http://www.geocities.com/ma71supraturbo/articles/mk4/8_93rtsupra.html
Great article! It makes me question, though, why I spend the price of a new car every year fixing the two Ferraris I own...
Those times are so out. I highly, highly doubt a Supra could crack five seconds flat to 60mph. Especially when you consider an M3CSL will do it in the same time. Excellent read though!
A Toyota, and frankly even most Porsche's are just cars. I could give a rats a$$ how fast they are. They evoke no emotion. The only thing I found worthwhile and valid in that article was the notion of comparing a Testarossa to these other 2 cars being silly. Paraphrased.
i agree. if " I " wanted to go fast i would buy a sportbike. i do not buy Ferraris and Lambos to be the cool fast guy. i buy Ferraris and Lambos because i like the cars and i CAN. my 70 z28 4 speed was a super fast car, and it was old and original. i justed liked the car. nothing more. there are some nice Supras out there that guys and gals have done a great job on modifying. i am man enough to both admire thier work and fully admitt how much faster thier cars are. i will still keep buying the cars " I " like anyway. even if mine are old and slow.
well, porsches are just cars... ...just cars that have more sportscar race wins and le mans wins than any other manufacturer. the flat 6 porsche config is also THE winningest engine of ALL!!! ...just a car!
I actualy have an original copy of this issue in my stash of magazines going back to about '88. Brings back memories, especially the Senna reference.
I 2 nd " My Addidas " That's like saying why go out to eat and spend $ 100 for 2 at a spendy restaurant when you can eat bread and butter and some soup and still fill the belly . It's because the feeling you get from doin it . The 355 I drove knowing all the possible problems and stress of dealing with it when a problem arises . It all goes away soon after the key is turned .
What he said. Different character than a Ferrari, but wonderful in their own teutonic way. Great article, thanks for posting.
I would take the TR over the other two any day. One TR that I've seen in person particularly stands out in my mind as incredibly sexy. It was black with custom rims, black seats, and floormats with a red prancing horse. That car has been emblazoned into my memory ever since.
I liked how he sumed it up at the end of the article. Being an ex-supra owner, and hopfully future ferrari owner I think he explained the differences at the end perfectly. The supra is compromised in the way it tries to please to many different types of people to sell more cars. And by the way I only had an intake mod and the 0-60 was closer to 4.5 or so.
I 2nd what you say... I have an 02 Z06 corvette.. which i consider pretty fast, with a few bolt ons... the car is one bad ass ride. In the 512TR... its just different, i enjoy driving the 512 on nice open roads, and let that 12cyl really sing, and shift the gears at just the right point, u find youself at highly illegal speed limits in no time. People keep asking me if the 512TR is faster than my vette, i just simply answer... "who cares..." really...its not about being the fastest...well, for me anyway.... keep it safe...
I am a current Supra owner. I havent done any time slips but 60 and 100mph come up really fast. I am also BPU with race gas pushing 20 psi too. But I do plan on getting a Ferrari. I am looking at a 348 or 355. The 512TR is nice but probably out of my price range. I would not care if the Supra is faster than the Ferrari. I finally would have a Ferrari Thanks for the article. Remember, when this article was written, Supra's were common before this model. As the next 5 years passed, not many Supra's were sold. Less then a 1000 in 1996 and about 11,000 total in the 5 year run (including N/A and Turbo models). Just adding they are becoming pretty rare. Especially and bone stock one.
The Supra is great car stock and more importantly an amazing platform for building a reliable, usable, affordable supercar, and I mean supercar. I have a single turbo upgraded Supra with more than 700 RWHP/600 RWTQ, adjustable down to about 375 RWHP at minimum boost depending on my mood. The car will still get 26+ mpg cruising easy in 6th and is dead reliable. I've also upgraded the suspension and brakes (although the brakes didn't really need it except for fast road racing) and lightened it considerably. It's the closest I can get on my budget to a common man's F40 experience, although it is actually faster than a stock F40 in a straight line when I have it cranked, even top speed. It does have some of the F40's traits, the stout turbo hit and seemingly endless top end pull, not to mention the turbo/waste gate sound effects. If you've never gotten to ride in a powerful turbo car, you really should try it, there's nothing else like it! Supras are great fun, but they don't have the style or passion of a Ferrari, no doubt about that. Ferrari has an aura that no other car match to me, which is what keeps them on my mind.
Yeah I still have this mag too. As for emotion, some people track day these cars and while they do it for fun as some owners have pointed out, it may be just as fun to spend 1/4 as much $ and beat or at least tie a Ferrari. EVO magazine's fastest track lap was done by a Caterham R500 Evolution. It beat the Enzo and Carrera GT for 1/10 the price.
512tr will always be a favorite of mine due to the completely outrageous styling that unfortunately Ferrari doesn't offer anymore untill you step up to the Enzo level. At the time when they wrote this article nobody knew anything about MKIV Supras or what type of king of the streets monster was lying within. We are talking about the strongest 6spd transmision ever put into any sports car ever. An engine that has made well over 1000 horsepower in many cars without the head ever being unbolted from a 100% bone stock bottom end. Built stroker 2JZ engines have pegged 1400rwhp dynojets. They only made around 7000 turbo models yet for a while the MSP Supra held the worlds fastest street tire car record (now the record taken back by Dwayne Gutridge's Mustang), faster then even the millions of f-bodys and mustangs made which tend be owned by drag enthusiests. Titan, Woon, and other 6spd Drag Racers have gone whole seasons of drag racing without breaking the factory untouched 6spd transmision while putting well over 4 digit hp through it and hard launches/shifts every pass. Boostlogic took their stock body, STOCK differential, Stock IRS, Supra to 7.86@186mph. Ryan Woon went 8.65@172mph in a stock body, stock 6spd, STock IRS, stock diff, 100% factory weight 3550lb Supra. Yet despite the amazing drag numbers Leh Keen took the GSC Supra which just had $20K in bolt on wheels/suspension/brakes/turbo kit something anyone can put together with mail order parts and a few weekends in the garage to 1:33 at Road Atlanta and took 1st place both days on the NASA Time Attack beating $200K budget modified 996 TT's and MTI 7L Z06's. These are numbers that simply speak for what an incredible car Toyota engineered back in the early 90's! Look at the resale a low milage 97/98 6spd sells for more now then they sold for brand new at the dealer back in 98. What other non-exotic car can claim this kind of appreciation only 8 years after they stopped production? Sure the supra will never be an exotic and Toyota doesn't have the racing history of Ferrari but while owning a Ferrari gives you a peice of fine hardware built by a company with an amazing race herritage owning a MKIV Supra gives you a unique peice of actual record breaking hardware in your hands that who knows if Toyota will ever produce anything like that again. I know that my dream garage will always have a built supra in there regardless of how many breath taking exotics are in there. Here are some videos for yall: Ryan Woon's Amazing 6spd 1400rwhp+ Supra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTdm0ZG6vM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M0dhmVADg0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWDwk7b4Z2g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IS9ciSj2To Boostlogic's amazing stock body stock IRS Supra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwK9F1sTJzY Leh Keen Driving the GSC Supra around Road Atlanta: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeOWIy12UfI GSC and Leh Keen are going to be taking a serious stab at one lap of america in 2007 so look out for them.
I have had numerous guys telling me about someones japenese car is quicker than my tr and all the usual stuff but for me a ferrari is about more than 0-60. To me my tr is everything that a car should be put together in a factory somewhere in Italy i just love her. If all you are intrested in is speed buy a dragster if you want to experience the intoxicating sound smell and feel of a dream car buy a testarossa it will do it everytime. Joe public will appreciate her everytime you take her out as well!
The TR evokes the sexiest image. The Porsche is just plain awesome and so unassuming when it blows ur doors off. The Toyota is a marvel and makes u wonder how much money the company lost on each copy it sold. U cannot stuff that much technology and performance in a car at that price and make a dime, which is precisely y the company killed the line in the US.
"Hard to beat a 1078rwhp daily driver for less than $100,000" Yeah it is: Image Unavailable, Please Login
