Gather close on $3million worth of the most desirable modified street legal cars in Australia, extend them on the track, test them on the dyno and you’ve got the Toyo Hot Tuner Challenge.
Toyo Tires is naming rights supporter of the sixth annual Motor Magazine event over two days at Sydney Motor Sport Park with the verdict announced in the August and September editions of Motor.
Entrants range from an AMG A45 Mercedes-Benz right up to a Ferrari 458 – with modifications from mild to wild. Toyo Hot Tuner is an unofficial convention as Australia’s aftermarket modifiers present their own cars and get up close with others.
“Hot tuners exist to fuel people’s passion for their cars,” Motor editor Dylan Campbell says. “This event is about celebrating the art.” There are three classes: up to $75,000, up to $150,000 and everything above.
Control tyres aren’t used but Toyo is well represented in all classes. Here’s a cross section of entrants.
UP TO $75,000
City Performance Centre at Artarmon in Sydney says the A45 AMG Mercedes-Benz is the next evolution in street-mod small cars.
They’ve taken a 2.0-litre petrol Turbo all-wheel drive AMG and given it an extra 75kW at the wheels.
Mods include an upgraded turbo and an ECU boost as well to shift gears faster and more aggressively. Suoer Pro sway bars and KW Clubsport coil-over 18-way adjustable suspension feeds power through to the Toyo Proxes R888 tyres –235/35/ZR19 all round.
Shane Pollock drove the KPM Motorsport tuned StreetFighter Club Sport Commodore up from Adelaide on Toyo Proxes TI Sport tyres. He liked them so much he left them on the front and fitted R888 tyres to the rears for maximum traction around Sydney Motor Sport Park’s south circuit. “I can’t get them to light up – no matter what,” Shane says.
StreetFighter is becoming a big brand with performance mods available across the nation.
Their Commodore has a Magnussen 2300 supercharger, a stage two cam grind and a three-inch custom exhaust. Height adjustable H&R coil over shocks work to Street Fighter’s exclusive all black five spoke ROH wheels. Proxes Sport T1 on the front are 245/35/ZR 20 and R888 on the rear are 285/35/ZR20.
UP TO $150,000
Simply Sports Cars at Artarmon Sydney have recently become the NSW and ACT franchise holder for Lotus cars. The new 3.5-litre V6 Exige S is a weapon out of the box, so they’ve “not done a lot”. Oh yeah. A new air box gives the mid-drive Exige another 20kW at the wheels and a new water-to-air supercharger cooling system keeps it on peak performance in high temperatures. Like most of the tuners, it’s suspension and traction that really get their attention. Simply Sports has fitted British made Nitron shocks – 22-way adjustable, with a range of +/- 30mm (helps heaps in corner weighting to get the balance just right). Wheels are standard. Tyres are 215/45/ZR17 front and 275/35/ZR18 rear. The different wheel sizes help rake the Lotus for extra aerodynamic down force.
Think Monster!!! 580kWs of power…1100Nm torque…..
Supercharged 6.2-litre GM V8, upgraded from 1900cc (that’s 1.9litres of air per revolution through the supercharger) to 2300cc. That’s mega.
Harrop is becoming one of the biggest and most respected of the Hot Tuners. They employ 60 people and do most of their own work in-house in Melbourne. The supercharger on every Lotus Exige is Harrop made – shipped to England for fitment.
Harrop’s general manager Heath Moore is big on handling. The Harrop HSV uses WhiteLine sway bars on Eibach springs. He chooses Toyo Proxes T1 Sport all round, 255/35/ZR20 front and 275/30/ZR20 rear.
OVER $150,000
Harrop brought a world-first to Toyo Hot Tuner – general manager Heath Moore’s E92/M3 fitted with an in-house developed TVS M3 Supercharger kit. It’s never been done before and it lifts power from 250kW at the wheels to 370kW. The BMW has had a serious work over. Externally there’s the front adjustable splitter (usually for LHD markets only) and a factory rear wing. Underneath there’s KW Club Sport suspension on Forgeline wheels. Brakes are up 380mm six spot front, 356 four spot rear with Ferodo race pads. The BMW is shod with Toyo R888 front and rear 255/35 ZR 18 front; 295/30/ZR 18 rear.
Overwhelmingly the Toyo R888 tyre is regarded as the best street-legal track tyre solution. On-road handling, water drainage and straight line tracking all add up to a tyre you can drive to the track and use on it.
