Feature Blitz/Scorch Racing Drag Supra
Toyota Supra
1,101 LB-FT Of Torque
It's been all quiet on the eastern front, at least when it comes to the drag scene in Japan. What was once the most popular pastime for Japanese aftermarket-tuning aficionados has quietly been shoved into the corner, making way for newer motorsports like drifting and time attack. But drag racing seems to be on its way back, gaining more and more interest from privateers, who modify their rides to tackle the odd quarter-mile street race, and most importantly from well-known companies. Blitz got the attention of power-crazy drag racers at the Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this year with this Supra. A collaboration between Blitz and drag specialty shop Scorch Racing, this JZA80 is set to be one of the fastest cars in Japan when it is eventually raced later this year.
Arriving at Blitz headquarters in Tokyo, we found ourselves in the midst of some pretty special company. With the end of the Tokyo Auto Salon a few days prior, the workshop was swarming with Blitz demo cars. From the soon-to-be transformed D1-GP R35 GT-R to the Lexus LS were all contained in storage. Buried deep somewhere in the darker corners of the garage was this Supra. With true Japanese efficiency, the cars were repositioned in a few minutes to give us enough space to position the Supra for our shoot. Shibuya-san of Scorch Racing decided earlier on last year that it was time to go all the way by creating a purposely built drag car to see what he could achieve. He contacted the guys at Blitz and struck up a sponsorship deal, which would see the Supra raced under both Blitz and Scorch names.
So the work began, and the chassis was addressed first. The donor Supra was stripped down to its bare shell, which was then cleaned up from paint, corrosion, and heavy sound-deadening material. A good deal of effort went into stiffening up the chassis with plating, spot welding, and boxing off strategic areas-a much-needed process to get the best performance out of the car. A custom rollcage was then constructed and welded in place, again aiding in both rigidity as well as safety for the driver. The transmission tunnel was then modified to accept the five-speed Jerico air-shift gearbox, an item that instantly tells you this car is meant for some fast times. It was then a case of fabricating the dash and center console panels to house the few, but necessary, bits of instrumentation.
With this complete, the interior was sprayed in black to keep things looking nice and clean, ready for the accessories to be bolted in place. The seating position was measured up and the Blitz GT1 carbon-Kevlar seat fitted on custom mounts. Next, the Key's Racing steering wheel was fitted to an extended steering rack and bolted onto a super GT-style flick-up boss. The red buttons on the steering wheel, in case you're wondering, are the shift triggers for the transmission. A big Auto Meter tachometer and shift light are mounted on the door side of the rollcage, while the Blitz instruments are neatly arranged in the skeletal center console. Here the boost and oil temperature are displayed, while the SBC i-Color Spec-R boost controller keeps boost pinned at the preset level. Below, a Power Meter i-Color allows various engine parameters to be displayed-not that the driver has any time to play with this on the strip! These will be used mainly during engine setups and shakedown tests. The release for the Simpson parachute is positioned right above the driver's head, while the battery has been relocated to the passenger side of the interior to help weight distribution. The last bits of interest are the nitrous canister and the racing fuel tank, both situated in the trunk area.