Fredric Aasbo’s Formula D tC
Around here we all know what Formula Drift is, and we all know that at present, most of the top 8 guys who finish every single race run massively stroked and boosted V8 engines.Why, because it’s easy cheap, reliable horsepower and torque that the drivers can count on making loads and loads of torque.
But there is one outlier, one single competitor that goes his own way, and does so with a stock block, that when in the road car only makes 179hp and 172lb-ft of torque. Definitely not enough torque or twist to keep you moving sideways at around 100mph am I right? Fredric Aasbo, driver of the Hankook Tire Scion TC runs a modified 2AR engine that makes around 800hp and a colossal 700lb-ft of torque!
Nicknamed the Norwegian Hammer, Aasbo somehow managed to build an engine with all that power and torque and not constantly blow the motor from the chassis. I think it’s through a combination of old world witchcraft and the fact that he’s Scandinavian which imparts by itself a certain level of Oh.My.God.How.Is.That.Possible in any car they get behind the wheel. Just think about the old racing adage, “If you want to win, employ a Finn.” But it really applies to any of the Scandinavian countries.
But let’s get back to the ridiculous car he runs.
The motor has been re-oriented 90degrees to better suit the RWD need for a drift car. There is a completely massive BorgWarner EFR turbo that is designed from the ground up to be ridiculously reliable, especially for cars like this. Most of the rest of the engine is either stock, just a bit more robust, or like the crankshaft, borrowed from a Highlander! Also nitrous, lots of nitrous. But not like nitrous in Fast and the Furious, but rather a continuous system that keeps the boost higher to keep the cars wheels spinning freely throughout the turn. Effectively eliminating turbo lag. Oh yeah, and the radiator is mounted in the back of the trunk with inlets coming in through the side panel windows, because switching a FWD, horizontally opposed, 179hp engine to a RWD, Longitudinal, 800hp is totally easy, but it doesn’t pay to do it without a rear radiator!
This car anything but normal, and anything but one of your local crews tC’s. It is strictly a beast.
You can catch it run at the next Formula D event which is Round 6 in Fort Worth, Texas on September 12-13. If you’re in the area, definitely go check it out and listen to that engine just scream!