Who needs a BMW-sourced V12 when you can shove a 600-horsepower Mitsubishi 4G63 in the engine bay? This de-stroked Mitsu engine revs to over 9500 rpm, and powers KOMVET Racing’s hillclimb car to tremendous pace. It doesn’t hurt that the whole thing is carbon fiber and weighs just 1565 pounds. This Macca can do it all, from singing a staccato tune to spitting huge fireballs and roasting tires.
Okay, you got me. It’s not actually a McLaren, despite looking just like one. This beast is actually a Norma M20FC prototype chassis with a SADEV sequential paddle shift gearbox mated to that 4G. The body shell is an all-carbon repop from DDR Motorsport in Florida. DDR manufactures it as a “Grullon” kit car intended to go on top of a custom tube frame to support donor drivetrains from C5 Corvettes with a Boxster transmission, FWD Impala SS, or Toyota MR2 Turbo.
As you can see from the video below, after almost a year of development, the car is still far from perfect. It just doesn’t look settled or particularly interested in responding to any of the driver’s inputs. It porpoises a lot, and I’m sure it was an absolute handful to drive. The suspension still needs help, I’d wager. That said, anything with 600 horsepower and half the weight of a small hatchback is going to be a performance machine.
Shown here racing at the Sternberk Ecce Homo hillclimb in the Czech Republic, the car is on its way toward international hillclimb notoriety if they can get it properly sorted.
I could watch videos of this ridiculous car all day long.
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