Think of all the places you might find a 1,600whp Supra. We've got three: On a dyno at a TX2K highest-hp pissing contest; at any given drag strip within a 50-mile radius of MSP Racing in the Baltimore area, Titan Motorsports in Orlando, or L.A.'s SP Engineering; or on a trailer en route to said destinations. It wasn't until we met Jamie Carter that we'd expect to find one in Ohio, in the quaint Cleveland suburb of Chagrin Falls . . . at an elementary school soccer practice.
"I don't drive it on the streets regularly," Jamie clarifies. In stark contrast to some of his other rides that have only seen the pavement of public roadway-a 715whp Porsche GT2, 900whp Z06 'Vette, and 580whp S4, to name a few-he built this Supra specifically for the strip. In fact, it was Jamie's former MKIV Supra (a 1,135whp beast dubbed "Top End") that garnered the self-proclaimed adrenaline junky and part-time soccer dad infamy in street racing circles by beating nearly every car brave enough to line up next to it. Eventually only boosted street bikes would run against the Supra, and they lost, too. After time, no one would race him, save for a certain domestic muscle car you'll learn more about later, and building a machine potent enough to take it out meant building one that would pose a serious threat to the established import drag racing community. The only reasonable option would be to do just that. But the decision wasn't cemented until Jamie found himself in trouble with authority. "My wife 'strongly urged' me to stop street racing," he laughs. "What could I do?"
Rather than build "Top End" into his dream track threat, Jamie decided to part with it and source a fresh platform. His search for a clean-titled, straight-bodied MKIV chassis took him all the way to Florida, where a non-turbo, hard-top version was purchased and shipped back home to begin modification. It was in solid running condition, but wouldn't stay that way for long. Jamie blew its engine up the day he received it. "I just can't keep my foot off the gas!" he laughs. By the end of the following week the car was taken to Toledo, OH's Accelerated Performance, stripped to the bare shell, media blasted from top to bottom, given a competition-legal Gary Reese 25.5 roll cage (with supports for a fuel cell, parachute and custom pro-stock rear wing), and affixed to a rotisserie at World Class Finishes in Uniontown, OH, awaiting a full BASF Spectra Blue Mica colorchange. This was to be a full Street Class dragster; a car that would retain at-a-glance street legality, yet still be able to put on slicks and run down the big boys. Its rear fenders were given a "mini-tub" to this extent-re-worked just enough to fit 29.5x11.5-inch slicks, but still retain stock interior trim.
Accelerated Performance-the shop responsible for the creation of "Top End"-handled the new car's complete re-build. And this is where things get crazy, for more reasons than the obvious: every piece of the car was ordered new. The engine block and head, glass, control arms, interior plastics, every nut, bolt and washer, head- and taillights-as you see it here, no part of this car, save for the unibody, was included with it when its original owner was first handed keys back in '98. Every stock piece on the car was ordered new, from Toyota. The car's entire build is estimated to have cost $200K, with roughly $100K invested in restoration. The remaining $100K was dissolved into the performance aftermarket.
Accelerated Performance's Donald Summerton and Russell Maskey rebuilt the powertrain completely from scratch. A brand new block was ordered from Toyota, re-worked in-house by the Accelerated crew with a quarter-fill (in layman's terms: reinforcing the bottom of the cylinders with a cement-like mixture) and machining to accept half-inch headstuds and a Crower/Carillo/CP Pistons rotating assembly, for a final displacement of 3.4 liters at 9.5:1 compression. A factory-fresh cylinder head was shipped to Dave Localio of Headgames in Ewing, NJ, for a full race port, Ferrea +1mm valvetrain and machining to accept custom-spec Crane cams. Once back on Accelerated grounds, the crew joined the combination and fitted it with a Full Race turbo manifold and Precision Turbo GT47-88 snail, and fabricated nearly every other engine peripheral from scratch: a custom intake manifold to support Bosch 150lb/hr fuel injectors, a turbo-back exhaust, a Garrett-cored air-to-liquid intercooler setup, a fuel cell housing a massive Weldon 2345 pump, and plumbing of the Peterson/Moroso dry-sump oiling system. Coolant, oil and fuel lines were switched to Earl's or Aeroquip stainless-covered Teflon and rubber replacements, and the cooling system itself was completely worked over; upgraded to an AFCO radiator, dual Earl's transmission coolers and Flex-a-lite fans-telling signs that more than just drag strip duty would be in store for this ride.
The stock chassis wiring was scrapped-this car wouldn't be using all the amenities it was born with, so why keep heavy wiring to them? Instead, Russell Maskey and crew kept only the necessary components, wired them in-house using only mil-spec components, and employed a Motec M800 ECU and CDI-8 for engine management and ignition duties, respectively. Using a large turbo is great for making big power, but inherent lag and poor throttle response could all but kill acceleration in a manually shifted car. Thus, a custom Nitrous Express direct-port system was fabricated to help spool the turbo, and the venerable Getrag six-speed transmission was ditched in favor of a TH400 automatic, sourced from a '70-something Suburban and re-worked by Rossler Transmissions in Girard, OH. With the addition of Driveshaft Shop Stage 6 axles and a TRD limited slip differential, it forms a bulletproof drivetrain that allows the 2JZ's Accufab throttle to stay wide-open from the tree to the traps.