Tested: 999 Motorsports Supersport Racer!
By Mike Kojima, Photos by Dave Karey
What is as fast as a Smallbore GT race car and cheaper to operate than a Spec Miata? I recently got a call last week from Jackson Stewart, President of 999 Motorsports. Jackson had called to see if I was interested in driving their new Supersport race car. The Supersport is designed to be a user friendly and cheap to maintain purpose built race car that is fast enough to be fun but not so edgy as to be scary. A sort of poor man's Daytona Prototype. We eagerly made the trip down to Willow Springs to give the Supersport a spin.
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| The Supersport is a 100% purpose built race car that is designed to be decently fast, super cheap to maintain and easy to work on as well as reasonably priced. Believe it or not the Supersport probably costs less to run than a competitive rules limited racing sedan like a Spec Miata or a Honda Challenge car! At 2200 lbs and 300 hp, it promises to be tons of fun. The Supersport will have its own racing spec series with NARRA and is also homologated for NASA's ST2 class. Come to think of it, the Supersport's cheap operating costs make it the ultimate track day play car as well. |
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| The Supersport's composite body is durable and can take a hit without coming apart and is easy to repair. The bodywork is also easily and quickly removable to provide complete access to just about all components. This access makes the Supersport a snap to work on. |
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| The Supersport has a full aero package with a composite aluminum and polypropylene honeycomb flat bottom, a front splitter and rear diffuser with an adjustable rear wing. It makes a lot of downforce. The Supersport has a 97″ wheelbase and an overall length of 165.6 inches making it the size of a typical sport compact car. Make no mistakes though, the Supersport is not a modded street car but a purebred race car, designed from the ground up for the rigors of track use. |
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| The powerplant was selected to be fast, fun and cheap to operate. It is a GM Ecotec LNF turbo 4 displacing 1998cc. The engine is direct injection and pretty bulletproof as it is a stout engine and completely stock except for the peripherals. The engine features a Borg Warner EFR turbo on a cast twinscroll exhaust manifold, variable valve timing, forged internals with sodium filled intake and inconel exhaust valves. The engine can pump out a low stressed 300 hp and 340 lb/ft of torque all day long and probably go several seasons between freshening! If you wanted to, Ecotecs can be modified to make big power. |
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| The GM F35 5-Speed transaxle is straight out of a Cobalt SS. It has a clutch type limited slip differential and an Aasco lightweight clutch and flywheel. The transmission can be had with a conventional H pattern shifter for NASA's ST2 class or a sequential shifter for other classes. A 3MO full race dog shifted gear box is available as an option but not legal for all classes that the car is homologated in. |
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| A Borg Warner EFR turbo is standard equipment. An internal wastegate and integral compressor bypass valve keep things simple. A twin scroll exhaust housing makes the turbo spool fast for lagless power delivery. |
