It aims to finish a quarter mile in under nine seconds.
While dragsters commonly go for LS-swapped or V8-powered cars, one person in Hawaii begs to differ and chooses to smoke drag strips in a 1981 Toyota Corolla. Don't dare belittle the vehicle from the nameplate alone as it is said to be the fastest street-legal drag car in the Aloha state.
Larry Chen, a renowned LA-based photographer known for his works with the late Ken Block, got to check out the E70-generation Toyota Corolla drag car built by Alex Sylva. In Chen's latest YouTube upload, Sylva talked about the stories behind the build and his plans for the car including registering a sub-nine-second 1/4 mile drag time.
Under the hood of this bonkers build is a so-called 1.5JZ engine, which is a love child of the 1JZ head and 2JZ block. On the dyno, Sylva said the Corolla made 740 horsepower, which may not sound a lot for a dragster but wait until you hear its 1/4-mile time.
Sylva claims that the street-legalCorolla dragster can run a quarter-mile in 9.5 seconds at 149 mph. For reference, that's just around a quarter of a second short of the record-setting 9.24 second time clocked by Jay Leno in a Tesla Model S Plaid, an all-electric car capable of producing maximum torque from a standstill.
Larry Chen/YouTube Larry Chen/YouTube Larry Chen/YouTube
The drag strip is a natural playground for the E70 Corolla as it has a rear-wheel-drive (RWD) system straight from the factory. Most suspension parts that help put the power down from the 1.5JZ are from Techno Toy Tuning except for the shocks.
However, weight is said to be an issue with the drag car. It still has stock steel body panels, an audio system, and sound-deadening materials.
For the Toyota dragster's next visit to the drag strip, Sylva aims to achieve an ambitious 8.90-second 1/4-mile time, which is faster than most supercars such as the Ferrari SF90 Stradale and Bugatti Chiron Sport.
Larry Chen/YouTube Larry Chen/YouTube Larry Chen/YouTube
Keyword: Badass Toyota Corolla Is Hawaii's Fastest Drag Car And It's Street Legal