Some people really manage to be great at just about everything. Let’s take this twin-turbo 2004 Pontiac GTO owner for example. He’s got the mechanical skills to build a racing setup at home. He’s also able to drive said racer to the drag strip. And then he’s also good behind the wheel...
Add that to the fact that he somehow manages to tame the beast and launch his ride only on the front wheels... and it gets really impressive. Of course, we are here mostly for the action, considering the premise: dual turbochargers, home-built, legendary nameplate, etc.
But it’s always nice to put a face behind the ride, so this time around we’re lucky enough to have a presentation of the “couple” by the good folks from the Drag Racing and Car Stuff channel on YouTube. It is embedded in the video seen below at the 1:30 mark and now that formalities are out of the way, let’s see the ETs and trap speeds.
Bear in mind this footage was captured during the traditional Wednesday test and tune program at the Orlando Speed World Dragway in Bithlo, Florida, hence the staggered starts for all three races. With that mental note in the background, the first skirmish (at 0:59) blew our minds both on account of the glorious GTO soundtrack and the fact that this Pontiac almost caught up to its vintage opponent by the time the quarter-mile was done...
Even better, the twin-turbo GTO then met a spectacular second-generation Chevy Camaro Z28, and the two racers duked it out on a couple of occasions. First up from the 3:20 mark the Pontiac roared into the night to a 9.35s victory, which could have been some bus-lengths apart from the Camaro’s 11.16s elapsed time. The second encounter is just for glory, as this time around the eleven-second-something Z28 doesn’t even get its moment to shine on the ET board...
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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