As mentioned previously, this entire business was based around what we wanted to do for ourselves, making a business out of it was not even thought about until people started asking us for products. We did this as it's THE BEST way to create a true lightweight, mid-engine, RWD, high performance car, that's got fantastic handling on road and track, and that has absolutely incredible amounts of performance and FUN for the money spent. We practice what we preach, we both own these cars, and with these, and customers cars, the performance and fun is well proven!
Stav's own MR2. Currently over 600 horsepower with more to come, proven significantly faster accelerating than even a Bugatti Veyron, and regularly used on the road!
The first car to be converted was Thomas' own MR2 with a 1.9TDI PD diesel engine, mildly modified to around 230 horsepower and 300lbft+. A full road car daily driver, this car was specified to have zero exhaust smoke and fantastic fuel economy, not to mentioned the obligatory Mk3 MR2 fantastic handling that makes them giant killers on track even without much power! Thanks to the horsepower the engine was E46 BMW M3 fast from an acceleration point of view, and the massive torque of the diesel made it pull incredibly hard even from low rpm.
This car is soon to return to the road with a VR5 5cyl 20V Turbo engine making over 500 horsepower!
This car is soon to return to the road with a VR5 5cyl 20V Turbo engine making over 500 horsepower!
Stav's 600bhp+ (with nitrous!) 1.8T MR2
Stav's car was the second to be swapped, again done before there was any thoughts of this being a business, and done purely after driving Thomas' one and being so impressed he had to have one!
While a 1.8T swap hadn't yet been done, we knew the 1.9TDI and 1.8T shared the same basic block and gearbox, and seeing the ample room in the engine bay, we had to try!
The initial car was basically a completely unopened 1.8T engine and transmission straight from the scrap yard, including stock clutch, which he lightly modified to make 265 horsepower and 300lbft, and it was fantastic. This car is where many of the parts and ideas were developed and refined, but even as it was back then, it was a super fast car, with 0-60mph coming up in a Porsche 997 GT3 beating 4.3seconds, and 0-100mph in, again GT3 beating 9.0seconds. And this was on skinny 205 wide tyres!
The factory official time for a UK Mk3 MR2 is 7.7sec 0-60 and 0-100mph in 22.2seconds, which is a night and day difference from a very basic setup.
A year later he went far more extreme on the car, and while it's certainly extreme, too hardcore for most peoples tastes, it's done still on an incredibly low budget, less than many typical MR2 conversions that make half the power, all while still running normal pump fuel and often being used as his daily driver, which shows the massive potential and value these swaps are.
The engine is relatively basic, still retaining the standard block, standard crank, standard pistons, standard size 'small port' head ports, factory camshafts from an N/A model, cast exhaust manifold, standard gearbox, and more, the car made 514 horsepower on the dyno on normal pump fuel,and really is a beast. At this level he achieved a 5.7second 100-200kph time, which is equalling or better than most £200,000+ supercars and hypercars, and over twice as fast as something like a brand new Golf R.
With a 60-100mph time of 2.90sec, 80-120mph time of 3.96sec, and a 60-130mph time of 6.67sec, it truly was an absolute weapon at this level of power.
Perhaps the biggest indicator of it's performance was when he won his class (500-600bhp) at RaceWars 2024 half mile event, achieving over 168mph, 10mph faster than a modified Porsche 997 Turbo and BMW M140i, both of which were making far more power than Stav's car, but the light weight and aerodynamics of these cars make them a true giant killer.
In fact, he was only 1mph slower than second place in the 700-800 horsepower class, despite only having 514bhp!
However! The engine and entire chassis has coped at this level of power so well, Stav has gone even further since, increasing the boost pressure and adding nitrous oxide to the mix, and the car now is wildly faster, doing the 100-200kph (62-124mph) sprint in just 4.32seconds, and as a comparison there, the legendary 1000 horsepower Bugatti Veyron does it in 5.5seconds, and even the 1200bhp SuperSport version is still slower at 4.88seconds!
He's not finished yet either, and aiming for quite a lot more in the near future...
As a fantastic comparison, the Officially Gassed YouTube channel regularly time modified road cars 100-200kph, and here's some results...
700bhp GR Yaris with air-shifted sequential gearbox- 6.17sec
550bhp BMW M4- 7.39sec
650bhp Audi S2- 6.42sec
600bhp Golf R- 6.62sec
500bhp Civic Type R K20 Turbo- 7.98sec
680bhp C8 RS6- 8.22sec
650bhp Audi RS3- 6.19sec
700bhp BMW M5- 6.85sec
520bhp K20 Turbo Mk2 MR2- 6.53sec
900bhp R34 GT-R- 5.98sec
700bhp R35 GT-R- 6.82sec
640bhp Lamborghini Hurracan Performante- 6.24sec
800bhp Mustang GT- 6.51sec
800bhp Holden R8 GTS- 7.50sec
520bhp Sierra RS Cosworth- 8.21sec
700bhp S15 Silvia- 6.18sec
720bhp FD RX7- 6.22sec
700bhp Mk4 Supra- 6.70sec
700bhp R34 GTT- 6.96sec
700bhp Golf R (fully stripped out)- 4.7sec
710bhp Ferrari 488 Pista- 5.2sec
650bhp C63S AMG- 7.07sec
Stav's MR2 in current spec- 4.32sec!
So WHY? Why are our cars so fast for what they are?
Well, the base car we're beginning with is fantastic, lightweight, great traction, and handle power with relative ease. And by that we mean not only the chassis, but the engine and transmission can without major work.
Secondly, and most importantly, the swap has been engineered to work correctly. Anyone can place an engine in an engine bay, but getting the heights, angles, designs, and components correct to work to their full potential is a whole different thing, but that is what was the goal with these conversions, and it's fair to say we achieved that.
Lastly, we're no BS. No inflated times, no hype, it is what it is, all proof. And unfortunately for some, as the above times show, proof makes many peoples hype seem over-inflated...
While a 1.8T swap hadn't yet been done, we knew the 1.9TDI and 1.8T shared the same basic block and gearbox, and seeing the ample room in the engine bay, we had to try!
The initial car was basically a completely unopened 1.8T engine and transmission straight from the scrap yard, including stock clutch, which he lightly modified to make 265 horsepower and 300lbft, and it was fantastic. This car is where many of the parts and ideas were developed and refined, but even as it was back then, it was a super fast car, with 0-60mph coming up in a Porsche 997 GT3 beating 4.3seconds, and 0-100mph in, again GT3 beating 9.0seconds. And this was on skinny 205 wide tyres!
The factory official time for a UK Mk3 MR2 is 7.7sec 0-60 and 0-100mph in 22.2seconds, which is a night and day difference from a very basic setup.
A year later he went far more extreme on the car, and while it's certainly extreme, too hardcore for most peoples tastes, it's done still on an incredibly low budget, less than many typical MR2 conversions that make half the power, all while still running normal pump fuel and often being used as his daily driver, which shows the massive potential and value these swaps are.
The engine is relatively basic, still retaining the standard block, standard crank, standard pistons, standard size 'small port' head ports, factory camshafts from an N/A model, cast exhaust manifold, standard gearbox, and more, the car made 514 horsepower on the dyno on normal pump fuel,and really is a beast. At this level he achieved a 5.7second 100-200kph time, which is equalling or better than most £200,000+ supercars and hypercars, and over twice as fast as something like a brand new Golf R.
With a 60-100mph time of 2.90sec, 80-120mph time of 3.96sec, and a 60-130mph time of 6.67sec, it truly was an absolute weapon at this level of power.
Perhaps the biggest indicator of it's performance was when he won his class (500-600bhp) at RaceWars 2024 half mile event, achieving over 168mph, 10mph faster than a modified Porsche 997 Turbo and BMW M140i, both of which were making far more power than Stav's car, but the light weight and aerodynamics of these cars make them a true giant killer.
In fact, he was only 1mph slower than second place in the 700-800 horsepower class, despite only having 514bhp!
However! The engine and entire chassis has coped at this level of power so well, Stav has gone even further since, increasing the boost pressure and adding nitrous oxide to the mix, and the car now is wildly faster, doing the 100-200kph (62-124mph) sprint in just 4.32seconds, and as a comparison there, the legendary 1000 horsepower Bugatti Veyron does it in 5.5seconds, and even the 1200bhp SuperSport version is still slower at 4.88seconds!
He's not finished yet either, and aiming for quite a lot more in the near future...
As a fantastic comparison, the Officially Gassed YouTube channel regularly time modified road cars 100-200kph, and here's some results...
700bhp GR Yaris with air-shifted sequential gearbox- 6.17sec
550bhp BMW M4- 7.39sec
650bhp Audi S2- 6.42sec
600bhp Golf R- 6.62sec
500bhp Civic Type R K20 Turbo- 7.98sec
680bhp C8 RS6- 8.22sec
650bhp Audi RS3- 6.19sec
700bhp BMW M5- 6.85sec
520bhp K20 Turbo Mk2 MR2- 6.53sec
900bhp R34 GT-R- 5.98sec
700bhp R35 GT-R- 6.82sec
640bhp Lamborghini Hurracan Performante- 6.24sec
800bhp Mustang GT- 6.51sec
800bhp Holden R8 GTS- 7.50sec
520bhp Sierra RS Cosworth- 8.21sec
700bhp S15 Silvia- 6.18sec
720bhp FD RX7- 6.22sec
700bhp Mk4 Supra- 6.70sec
700bhp R34 GTT- 6.96sec
700bhp Golf R (fully stripped out)- 4.7sec
710bhp Ferrari 488 Pista- 5.2sec
650bhp C63S AMG- 7.07sec
Stav's MR2 in current spec- 4.32sec!
So WHY? Why are our cars so fast for what they are?
Well, the base car we're beginning with is fantastic, lightweight, great traction, and handle power with relative ease. And by that we mean not only the chassis, but the engine and transmission can without major work.
Secondly, and most importantly, the swap has been engineered to work correctly. Anyone can place an engine in an engine bay, but getting the heights, angles, designs, and components correct to work to their full potential is a whole different thing, but that is what was the goal with these conversions, and it's fair to say we achieved that.
Lastly, we're no BS. No inflated times, no hype, it is what it is, all proof. And unfortunately for some, as the above times show, proof makes many peoples hype seem over-inflated...
