Toyota Supra MKII Endurance Race Car
Redefining the phrase "the road less traveled", we decided to take a garage find MkII Toyota Supra and compete in the hardest form of motorsport there is: Endurance Racing.
We started with a 1985 Supra we found with over 200,000 miles on the clock, and promptly discovered that next to no one makes parts for this platform, so we had to do it ourselves. What's more, in the Champcar Endurance Racing series this car runs in, we had to be pretty innovative with our modifications as everything that makes it go faster results in performance index points that can cost several laps per race.
Starting off, the car was stripped and a NASCAR-style roll cage was installed using .120 wall chromoly tube, along with a Stroud fire system. Being on fire sucks. We then removed absolutely everything we didn't need, and got down to business making this Supra quick.
The stock 5M-GE engine was torn down and refreshed, and after our first few events with the car in natrually-apsirated form, we realized it was many things. Fast was not one of them. Enter a Garrett G30 turbo, intercooler, and Holley Dominator sequential injection setup. In its final form the car makes north of 350hp on E85, and does it for a very long time, proving once again that there's over-engineered, and there's Toyota over-engineered.
Stopping from 160 mph at Daytona would be good. Unfortunatley nobody really makes a big brake kit for this car-- so we did, using Wilwood 4-piston calipers and rotors with custom 2-piece hats on all four corners. DLC coatings were added on the spindles to keep them from exploding.
With a car that can do 160+, we needed to keep it on the ground, so we went with a 9 lives racing wing with custom uprights, a large front splitter, and custom diffuser. So far, the shiny side has stayed down.
Our goal with this car was the pro-touring setup Toyota should have made, if they had a time machine and bribed the accountants. So we've also added full telemetry via Starlink and many other things besides.
All told, making this car go fast was not hard. Making it go fast for 14+ hours-- now THAT is hard. But we enjoy not being like the other kids.
We're often told our MkII Supra is "too nice for Champcar"-- and we have put it in the wall more than once. But that just gives a car character and a story, which is just fine by us.
We started with a 1985 Supra we found with over 200,000 miles on the clock, and promptly discovered that next to no one makes parts for this platform, so we had to do it ourselves. What's more, in the Champcar Endurance Racing series this car runs in, we had to be pretty innovative with our modifications as everything that makes it go faster results in performance index points that can cost several laps per race.
Starting off, the car was stripped and a NASCAR-style roll cage was installed using .120 wall chromoly tube, along with a Stroud fire system. Being on fire sucks. We then removed absolutely everything we didn't need, and got down to business making this Supra quick.
The stock 5M-GE engine was torn down and refreshed, and after our first few events with the car in natrually-apsirated form, we realized it was many things. Fast was not one of them. Enter a Garrett G30 turbo, intercooler, and Holley Dominator sequential injection setup. In its final form the car makes north of 350hp on E85, and does it for a very long time, proving once again that there's over-engineered, and there's Toyota over-engineered.
Stopping from 160 mph at Daytona would be good. Unfortunatley nobody really makes a big brake kit for this car-- so we did, using Wilwood 4-piston calipers and rotors with custom 2-piece hats on all four corners. DLC coatings were added on the spindles to keep them from exploding.
With a car that can do 160+, we needed to keep it on the ground, so we went with a 9 lives racing wing with custom uprights, a large front splitter, and custom diffuser. So far, the shiny side has stayed down.
Our goal with this car was the pro-touring setup Toyota should have made, if they had a time machine and bribed the accountants. So we've also added full telemetry via Starlink and many other things besides.
All told, making this car go fast was not hard. Making it go fast for 14+ hours-- now THAT is hard. But we enjoy not being like the other kids.
We're often told our MkII Supra is "too nice for Champcar"-- and we have put it in the wall more than once. But that just gives a car character and a story, which is just fine by us.