RUSSIAN DRAG CARS- THEY'RE FUCKING MENTAL! - PART THREE

Russia- They don't fuck about when it comes to tuned cars; in fact they're flippin' incredible! First up, if you've not seen part ONE and TWO, they're HERE and HERE, and now, the third and final part of this feature.

First up, the MR-S (MR2, whatever) in the opening picture pulling a wheelie. BIG power turbo engine, right? Wrong! It's got the naturally aspirated 2ZZ engine in it, just like they have when standard! This car however is heavily lightened, and the 2ZZ is massively tuned, and the thing runs 10.1seconds in the quarter mile! Here's the engine...

Next up, another small Toyota engine, albeit much older- THE most powerful 4AGE I've ever seen! These engines are best known from the AE86, and push out 125bhp as standard from their revvy 1.6ltr engine, and in full-on crazy Formula Atlantic race spec, they make nearly double that, and still 1.6ltr and non turbo.
But this one, fitted to a 1990s Toyota Levin, is pushing out a claimed 1000bhp!

How true the 1000bhp claim is, I've no idea, but the thing runs 10.5sec quarter miles, so it's sure as shit got a LOT of power!

Next up, some REALLY fast LADAS! It is Russia afterall! Most interestingly, these run Lada engines too, the small 4cyl 16valve Lada engines, and are REALLY fast, so they're clearly damn good engines.

​First up, a front wheel drive, 1.5ltr 16V Lada, that runs 9s!

I think it's a pretty badass looking car, but the engine is a beast, with a little 1.5ltr fitted with a big Holset HX52 turbo! HX52s are well proven to spool amazingly for their size, often fitted even to 2ltr engines, but a 1.5 is deffo the smallest I've ever seen one fitted to!

Cool engine setup too, proper twin scroll turbo setup with twin wastegates, 8 injectors with 2x fuel rails, nitrous just after the compressor outlet, and a chargecooler built in to the inlet manifold by the looks of it. The end result? 9.8sec quarter mile.

Next up, a RWD Lada, but again, a turbocharged version of the Lada 1.5 16V lump...

Would never imagine that would run low 10s unless you saw under the bonnet, but it does, and you deffo wouldn't imagine the next one is just as fast...

This one I have a little more info on the engine spec, and it's amazing how standard it is!
It's a 1.5 16V, turbo converted of course, but running standard rods still, and the pistons, while not standard, are just ones from a Lada Niva! Regardless of this, it runs 10.5s!

The final Lada is again, the 1.5ltr 16V lump, but front drive again, but non-turbo! And despite this still runs 10s! Making big power with a turbo just proves the engine is strong, but this N/A performance shows they're pretty damn good for tuning too...

I like how the engine is tilted forward to maximise weight on the front end, and therefore maximise traction...

Last, but certainly not least, a car that not only doesn't look at all like a drag car, in fact it's a fully road legal car with a full interior, but it doesn't even look like the sort of thing the Russians usually tune- An E30 BMW touring!

The front mount intercooler is the only thing that hints that it could be fast, but this is REALLY fast for a full interior road car- It runs 10.5sec quarter miles! But how? Well...

Not only is it packing a 700bhp turbocharged M50B25 engine, but it's a 325iX, ie the 4wd model! A 700bhp 4wd E30, now THAT sounds a whole lot of fun!
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THAT'S IT FOR THIS FEATURE, SO WHAT'S NEXT? ANOTHER 80'S F1 TURBO ENGINE TECH FEATURE I RECKON. MAYBE...