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Sneak Peek: The Engines of Formula D 2013
By Khiem Dinh
Photos by Tofa Kagurabadza
Khiem Dinh is an engineer for Honeywell Turbo Technologies at the time of this writing. All statements and opinions expressed by Khiem Dinh are solely those of Khiem Dinh and not reflective of Honeywell Turbo Technologies.
Formula Drift might just have the most diverse field of powertrain combinations out of any professional motorsport series. In fact, trying to find a car with the original engine type as the car had off the showroom floor is the exception and not the norm. In Formula Drift, we have old cars with new engines, new cars with old engines, four to eight cylinders, single and twin turbos, and a shot of nitrous for good measure. Follow along as we take a quick look at some of the various setups we saw at Formula Drift Long Beach.
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| Ryan Kado's car is bucking all the trends. Or maybe he's starting a new trend; a Nissan engine in a Nissan chassis. A VK56 V8 WITH a turbo! It's a big turbo at that being a Garrett GTX4294R that is mid-mounted (behind the driver, in front of the rear suspension). Of course, it's also still rocking the infamous plastic intake manifold. |
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| Joon Maeng, one of the nicest guys in the business, has a big honking V8 under-and-out of the hood this year in his Lucas Oil/MAV TV/Nexen S13. That ain't no basic LS sitting in there and it's sporting a Holly EFI intake manifold. I know the displacement, but they told it to me in cubic inches and my simple mind can't do the conversion to liters, so I'm not telling. The car is wrenched on by our buddies at Road Race Engineering. |
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| Dennis Mertzanis is drifting the ARK Performance Hyundai Genesis coupe. It still has a Hyundai V6 under the hood fortified with some turbo power. Imagine that, the original engine! Oh yeah, Dennis is an engineer at Hyundai. |
