Analysis of Toyota Supra: Drag Strip King, Then & Now

If I had to associate the Toyota Supra with just one motorsport genre, it wouldn’t be touring cars.

I’m going to ignore your cries of ‘JGTC’ and the iconic GT500 TOM’s Castrol JZA80 Supra. I’ve even had first-hand experience with GT4 A90 Supras at the Nürburgring 24 Hour race in the past. Because despite its legendary touring car racing credentials, the Supra in my eyes has always been a drag racing hero first and foremost. And for quarter mile action, no one has built them better than Titan Motorsports in the USA.

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This isn’t the first time the topic has been broached on Speedhunters, but I’d like to throw my hat in and revisit the subject of Supra drag racing. Given the frankly astonishing power gains that have been achieved since Paddy last discussed the A90 as a tuning platform, it would be rude not to.

“Our history with the Supra goes back well before Titan existed,” recalls Wes Bourne, Titan Motorsports’ marketing manager. “One of Titan’s owners, Nero, had a MkIV Supra and started the company to help support his racing habit. As the company evolved and grew, his original Supra went on to become our Titan Copper drag Supra, one of the most successful import drag cars in US history.”

How successful? Well, ‘Copper’ can lay claim to consistent 6.4-second quarter mile ETs with its tried and tested 2JZ-GTE engine.

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Time has moved on, and JZA80 Supras have become collector items with prices to match. And as a result, 2JZ modification has become equally expensive. Right now, new-age enthusiasts are getting to experience the power potential of the current generation A90 Supra instead.

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“The A90 is a great base for drag racing thanks to its highly tuneable straight six powerplant and ZF automatic transmission,” says Kyle Scott, Titan sales executive and top B58/S58 guy. “It’s easy to package big-power builds for the B58/S58 cars. The recipe is there so it’s much easier to keep items in stock in bulk, and rinse and repeat. The 2JZ will always be our bread and butter, but the B58 and S58 have become mainstays as well. We’re enjoying the challenge.”

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The Supras we’re looking at today are three of the fastest A90s anywhere in the world right now.

The red Supra is a Titan customer car, while the white Supra belongs to Adil Adams, one of Titan Motorsports’ technicians. Both are making just over 1,200hp, with some key ingredients being Precision 7275 Gen 2 turbochargers, CSF Race intake manifolds and heat exchangers, and Titan’s own cylinder head work on Titan 3.2-litre stroker short blocks.

The yellow car belongs to Jordane ‘Peppa’ Jacobs, and lays claim to the title of the current third quickest and fastest A90 Supra on the planet.

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“I’ve always had different types of BMWs. They became so popular in NYC that I wanted to get something different but in a way, still a BMW,” says Jordane. “NYC has more of a street racing scene because we don’t have any real drag racing tracks.”

“BMWs have always been popular, but with the B58 and S58 engines’ capabilities more people are buying them to join the platform and try to become the fastest. I started off with a stock motor, and now I have a 3.2-litre ‘Stage X’ stroker motor made by my tuner, Visconti.”

The street racing scene is where Jordane first cut his Supra’s teeth, transitioning over to the drag strip as the build became drastically more powerful. In its current guise, Jordane has managed to crack the 7-second barrier with a 7.98-second quarter mile ET, crossing the finish line at 176mph (283km/h).

“My favourite part is that it’s RWD and a bit more difficult to drive fast, but at the same time it’s a lot more exciting with the power it’s making,” he says.

That’s not to say it’s a track-only, one-trick pony – note the New York licence plate behind the parachute. In fact, for Jordane, the Supra is very drivable on a daily basis. “I have A/C, heating, and most of my interior. I just did a four-day ‘drag and drive’ event across North and South Carolina where I drove between each track without trailering.”

“I get a lot of attention when I drive around. People are always recording me driving and tagging me on social media. Sometimes they try to get me to do a pull in the car for a video, or even follow me around for a bit.”

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And yet, for all the speed, power and attention these cars get, neither Jordane nor Titan Motorsports are totally content with the ridiculous feats they’ve managed to achieve so far. In Jordane’s case, he plans to race at more events this year, and hopefully go faster than 7.9.

As for the madmen at Titan? According to Kyle, they’re only just getting started. “There are complexities in regards to the unlocking the [A90] ECUs, which have slowed things down a little bit and added some extra tuning cost and effort that will hopefully become easier as time goes on. The rumoured S58-powered [GRMN] Supra should turn things up a notch in the tuning community.”

“With these being engines for production-based cars vs custom chassis race cars, I don’t think development will ever reach the levels put into the 2JZ. Then again, if you told us 20 years ago we’d be making 3,000+ horsepower reliably in our 2JZ drag cars, I probably wouldn’t have seen that coming either…”

“The US seems to be much more straight line focused than other parts of the world; the largest import events here are drag racing events and the potential BMW/Toyota left on the table with this engine makes it tuner friendly.” 

Modern BMWs – and contemporary performance cars in general – are so over-engineered that it’s now easier than ever to push ridiculous power figures using fairly simple formulae. Drag racing may not be as hot in the Europe as it is in the US, but near 1,000hp BMW M5 Competitions are increasingly common sights at V-MAX airstrip events.

I admire these builds and their duality. iDrive, air conditioning, automatic gearboxes and a casual 1,250hp at the wheels. Long live the Supra, king of the import drag racers and more accessible than ever before.

Mario Christou
Instagram: mcwpn

Photography by Darrien Craven
Instagram: _crvn_