1997 Toyota Supra Single Turbo

Ever bought $12 worth of cheapo candy, wolfed it down standing there in the store and buzzed mightily for the rest of the day from the sugar rush?

Simi Valley, Calif. resident, Terry Robuck, hasn't either. Robuck's thrills don't come as cheap as a handful of Bazooka. This guy gets his buzz from driving his '97 Supra at the track.

Robuck's true passion lies in precision driving, mainly road course events like open-track club events held at Willow Springs in Rosamond, Calif. At first, he hit the road course in his unmodified daily driver. The thrill was short-lived, however, and Robuck wondered what he'd be able to accomplish with a modified sled. Around the same time, a friend was extolling the virtues of the Toyota Supra, and Robuck became intrigued.

"I wanted to know more," he says. "I saw a lot of guys on the Internet talking about making huge dyno numbers, but I wanted something that was driveable and would stand up to the rigors of road race circuits."

Robuck approached a noted local tuner and explained that he wanted to build a powerful, reliable Supra. The shop manager assured him such a car could be built. Unfortunately, when work began, the original tuner subbed the work out to another source, which, as Robuck puts it, "caused the early demise of a 38,000-mile 2JZ engine."

After collecting his claim money and securing another engine, Robuck went to a different source, Twins Turbo Motorsports Engineering in Long Beach, Calif., a place he'd learned about through Innovative Turbo, which is where he did a lot of his initial research on a suitable forced induction system. He contracted Marc Koz of Twins to assemble a full race engine for him and assist in setting up the car.

Though the 2JZ-GTE engine retains its stock displacement of 3.0 liters, it's been completely torn down and reassembled from the oil pan up. Koz balanced the components and blueprinted the engine to factory specs, using forged Crower rods and Arias pistons, as well as custom Twins Turbo bearings. Up top, he filled a ported cylinder head with Crower Stage Two cams, Crower gears, and new valves, dual-valve springs and titanium retainers from a company called REV.

In lieu of a single-turbo setup that imparts huge spool-up times-probably the most popular Supra turbo upgrade because of its huge power potential-the favored Twins Turbo method of induction retains a dual-turbo setup. However, when Robuck showed up at the Twins shop with a poorly built fuel system and half-assed single-turbo kit, he was already about $15,000 in the hole. With this in mind, Twins and Koz pieced the kit together using parts Robuck had already purchased.

The basis of the car's induction system is an HKS single-turbo manifold, which supports a single Innovative GT-series dual ball-bearing turbo. The turbo incorporates its own T304 stainless-steel downpipe to further reduce parasitic backpressure and lag, and custom Innovative Pro-Gate external wastegate to vent excess pressure. Supporting hardware includes a ported factory intake manifold and an Innovative aluminum front-mount intercooler and piping kit. Because initial test and tune sessions were causing oil and coolant temperatures to skyrocket, special concessions were made beneath the hood to improve heat dissipation. A custom aluminum radiator was installed with SPAL electric fans, as well as a Setrab oil cooler to keep the lubrication cool.

Proving he's got skills, Koz also assembled and tuned the engine management system, which relies on an Aeromotive adjustable regulator, dual stock pumps pushing juice through -10 feed and -9 return lines, an HKS rail and 72-pound injectors. Boost is masterminded by an HKS VPC unit, while fuel enrichment parameters are wrapped up by an HKS Graphics Control Computer (GCC) that rides piggyback on the VPC's wiring harness. According to Robuck, the test-and-tune sessions included both dyno runs and more practical shakedown sessions at the track. Involved parties say engine output is around 500 hp at the wheels, but nobody will get specific.

Naturally, other areas on the car have been upgraded with the engine to make the car a holistic performer on the road course. Tein HA coil-overs were added, along with front and rear Tanabe anti-roll bars, which allow Robuck to more effectively get silly in the turns. The front brakes have been upgraded with Stoptech big brakes, which comprise massive 13-inch two-piece slotted rotors, four-piston calipers, special pads and braided stainless-steel lines. The rear assemblies remain in stock configuration aside from stainless lines and Hawk HPA pads.

To accommodate the massive front binders, Robuck chose a set of 18-inch CCW wheels, 10 inches wide in the front and 11.5 in the rear. His choice of tires are super-sticky Hoosier R3S03s, rubbers that are almost peerless in a track venue, but can also be adapted to the street if you don't mind changing tires every month or so.

Cosmetic enhancements have been kept fairly minimal. For a slightly more aggressive look, Robuck added an updated nose and custom carbon-fiber hood scoop from After Hours Automotive in Cypress, Calif., along with a Wings West lower lip attached to the front bumper. Within the cockpit, the seats have been replaced with Sparco Torino competition buckets, along with Simpson harnesses to keep occupants strapped snugly in place. Robuck also added a bolt-in Autopower roll bar. An array of GReddy system meters, set into the round apertures where the air vents used to be, keep the driver informed on goings-on beneath the hood.

We discovered Terry Robuck and his black single-turbo at the Sport Compact Car Time Attack event (SCC, Aug. '04) this spring at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, where he had all the appearances of a kid in a candy store. To date, he's got no plans for future alterations of the car's configuration. It's a rare guy who's ever truly satisfied with the end product of his hard work and spent funds, but Robuck seems to be one of them.

"Through many track sessions and lots of creativity, my car has become the most fun you can have with your clothes on," he says. We'll take his word for it.