Victor Alvarez and Troy Pirez Jr. Push New Supra Build to a 6.34 at 218 mph Blast During Testing at Bradenton Motorsports Park
We reported yesterday on the news of Brett LaSala making some seriously quick passes during a private test session at Bradenton Motorsports Park, including a 4.01 at 186 mph eighth-mile blast.
He wasn’t alone, as Victor Alvarez and the Induction Performance / Run BC-backed Supra was also taking advantage of the great air and stellar track conditions to became the world’s quickest import on a drag radial, on just the seventh pass on the car since being totally redesigned.
Sick the Magazine has all the gear you need! From shirts and hats, to hoodies and stickers, visit our website HERE to check out our offerings!
“The car has a lot of history,” said Victor. “Mikey from M & S Performance out of New York originally built the car back in 2007 or 2008.” After clicking off some mid 8-second passes with the factory IRS in place and the car weighing about 3400 pounds (very newsworthy at the time), the car sat for a few years after the original owner passed away in 2015.
It wouldn’t be long before until Victor got a phone call. “We took it in as our shop car, and got it into the 7-second zone at TX2K in 2017,” he said. “In 2018, I bought another car and this one sat. Meanwhile, the cars we should’ve been racing with got quicker and faster, and this Supra continued to sit and not get used.”
After some discussion, a plan was hatched. “So we figured if we were coming back out with this car, we needed to come correct with it,” Victor admitted. “We sent the car to JC Race Cars out of South Florida, they back-halved the car, did a bunch of modifications to get it as light as possible, and fit a one-piece nose.”
Bringing a storied ride back without a bunch of potential wasn’t in the cards, so Victor contacted Fast Forward Race Engines to whip up a 2JZ based on a billet block, with a single Precision Turbo Next Gen XPR 88-millimeter turbocharger providing the boost. Although the team could be testing out a bigger turbo unit in the future, the 88-millimeter will be the main focus for now.
A Turbo 400 from M & M transmission with the lock-up feature sits behind the 2JZ, and a slew of parts from Motion Raceworks and Rife Sensors made their way onto the car. The car stops with twin parachutes and a set of TBM Brakes, and the rear Weld wheels feature a pair of Mickey Thompson 275 ET Street Pro drag radials. All the functions are handled through a FuelTech system.
Once the car was completed, it needed the right look, and Victor looked back to his start and inspiration in the automotive world, Craig Pasley, and then designed a wrap that takes cues from the Supra Craig competed with a little over 20 years ago. “It’s paying homage to him, as I believe it should,” said Victor.
With everything done, the car made its first shakedown runs in mid-February, but no full pulls. Once a few bugs were worked out, Troy Pirez Jr. of Innovative Racecraft was back in the driver’s seat for Friday March 29th, and on only the fourth overall pass (and first full pull), Troy nailed a 6.419 at 208.59 mph with a 1.084 60 foot time!
Three runs later, on the car’s seventh pass since completion, the Supra became the world’s quickest import on a drag radial, as the scoreboard flashed a 6.349 at 218.72 mph blast! The 60 foot was completed in 1.068 seconds, while the eighth-mile was clocked at 4.145 seconds at 179.68 mph.
Victor explained their early success is taking all the things learned from running the green Mark 4 Supra known as ‘Booger’ that was sold last year, and applied it to this car. “The goal is really to go 4.0s in the eighth-mile and 6.20s in the quarter-mile with this car. Our experiences and lesson learned with Booger are a big part of making this car excel.”
These runs were originally destined to be part of the 2JZ class at the recently completed TX2K event, which this Supra was scheduled to be at. But, now with the 2JZ class sporting a 2900-pound minimum weight, Victor and team have started looking at other options.
“The car fits a couple other classes, like the Extreme 28s class at both The Reunion and FL2K events, and Warriors versus Tres Quartos or the Hot Rod classes at World Cup Finals.” Victor said they might even enter the car into a Street Car Takeover event or two as well.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Victor Alvarez, Craig Pasley and Motion Performance.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com