It's not what you think. This is not just some Infiniti G35, dressed up to the nines for your viewing pleasure. It's not just a flashy show car, either, taking home trophy after trophy every weekend-though it's fully capable of doing just that. It's certainly a racecar, the type that drifts sideways around the track. But this is not just any drift car. It's the most fascinating drift car ever made. It's freakish and unique. It's brash and powerful. It can make you forget about all the other drift cars you've ever seen in your life. But despite all of this, the adjectives of praise and this mysterious introduction, the most alluring thing about this car is the fact that it's still an underdog, trying to prove itself against all odds.
Its first disadvantage is location. We all know that the best drifters and the most well-known performance companies are in Los Angeles. Drift Emporium, the performance parts outfit that built this car, is based out of Buford, GA. Yes, Buford, with a population of 11,000. To give you a comparison of how small this is: the capacity inside the Staples Center, where the Lakers play, is almost 19,000. The second drawback is their choice of car, the Infiniti G35, which is better known for transporting Y-Generation Harvard Law grads from court to court than traveling 90 mph around a bend, sideways, inches from the wall. Why not go with the standard Nissan 240SX or AE86 Toyota Corolla? Why show everyone up with a luxury car? The last handicap, which can also be easily argued as being an advantage, is the massive 5.6L V-8 engine under the hood, courtesy of an '05 Nissan Titan. Why should anyone care about a drift car with a truck engine? Why should we watch this freak of a car?
Because amid the sea of Silvias, S2000s and Hachis, in a sport plateauing during an economy that doesn't give a damn about the car industry, this Titan-powered Infiniti from Buford, GA, just might be the Joe Louis of our generation; the Seabiscuit of our sport. We should watch it because it's different. We should follow it because Drift Emporium is one of the few that actually care; because their sole inspiration behind building the car was a man named Sae Kang, the former owner of Finishline Motorsports who passed away before he could complete the car himself. With all this combined, it would be wrong for us not to give a damn. History is in the making, and you don't want to miss the show.
Search YouTube for "Drift Emporium" and "G35" for a glimpse into the power of this car. It's unfortunate the video mutes the sound of this engine. If you've ever heard an uncorked Titan blast to life, it would sound like what it would if you woke up a den of lions-roaring sounds that register at all angles of the eardrum. Now imagine what that would sound like modified, especially when that modification is a Stillen supercharger, bringing loads of power to the table and making this G35 the embodiment of the phrase "nothing is impossible." It also shows that a large supercharger sticking out of the hood of a car still looks as good as it did when gear-heads first started doing it in the '60s.
Handling the fuel management is a Haltech E11V2, controlling the RC Engineering injection of all eight cylinders in harmonious sequence. Tuned by R2B2 Motorsports of Atlanta, the V-8 sports an Aeromotive fuel regulator and pump, and handling the delivery of fuel is a custom fuel rail by Drift Emporium. A Koyo radiator provides cooling power throughout the engine bay, and the Flex-a-Lite fans provide fresh air straight to the engine's face. The Stillen supercharger works to its full potential with a set of Jim Wolf valve springs, camshafts, and custom-made Stillen headers. Drift Emporium also custom made a stainless steel exhaust system, providing the tiger's roar to the engine's lionesque thunder.