in the rear probably didn’t hurt, nor did having the suspension setup be done by the same man who raced the chassis back in Japan years ago in the JGTC.
When we tell you this car is bad, we mean bad. Like Ice-T back when he was a pimp, bad. First approaching the car, you’re drawn to it simply because it’s not like anything else at the event. The enormous APR GT500 carbon fiber wing also helps to draw your eyes in. There’s also the sexiness of the 993 body style, beefed up by the GT2 bolt-on over fenders. Sort of like a petite woman with really big curves in all the right places.
So it looks good, but how does it drive? According to Tyler, it’s one of the easiest drift cars he’s driven, and one of most fun cars he’s raced in his career. (A career that started at 14 racing karts, and includes American Le Mans, Stock Cars, and touring cars.) Power gets to the ground by way of a 5-speed transmission and an OS Giken Drift Spec LSD. The 3.8L flat-six sports twin turbos, a gigantic custom intercooler, and ITBs. Seeing as how the motor lives mostly behind the rear axle, the rear easily steps out, especially with the amount of power being made. Balancing that out, is a 26-gallon fuel cell under the hood, allowing the team to play with the fuel amount to change the weight in the front of the car, dialing in the distribution.
When we departed for the afternoon, the team was taking a pause from testing to change out the springs on the coilovers and adjust their rebound damping. The initial setup had been carried over from Sonoma, and due to the bumps in the middle of the course at Wall, they were opting for a softer setup to help compensate. If you’re in the tri-state area Saturday, we definitely recommend checking out the event. Also, feel free to hit us up at the 0-60 tent.
Porsche 993 GT2 Turbo specs:
Engine
3.8L
IHI RX6 TCW15 AR13 Twin Turbo
Custom intercooler system
JIC custom exhaust system
Exedy clutch
6 individual throttle bodies
OS Giken Drift Spec LSD
Suspension
JIC/Cross Competition Drift Spec coilovers
JIC/Cross Custom made hard tie rods
JIC/Cross Custom made rear upper camber arms
JIC/Cross Custom made front control arms
JIC/Cross Reinforcement bars
Air Jack system
Interior
Cobra racing seats
Sparco harnesses
Factory GT2 roll cage
Custom gauges
Wheels/Tires/Brakes
Mag Wheel 18×9 F and 18×12 R
Stoptech brakes
Hankook Ventus R-S2
Exterior
Lexus Pearl White Paint with Jet Black
GT2 Over Fenders
JGTC Front Lip
Lightweight hood
Lexan windows
APR GT500 custom carbon wing
APR carbon splitter
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Y_kv5dWq4&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98GvlOzMBV0&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enr7eNbvqE0[/youtube]
[img width=700 height=525]http://jic-magic.com/images/news/Dsc00625.jpg[/img]
Salu2!
Comment