We love a good import vs. domestic drag race, and this week, Hoonigan delivered with a shootout between another odd combination of cars. You've got a lowered Chevy C10 with the weirdest bed ever and a powerful V8 against some old Japanese luxury car built for drifting and such.
It doesn't sound too good for the Lexus. Normally, these imports that go sideways aren't that good at racing because they're not designed to hook up, and the gearing is all wrong too. But we're excited because of who's driving it.
Hoonigan is nonchalantly treating it like that's some normal guy they just met. But Kenshiro "Ken" Gushi is one of Japan's top professional drifters. He started at 13 in an AE86 and is one of Toyota's go-to guys for going sideways in Formula Drift.
We've seen enough of what drifters are into these days to know that his car is not a Lexus IS300. It's the Toyota Altezza, or at least it has the propper badges for that. The project started out as just something to drive to and from the race track. But, of course, you can't have an RWD sedan with a 1JZ under the hood and not do anything with it.
Normally, this would have a non-turbo engine, but Ken swapped in a 1JZ because it sounds better than its more famous Supra cousin. While the stuff under the hood looks nearly stock, the insane front-end articulation and swapped in sequential gearbox tell a different story.
Right, time to switch sides! Glen Dederick's old Chevy C10 truck is next. The front end looks vaguely like a 1973 model, but the black mesh over the top gives it a menacing appearance. She's running an old small-block Chevy V8 with a stroker kit and a bunch of cool accessories. It's been dyno-tested at a 565 hp, so you know the near-stock JDM special is in trouble.
And check out what's in the barrel strapped to the bed. That's got to be the funniest performance installation ever. But if you'd like to know more about this build, check out the second video.
But anyway, the drag race has some pretty unexpected results. That C10 isn't hooking up, so the IS300 wins it all. Ken also gets to take some money home, which he'll need to buy fresh tires.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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