806 WHP ON THIS RUN
“The P800 is already at the limit of what we feel comfortable for the stock GTR transmission,” explains Switzer. “So to go further we really needed to beef up the transmission. We contacted Dodson Motorsports in New Zealand and explained what our goals were with the car - 900 hp, more clutch area, ad smooth shifting at every speed. The new transmission is the product of several months’ co-development between Switzer and Dodson, and is exactly what we needed in order to start pushing the GTR forward beyond 800 hp.”
The next thing Switzer needed to address to keep “pushing the GTR forward” was fuel. “We didn’t want to just deliver a race-gas package that tethered the client to a fuel drum in his garage, but we wanted to be able to turn up the boost, also.” The solution? Readily-available E85.
“In a way, the solution was all around us,” offers Switzer, whose shop is located deep in Ohio’s farm country, surrounded - literally! - by cornfields. “E85 isn’t without its trade-offs. We had to modify the fuel system to handle the fuel and significantly increase the size of the injectors, also, but in the end we had a fuel that gave us everything we needed to crank up the boost on this car and deliver over 900 hp.” The E85 delivered other benefits as well: it is significantly “greener” than the pump-gas and race-gas versions of the GTR. “With most high-horsepower cars, you can barely breathe after just a few dyno runs. With the E85, we were able to run pull after pull to dial in the tune without feeling any effects of the usual emissions. It’s hardly scientific, but there was a noticeable improvement in the air quality in the shop compared to race gas.”
The final product - dubbed the E900 for “Ethanol fuel, 900 hp” - is a fast, capable package that offers linear power delivery and massive midrange torque with superior transient response compared to larger-turbo/race-fuel combinations, while maintaining a bit of environmental responsibility along with its blistering sub-6-second 60-130 mph acceleration.
