Street Power

Sept/Oct 97

Cyber Shark

By Matthew Hayashibara

Giving new meaning to the phrase "faster computers"

The sleek silver Supra glides down the road, quietly gathering amazing speed.   With only the whoosh of its twin sequential turbos to signal its proximity, it lurks around the last corner, looking for its next kill.  But no ordinary Supra Turbo is this car...its much lower, wider and meaner than normal.  The wheels fill the wells to the rims, unlike the stock Supras.  The intercooler opening in the front spoiler looks like the open mouth of a striking cyborg shark, the rear wing, its thrashing tail.  But under this shark's skin lies a number of electronic brains which precisely control this shark's strike.  This shark is bionic. 

    Robocar is a vendor of aftermarket high-performance upgrades, specializing in high-end Japanese sports cars and their components.  In business for nine years, their specialty is the hard to find direct-from-Japan pieces from tuners like HKS and Trust Racing.  In addition to the aftermarket engine modifications, they offer suspension, wheels & tires, bodywork and accessories.  Installation is also performed at their facility in West Covina, California. 

    Despite its killer looks, the 3.0 liter straight-six twin-cam engine is surprisingly unmodified internally.  Rather, the performance tuning consists of bolt-on enhancements for the car's engine management electronics, a testament to the changing nature of performance tuning.  Mechanically, only the turbos have been upgraded to the Turbonetics "Sport Turbo" models.  TO put it simply, the power comes from the electronics convincing the already stout mechanicals to work a little harder, so to speak.

    The primary changes underhood are the addition of two HKS electronics packages, the EVC and the VPC.  These two small "black boxes" contain microcontrollers that regulate engine parameters, namely the turbo boost and fuel delivery.

    The EVC ATM is the HKS "electronic valve controller", which is, in reality, an electronic boost controller.  This state of the-art engine management electronics "learns" the turbo's boost curve and adjusts the wastegate to open at precisely the right time for maximum performance.  Electronic boost control was very expensive and available to only a few select race teams even a short while ago, and is now forbidden by the rules in CART open-wheeled racers.

The HKS VPC is a "vane pressure converter," a fuel management device.   This is a primarily an upgrade to the sensor electronics that tell the Supra's motor how much air is coming into the motor, how fast its going, and how dense it is.   From this, the ECU can calculate how much fuel should be injected, and how fast.   The stock Supra's mass-airflow unit is replaced with a speed/density sensor, which is much more in line with the higher-boost nature of this beast.

    Fuel enrichment when under boost is not only a good idea from the standpoint of making more power, but from the engine safety perspective as well.   When you have the additional air being forced into the engine by the turbo's, additional fuel has to be delivered also.  Without the extra fuel, the heated and pressurized oxygen in the intake charge wants to chemically react with surrounding engine parts...expensive things like valves and pistons!  The VPC insures that you burn more fuel, and not your pistons. 

    A new engine management CPU upgrade tops off the electronic modifications.  The car has a huge Trust intercooler, intended for the Nissan Skyline GT-R, which is distributed in this country by Greddy.  Its connected to the intake with intercooler piping and associated plumbing custom fabricated by the folks at Robocar.

    The engine now breathes in all this extra air through an HKS Power Flow air filter, which flows considerably better than the stock system.  Exhaust gases leave the engine through an HKS Super Dragger system.

    The end effect of all this computer wizardry in the engine room?   Engine output at the flywheel is and estimated 460 horsepower, with whopping 396 HP available at the rear wheels, according to a chassis dyno test.  Compared to the stock Supra Turbo's already-healthy 320 hp at the flywheel, this is serious power. 

    Suspension?  The bumps are kept under control by a set of blistein height adjustable shocks.  A set of H&R lowering springs sets the ride height at an altitude that gives a much more aggressive stance, and much improved cornering.  A set of adjustable Top Fuel swaybars of Japanese origin provides some extra roll control for really flat cornering. 

    The whole package rides on Volk Racing CD Pro Wheels, 18x9 in front and 1x10 in the rear, wrapped in 245/45ZR-18 and 285/40ZR-18 Michelins, respectively.   The brakes use Brembo calipers with cross-drilled, ventilated rotors for extra stopping power. 

    The otherwise stock six-speed transmission  and driveline are enhanced with a new user interface: a shifter from the Japanese firm C's.  The lever is very short for faster throws, and has a trick aluminum knob.

    Veilside, a Japanese tuning firm, supplied many of the trick pieces on this Supra.  Though metaphorically it could be said that it is installed to "be cool", being cooler is closer to the literal truth.  The larger vents for the radiator/intercooler and brake cooling ducts can direct a lot more cooling air at the "hot" engine and brakes. 

    The body kit is all fiberglass, and solidly attached to the car with sheet metal screws.  The rear wing is unique, the as the beautiful raw carbon fiber center wing element is adjustable through a couple of small removable panels on the pedestals. 

    An interesting styling detail is the custom headlight covers.   They look like a pair of eyelids, giving the front of the car a "squint" that ads to the open mouthed shark theme in front.

    Veilside also fabricated the upper stressbar connecting the tops front shock towers, which keeps the suspension geometry constant regardless of the cornering forces generated.

The interior is mildly enhanced with Veilside gauge faces and a carbon fiber dash kit, but is otherwise the stock Toyota black leather interior.  Even the stock steering wheel is retained.  A trust boost gauge serves notice that this is no ordinary Supra, and helps the driver know if anything is going terribly wrong in the turbo area.   (Oddly, the twin-turbo Supra has no boost gauge as it comes from the factory).   There is also an additional exhaust gas temperature gauge installed. 

    The end result of all of this carefully matched, bolt-on performance gear?  The car has been clocked in the quarter mile at 122mph, with a top-end time of 12.80.  One might surmise that the extensive modifications would make the car quite unsuitable in traffic, with the boost building very smoothly.  There are no surprises...until you look down at the speedometer.  Although the ride is considerably firmer than stock, it is not harsh, and quite tolerable.

    The look is over the top, just as the performance is;  there could be no calling this car a sleeper, it would attract attention anywhere.  yes, seeing that open sharkmouth in the rear view mirror would really get your attention.   And probably get you out of the way.