Don't worry, your eyes aren't deceiving you and nobody slipped a hallucinogenic little pill into your drink this morning. Our cover car is pink. We know that this color doesn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of most men. That's understandable since pink is usually related to stomach medicine, manly female pop singers, cartoon characters, and foo-foo drinks. In elementary school the guy who wore a pink shirt to class would get picked on the most. And it wasn't even Jonny's fault because his mom accidentally mixed a red sock in with the whites.
Well, you better think it over a thousand times before you start trying to pull rank on this pink Yashio Factory S15 Silvia. This isn't some weak-sauce show car with matching pink interior and wheels. What you have before you is a full-blown track-attack racer that is the standard of what a Silvia is and should be. It's hit the Tsukuba track in the 57-second range while you've still been trying to do burnouts in a puddle in front of your house. This Silvia will knock your punk-ass out and laugh repeatedly at your ignorance while doing so.
If you underestimated the potency of this Silvia you shouldn't feel too bad. Actually, we take that back. You should feel horrible. Yashio Factory owner, Kazuyoshi Okamura, builds some of the most intense Silvias in Japan (even a U.S.-spec 240SX). Yes, even crazier than your single-cam KA 240 with a spray-painted valve cover. Hard to believe, but it's true.
Onlookers better take caution when sneaking a peak under the hood of this Silvia because they're in SR20DET territory now. Initially, you'll detect that the radiator and intercooler aren't located in the appropriate places. Yashio Factory moved the SR motor 5 centimeters back and 2 centimeters down, leaving just enough room to V-mount these components. Although the SR motor has infinite potential, the Yashio Factory crew decided to give every stock component a one-way trip to Dumpsterville. Intake and exhaust cams were replaced with lumpier 264-degree camshafts. The factory pistons and rods were heaved then replaced with a JUN 2.2L stroker kit consisting of pistons, rods, and shaved crankshaft. Increasing displacement to 2.2L plays a crucial role when it comes to making enormous amounts of power with the SR. So try guessing what's going on my and Jonny's wish lists this Christmas. (Stretch Armstrong?-AL)
With a little tweaking and tuning, the stock S15 turbo can max out at just around 350whp. That wasn't enough power for Okamura-san and his boys, so in went a bigger, beefier, and bolder HKS GT3037 ball-bearing unit sitting snugly on top of a handmade Yashio Factory header. This combination, plus some serious map tuning with an F-Con V Pro fuel management computer and racing wastegate, yields figures of 550hp @ 7,600rpm and 434lb-ft @ 6,800rpm. Of course, none of that power would be nearly as significant if it weren't being forced to the ground through a Hollinger sequential transmission, HKS clutch, and Nismo limited-slip differential.
In the quest to lighten the Silvia, the interior was gutted with the exception of the dash and steering column. That means no carpet, passenger seats, sound deadener, or panels. The driver gets to hit the track strapped to a Bride racing seat, protected by a custom-made rollcage, and remains well-informed by the HKS gauge cluster. Nothing else will be found inside except for the elaborate fuel delivery setup located in the trunk.
By Ricky Chu
Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!