13′s for $1300 Challenge

Some time ago, PerformanceForums members came up with the idea of a challenge for all and sundry to see who could break a 13 second 1/4 mile time with a car that cost no more than $1300 to buy and build.

There were some caveats; it didn’t have to be road registered, but it did need to retain the appearance of a road legal car.  Also, safety items such as seat, harnesses, brakes and tyres were not counted in the build. Nor was consumables (such as oil, spark plugs, nitrous refills and so on).

The full compliment of entries and rules are here: http://www.performanceforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?69-13s-for-1300

The variety of entries was brilliant. A few Skylines, Commodores, a Cressida, a Mazda and very briefly a Hiace cab chassis. The timeframe and anything beyond those loose rules were left vague, and people are still working on projects from two years ago. The ultimate winners ended up being Uncle and my entry – a VN Commodore that cut a 12.3 second pass down the quarter which cost us almost bang on a grand. The fastest car was briefly the 2JZ Cressida of OKE020, which belted out 10.49 @ 131, though at a build cost of nearly five digits.

Have a look at our entry there, or here in the forums.

Toyota FT86 Coupe for Australia

Toyota’s glacially slow release of information on the FT86 affordable sports coupe confirms its Australian release

http://www.toyota.com.au/ft86

If the price can be kept to a minimum, Toyota may well steal the small RWD fun car segment from the Mazda MX5 which has held the niche market for well over a decade.