Bisimoto Engineering Genesis Coupe features 1000 bhp (745 kW)
Hyundai has released a new promotional video that teases four cars headed to SEMA.
The Bisimoto Engineering Genesis Coupe is billed as an "no-holds-barred racer" and features a 3.8-liter Lambda V6 engine which has been equipped with twin Turbonetics turbochargers, steel connecting rods, Arias forged pistons, upgraded fuel injectors and a Magnafuel 750 fuel pump. These changes enable the engine to produce an impressive 1000 bhp (745 kW).
The ARK Performance Genesis Coupe is less extreme but has a 3.8-liter Lambda V6 engine which has been bored out to displace 4.0-liters. The engine has also been equipped with a 4.0-liter Stroker Kit, a lightweight pulley kit, new headers and an ARK air intake. This allows the mill to produce 400 bhp (298 kW) and 425 lb-ft (575 Nm) of torque.
John Pangilinan's Genesis Coupe is more "cost-effective" as it has modest upgrades including an AEM cold air intake, an ARK Performance exhaust and a turbo downpipe. The car also has a KW coilover suspension, Brembo brakes, Whiteline sway bars and an ARK Performance strut bar.
Last but not least, the Yellowcake Veloster Turbo was jointly developed with the EGR Group. It has a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine which been outfitted with an AEM intake, a MagnaFlow exhaust and "tuning" from Bisimoto Engineering. Thanks to these modifications, the engine develops 250 bhp (186 kW).
Although the Australian was pleased that rain did not affect proceedings as had been the case with previous test sessions at Motegi earlier this year, Stoner was unable to test the Honda Production Racer which instead was run by Takumi Takahashi.
“It’s been quite a good three days and we got a lot of track time, considering it gets dark and cold here quite quickly!” Stoner reported.
“We had a busy test schedule based on the current 2013 bike and an updated version of the 2014 bike. Both have some very positive aspects and we’re just trying to get a better understanding of them. It was a little tricky to get a true feeling here at Sugo as we had no comparison - with it being the first time we’ve ridden here. All in all, it was a good test and the first time we’ve not been interrupted by rain!”
The Sugo venue is located in the Shibata District of Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture, measuring 3.737 kilometres (2.323 miles) in length.
L’Australien a cette fois-ci profité de bonnes conditions météo et la pluie n’a fait son apparition que le troisième jour, après midi, une fois que les essais étaient terminés.
Long de 3.737 km, le circuit de Sugo a permis à Casey Stoner de travailler sur les versions 2013 et 2014 de la RC213V ainsi que sur un nouveau cadre et un nouveau moteur. L’ancien Champion du Monde MotoGP™ n’a pas contre pas eu le temps d’essayer la Honda Production Racer, qui avait donc été confiée à Takumi Takahashi.
Casey Stoner :
« Ce furent trois bonnes journées et nous avons eu beaucoup de temps en piste alors que ça devient vite sombre et froid ici ! Nous avions un programme chargé pour la moto de 2013 et une nouvelle version de celle de 2014. Les deux ont des aspects positifs et nous essayons simplement de mieux les cerner. C’était difficile de vraiment trouver le feeling ici à Sugo parce que nous n’avions rien pour comparer, c’était la première fois que nous roulions ici. Globalement le test a été positif et c’était la première fois que nous n’avons pas été interrompus par la pluie. »
Drogo Michie wanted a bike for the streets of London, and chose a stock 1978 YamahaXS650 as his starting point. “There’s no reinventing the wheel here, nor a huge amount of bespoke fabrication,” he says. “My three lovely children’s habit of eating most of my money ensured that!”
He took the bike to the Redmax Speed Shop, and got a chopped and rebuilt rear end, a Champion seat, a Trackmaster tank and an inverted Sparto rear light—plus a fork brace, powder coating, and Koni rear shocks. The lovely pipes are from Co-built, and have removable baffles. “My left thigh is currently in delicate negotiation with the rest of my body about whether the pipes need a heat shield,” says Drogo.
The paint is inspired by a mid 70s BSA flat tracker, and was done by Kevin Hooper—who normally specializes in vintage Jaguars and Aston Martins. Despite the bike being designed for urban side streets, Drogo will be flat track racing in the UK novice class this year, under the wing of Redmax, Sideburn and Skootafarm Racing. “I have two clear goals,” he says. “One: not to crash; and two: not to come last every race!”
Numbers can say a lot, so here are some. 1,400 horsepower. 1,160Nm of torque. Zero to 100kph in 3.1 seconds. Zero to 200kph in 6.8 seconds. Zero to 300kph in 13 seconds. A top speed of 437kph – that’s a breathtaking 271.54mph. It’s the 24th fastest car in the world to 60mph, has the fourth best performance to weight ratio and is currently the fourth fastest car ever. The 9ff GT9 Vmax presents a veritable table of numbers and raw data, a physics-defying equation of how to bend time and space. I could stop the feature here: is there actually much more to say?
Well, as ever, it’s the way that you achieve those numbers that makes the difference. The how is one question. The why is quite another. 9ff have the answers to both.
This video says a lot about the GT9 Vmax. It’s the ideal visual representation of what those numbers mean when applied in extremis to a brutal road car. It’s not that the car in the video is particularly powerful itself, more that it’s doing over 100mph – a not inconsiderable speed in most legal circumstances – and the 9ff breezes past like it was going backwards, at well over twice that speed. Pretty much on tick over. With a metaphorical arm out of the window. Whistling nonchalantly.
Last month we took a tour around the 9ff factory, courtesy of company founder Jan Fatthauer – here’s a man for whom the word ‘fast’ is a moving target. Going fast one day just means wanting to go even faster the next. It seems like he’s provoking players who should outgun 9ff in every sense – the Bugattis, Paganis, Koenigseggs and so on – and taunting them to do better. And when they do, he just raises the bar again.
The GT9 Vmax was the most recent taunt, the two fingers stuck up to the competition for 2012.
All the cars in the 9ff workshop were special creations, but the two complete GT9s on show were particularly spectacular. We’ve already taken a look at the GT9 Club Sport, seen here in the background, but that’s a pussycat compared to the Vmax. After all, it only has 750hp!
The GT9 Vmax was unveiled at the 2012 Essen Motor Show, where it made everything else look silly. Building on the previous GT9s – a limited edition, bespoke programme of individually tailored, turbocharged monsters – the Vmax was the ultimate iteration of the line. Jan’s dream was to make the fastest production car in the world – and he’s one of the very few people who can legitimately say they’ve laid claim to that title at one stage or another.
The menu available to choose from when you decide to purchase a GT9 allows a number of routes to be taken depending on what you want to do with your toy. Country roads, city commutes, occasional track days, all-out time attack weapon – or the quickest car on the planet?
In context, all GT9Rs are powerful, but there was a singular concept behind the Vmax: take all the highest spec, speed-orientated options and refine them to build the quickest ever machine in a straight line. Buy this, and people will be ripping down their shots of sluggish Veyrons and putting up a picture of your car on the wall – your car.
Corners aren’t an issue. Of course, yes, it steers and goes round bends, but the Club Sport would likely run rings around the Vmax if they were ever pitted against each other on a track. But that’s a spurious argument: it’s like asking why a puma isn’t very good at flying.
Starting on the outside, everything has been done to lighten, smooth and streamline. All the panels except for the bonnet are carbon fibre, with the weave visible on certain panels – after all, paint has weight. Overall it has a retro stealth-fighter style.
Showing that the GT9 platform was a fine starting point, the main body difference with the Vmax is the redesigned rear section.
The open rear of earlier GT9 cars was replaced with this sculptural, curving tail with lip spoiler, with the body’s aero refined in the Audi wind tunnel to bring the drag coefficient down to 0.265.
The unfussy body shape is balanced but the underfloor aero: a flat bottom with integrated rear diffuser. Drag is the enemy, so any extraneous wings are not just unnecessary but unwanted.
Combined with the wheel covers, I think it gives the Vmax rather a retro look, almost like the speed record cars of the ’30s.
The wheels are all-important. Their weight is a big factor of course, being unsprung mass, but at the speeds the Vmax travels at, strength is critical. They’ve been specially designed and constructed for the Vmax for maximum aero efficiency; the rims are a solid-looking 9″×19″ at the front.
At the rear, 12.5″×20″. I do like that the rear wheel fairings sport an illustrated version of the physical design used up front. Kind of Death Star style, which seems appropriate. This is, after all, the Dark Father of the GT9 lineage.
The rubber is a bespoke high-speed compound from Continental: 255/35 ZR19 at the front and 335/30 ZR20 at the rear.
The cockpit interior is spartan, but perhaps less so than you’d expect: the flocked dash gives it a racing car feel, but it’s not all bare metal and roll cage. It could almost be described as comfortable! The back and side windows are made from makrolon, which is a lightweight, high tech polycarbonate, and the windscreen from double safety glass with E-homologation.
Like the exterior, the driving controls are minimal, with just what’s necessary presented in clear line of sight. The Vmax’s sequential six-speed gearbox is controlled from the steering wheel-mounted shift paddles, and the dash readout is a MOTEC unit. A pure sequential is unusual for 9ff, with frequent rebuilds expected: though of course the Vmax is not expected to play the part of daily driver.
The GT9 Vmax has a curb weight of 1,340kg: not the smallest number in the world, but this is a car that needs to be solid. Cooling is a major issue, with air to air intercoolers and big gearbox coolers in use.