Young Version — August 1999

Like HRF in Kyushu, we found a shop in Hokkaido drag racing a Starlet. This car is also street-drivable: it keeps its interior and can run the quarter mile quickly. That's the build concept. It used to run a TD05 turbo, with the goal of consistently getting below 12 seconds. To make more power, they switched to a GT3037. One question was whether the 5E engine could rev properly…

…but like HRF's Starlet, this one revs properly too. In this case, displacement has been increased slightly. With 1.8 kg/cm² of boost and 400 horsepower, the main bottleneck in getting power to the road is the transmission. Until recently they used an RD five-speed close-ratio gearbox, but it couldn't take the power and broke. There's another problem as well…

Torque steer. It's manageable while the front tires are spinning in first or second, but in third they start to grip, boost comes on hard, and the car yanks violently. You can hardly go full throttle with confidence. That's why they have now gone back to the stock transmission. Even on the street, hitting a truck-made rut when you're driving hard is dangerous. For now, the stock gearbox…

…switching back to the stock transmission has at least removed the fear of torque steer. Still, it's best not to go full throttle on the street! The next challenge is suspension setup. Torque steer is under control, but faster times depend on suspension tuning as well as power. A street-legal car that's also quick in the quarter mile may be the real goal for this build.