Ello Govnas, welcome to another classic Super Street banger! What we have in store for you today are two outrageous builds from England's world-famous Sumo Power. In one corner we have a hyper-wild S15 drifter and in the other an ultra-sick R35 GT-R prepped for battle in the FIA's premier GT series GT1. While each car is built on a different budget and used for different purposes they both pack a serious kick to the bullocks under the bonnet.
At first glance, Paul Conlan's pink S15 might look like a puffmobile but I can assure you that couldn't be further from the truth. Hailing from Northern Ireland, Paul has established himself as one of the best and most aggressive drivers in the European Drift Championship (EDC). To compete at the top level in any professional drift series these days means serious power and technical suspension setup - without these areas developed properly you might as well bugger off.
When Sumo Power decided to retire their 350Z drift car they wanted to find a suitable replacement and Paul's 2JZ-powered S15 fit the bill perfectly. Although already well-known in the European drift scene Sumo Power saw more potential waiting inside the Silvia. Shortly after the alliance was formed the then red Nissan was taken to Sumo Power's state of the art facility in East Sussex to undergo a serious working-over.
As any enthusiast knows Toyota's formidable 2JZ-GTE, aka Supra turbo engine, is already a beast from the factory but the team at Sumo Power isn't known for leaving well enough alone. As a technical partner with HKS, Sumo wanted to give an example of just how unruly the three liter straight six can get when packed full of premium JDM guts. Once the rebuild was completed in-house the engine was repositioned to improve weight distribution and then the chassis was taken over to Sumo's rolling road where the Supra heart sung to the tune of 480 brake horsepower.
With the engine sorted it was time to make the S15 a little lighter on its feet. The entire suspension was gone through taking careful consideration to every last component. Eventually the team was able to come up with an ideal top-secret setting making the car extremely nimble allowing Paul to drift circles around the other tossers on track. Aside from the new geometry a set of off the shelf BC Racing coilovers were strapped to the underbelly and have since seen plenty of shenanigans.
Most recently, the S15 smoked its Pirellis all the way to first place in the 2010 EDC final round at Snetterton thus proving the guys at Sumo Power aren't just some mad twats selling you parts in the mail but rather know a thing or two about building a JDM drift machine. Unfortunately, the win in the final round was only good enough for third place overall, narrowly missing second by a single point and thirteen points behind the season champ. But the corporate livery will certainly be back next year for another go at the title.
During the offseason the car will go back to Sumo Power's new 50,000 square foot facility to undergo further development. But much more action will be afoot in the workshop besides company run ventures, namely tuning customer vehicles and sales of thousands of parts. To get a better view of the core behind Sumo Power let's break for tea and crumpets and see how the company came to be the powerhouse they are today.
It all started back in 2002, when the company was founded with dreams of becoming a one-stop shop for Japanese performance enthusiasts. With massive stocks of parts no one in the UK could supply, the company quickly gained steam with sales of mail-order parts leading to many partnerships and official distribution chains. Fast forward to 2009, when the company was acquired by the JRM-Group, a company specializing in race and rally preparation, and you now have the new, all-encompassing, Sumo Power recognized around the globe.
This partnership with JRM combined with the cornucopia of parts offered by Sumo Power is a win-win for enthusiasts. Behind the doors of the new facility there's a lot for a geezer to get excited about including a full workshop, engine building, transmission re-building, chassis development, dyno testing, CNC machining, engineering, bodywork repairs, painting, fabrication and basic automotive servicing for virtually any car a customer could dream of. The trained technicians here are responsible for creating some of the fastest road, drag, drift and circuit cars in Europe.
Although Sumo Power welcomes any and all types of cars in their shop they tell us the most popular tuning vehicles they see are Mitsubishi Evos and Nissan GT-Rs with the R35 gaining in popularity recently. They haven't said anything about it but I have a feeling that the pair of FIA GT1 GT-Rs that are housed in the same facility might have a little something to do with their increasing customer base. As the old saying goes, "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" and winning is something the chaps at Sumo Power GT know a bit about.
Shortly after JRM bought Sumo Power and built the new facility, NISMO offered up an opportunity too good to pass up - a pair of factory supplied GT-R racecars to be campaigned in FIA GT1. With a great interest in strengthening their reputation in circuit racing JRM happily obliged and formed Sumo Power GT in January of 2010. To ensure Sumo Power wouldn't be caught with their knickers down NISMO also supplied a team of Japanese blokes to help spread out the support load.
Tuning Menu
Nissan Silvia S15
Owner Paul Conlan/Sumo power
Hometown Rye East Sussex, UK occupation professional drifter/#1 mail-order jdm parts supplier in the UK
Power 480bhp/510lb-ft
Engine 3.0L turbocharged 2JZ-GTE; HKS pistons, camshafts, cam pulleys, metal head gasket, mushroom filter, intercooler, 680cc injectors, iridium spark plugs, SSQV blow-off valve; Garrett GT35 turbo; Sard fuel pressure regulator; Do-Luck silicone coolant, boost and ancillary hoses; custom lightened wiring loom
Drivetrain MA70 Supra five-speed transmission; HKS twin-plate clutch, two-way LSD
Engine Management HKS F-Con V-Pro; GReddy Profec B boost controller
Footwork & Chassis BC Racing coilovers; modified fully adjustable arms; custom rollcage, strut tower bars
Brakes Brembo calipers and rotors (front/rear); hydraulic e-brake
Wheels & Tires Rota GTR wheels; 235/40ZR18 front 255/35ZR18 rear Pirelli P-Zero tires
Exterior Vertex Ridge bodykit; vented carbon hood; high-level GT wing; Sumo Power pink/black paint w/vinyl graphics
Interior Sparco Evo 2 bucket seats; Luke harness (driver); Sabelt harness (passenger); OMP steering wheel; HKS chrono gauges
WWW bcracing-na.com; europeandriftchampionship.eu/; hksusa.com; sumopower.com; vertex-usa.com