On Feb. 28, 2004, an accident killed Jerry Tsai's longtime high school sweetheart. The morning of the fateful day started off like any other with Tsai giving her a pat on the rear as she rode off into the sunset. No more than a minute after his farewell, a shrill tire cry followed by a horrendous boom echoed in the air. "Oh No!" screamed Tsai as he ran toward the scene, gathering his thoughts and processing what happened. A quick survey of the damage revealed what little remained of the front end as fluids slowly bled onto the tarmac. The door was ajar as a shadowy figure-of what appeared to be a male-exited the vehicle. Was Tsai's high school sweetheart a man? Not likely.
The accident happened at the inaugural U.S. D1 Grand Prix. Both Tsai and the S13 driver, Daijiro Yoshihara, stood in disbelief as the Pacific Rim drift crew pushed the crumpled mess that was once Tsai's longtime high school sweetheart, a 1989 Nissan 240SX back to the pits. The day ended bitterly.
Shortly after, Tsai found a new love: a RHD Silvia S13 from Autoconxion of Torrance, Calif. Most of the original parts were recovered from his sweetheart and bolted on the new JDM drift vehicle, including most of the body panels. Two weeks after the accident, Silvia version 2.0 was ready for the remainder of the 2004 season.
Silvia version 2.0 has tons of under-the-hood mods. First, the SR20DET race-bred engine was detuned for street driving. Tsai, fully aware of the engine's capability in factory form, decided to leave the engine's internals. Instead he added a plethora of bolt-on goodies to achieve the maximum-allowable horsepower. The SR20DET comes to life with a deep rumbling bass. The sound projects out the three-inch Magnaflow Tititanium exhaust, complements of two HKS stage 2, 264-degree intake and 272-degree exhaust duration camshafts with a 11.5mm lift. Thanks in part to a HKS GTR-S turbine, A'PEXi downpipe, and HKS stainless-steel exhaust manifold, boost lag is virtually eliminated, and the S13 maintains sufficient boost both entering and exiting an apex.