A Camry You Might Actually Like

I'm a big fan of comparisons.  Let me make one real quick: a Camry is to cars, what KFC is to Chicken.  As a society that accepts "good enough" as good enough, America loves the Camry.  There's not a whole lot to actually love about the Camry, but it's quiet, comfortable, and has good resale value.  And Toyota says it's reliable, when it's not experiencing demonic acceleration influence and catapulting you into your neighbor's hedge.

The Camry is the unflavored ramen noodles of cars.  It's boring, and it's meant to be boring.  The less people you can offend, the larger a demographic your product appeals to.  So how do you make a Camry that fuel-in-their-veins car enthusiasts would like?

Well, you give it 728 horsepower.  At the wheels.  Yeah, that should probably do the trick!

The car was built by Dyna Motorsports in the great frozen north of Ontario.  I assume the reason all of the craziest tuner cars come from northern areas is they get very bored during winter, and start thinking of things to slap turbos onto.  Anyway, it started life as a mild-mannered mid-90's Camry sedan, perfectly acceptable transportation for the masses, complete with 188 horsepower 3.0L V6.  Then it ate some bastard pills.

Any time the turbocharger itself is of comparable size to, say, the intake manifold - you're doing something right.  The large HKS T51R (1.00 A/R) turbocharger is fed by twin "sidewinder" manifolds (since it's a transverse engine).  The engine is still the 3.0L 24v 1MZ-FE V6, presumably with a stout bottom end.  The cylinder heads have been worked over by Canadian Cylinder Head Technologies, although they're still spinning stock camshafts.  Exhaust is custom 4" from the downpipes all the way back, and most importantly, the 4-speed automatic has been trashed in favor of an E153 5-speed manual, with an ACT 4-puck disc and pressure plate and a Spec flywheel.  The motor has also been converted to coil-on-plug ignition.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN7xIEb3nFU

This car makes a lot of power.  Copious amounts.  On "low boost" (28psi with pump gas and methanol injection) it puts down 640 horsepower.  On high boost (38psi, 50/50 pump and race gas, methanol injection) it attacks the rollers with 728bhp and 516lb-ft of torque.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm18xbl8eOs

The relative wisdom of sending 3/4 of a Veyron's power to the front wheels of a Camry is pretty questionable, but it's still awesome.  What gear do you suppose this car finds traction at full boost?  4th?  5th?  I don't know.  But the sound of a shrieking turbo and external wastegate on a 90's Camry is cognitive dissonance to a high degree: you're seeing one thing (Camry) and hearing another (GT-R race car?).  I'd be afraid to drive it, but I'd absolutely love to.

For more information on Dyna Motorsports, check there website here - they do all sorts of high-quality modifications and fabrication.  Now just wait until you see the 550+whp 8th Gen Galant...