Zele GTR: World's Fastest Pumpkin

Hey Cinderella, wanna race for pink slips? I win, I get your boyfriend's big house.

Earlier this year we brought you the scoop on Zele International's GTR: "Complete Edition" that was set to debut at the Tokyo Auto Salon in early 2009. Well apparently the reception was a warm one, because Zele is pulling out all the stops and is bringing it's company mascot, the R35 GTR, to SEMA 2009. Zele started life as a Skyline dealership in Yokohama, selling Skylines to Japanese and international customers for years. In 2007 they were accepted by NISMO as a business partner, an indication of their value to the Nissan world.With this partnership and the R35 arriving soon, the tide was right for Zele to show the world they knew more about Skylines than how to get you low APR financing. They decided the R35 would be the car that would showcase a talent for modifying, by building 8 exclusive GTRs called the "Complete Edition." They will be displaying this Carbon Fiber-clad warrior on the ENEOS performance motor oil stand. Like Jim Carry's eye-searingly brightly colored tux in Dumb and Dumber, this car will stand out at the party.

I stumbled upon the Zele GTR while looking for a tuner that wanted more from their GTR than big horsepower and a lower 0-60 time. Don't get me wrong, I love horsepower and neck-snapping acceleration but it seemed that's the only place people were putting in their time with this car. Everyone is so wrapped up in what the performance capabilities are that the outside is often overlooked. I think the most modified I've seen the outside of a GTR is a pair of painted side-skirts or the giant wing that Mines bolted on. It reminds me of my muscle car friends in high shool. You could have bought an old GTO with no doors, a pink hood, a Hello Kitty sticker the covered the entire roof, saggy suspension (That was me.) and a body in the trunk. But did you address these issues first? No. Second? Not likely. It wasn't until you had maxed-out the power that the laws of physics would allow before you would even notice there were other issues to attend to. So it seems is the case with the GTR. People are still track testing cars, unlocking ECUs, bolting in turbos, and screaming about the latest 0-60 time but without the stickers down the side and the rain of news from the blogosphere you couldn't tell the COBB GTR from the one sitting at the dealer. Everyone is so focused on performance numbers and dyno runs, they forget there's a whole car to tinker with.


That is not the case with the Zele GTR. They paid attention to every part of the car. If you're going to make a name for yourself with the GTR, you better stand out, and it does. It's parts list is longer than the P800 from Switzer we covered last month, but only 3 of those parts influence the horsepower. A Zele ECU raises the boost slightly, and a titanium turbo-back exhaust helps turbo spool and top end power. The result is a mild 550HP. In this day and age that number is practically a starting point for any high-end sports car but for Zele it's enough because they had other parts of the car to develop. For example, all of it. The list of carbon fiber parts is too long to list, so I'll put some of my favorites: the hood, roof, wing, rear diffuser and mirrors. There's at least 6 other trim pieces done in black carbon fiber. All the pieces were designed and developed by Zele themselves. They're a little different than your local Nissan dealership.

Next came the suspension, a Zele-designed kit that can be adjusted for ride-height. But they didn't just put a sticker on some Koni's and bolt them on, they did some serious testing. 3 different race tracks were used, in both wet and dry, to make sure the suspension was perfect. Next time I see a car commercial use the phrase "track-tuned" suspension I'm going Elvis Presley on my TV. With the suspension came a pair of Ray Volk Racing wheels, in a fantastic flat-black finish. Zele brake pads were installed for even more stopping power, and a pair of Recaro seats were wrapped in Alcantara and bolted in. To finish it off, Zele put on a coat of deep-orange paint that contrasts with the black Carbon Fiber perfectly. The color flattens some of the bulges on the GTR, and the shape seems to flow from end-to-end much better. It looks like they took an idea from the Superleggera design book, but executed it much better. The GTR has never been called gorgeous, but I think Zele built a stunning car, without clouding its identity.
When I was in high school I bought a 1965 Pontiac Le Mans, that had a GTO's 400ci. V8 in it. Within days I had ordered long-tube headers, Flowmaster 40-series mufflers, and a new intake manifold with a Holley carburetor. I installed all of it in one night, and spent the following years annoying my neighbors and racing the other local hot-rodders. But every day the front tires scraped the fenders due to weak suspension and the rusty holes in the trunk grew til light came through. But I didn't care, because I was a 5 year old who liked loud cars, big noise, going fast, and damn the details.

But I was a kid.

As an adult I would build the entire car slowly and correctly until it was a car, not an engine with bits of metal dragging behind it. As much as I love anyone that shoves 1000hp under the hood of their car, if it doesn't have the brakes, suspension, and looks to match, it seems unfinished. The Zele GTR is a finished product. It is a complete car. It's horsepower may be less than cars from Mines, Switzer, or COBB but it looks like an individual. It won't get lost in a crowd, yet it's not an extra from Fast and Furious 8:Maximum Downforce. In a recent photo shoot for GTR-Bros. Magazine 6 tuners brought their new R35s; 4 of them were white. A different wing here, different wheels there, but it was like seeing 4 Emperor Penguins standing next to each other. They all look the same, even if they're wearing different hats. By comparison a Zele Penguin would have it's feathers dyed and i wearing running shoes, carbon fiber gloves, a hockey mask, and a jet-pack.


Zele's car is simply called "Complete Edition", and you know what? I like that. That's what is is. This is a car that's comparable to a TechArt Porsche, or a Hammann Ferrari. Not necessarily in price or horsepower, but in the idea to create an entire car and the execution of that goal. It has 550 horsepower, it will go 0-60 in under 4 seconds, and it will be a serious competitor when the road gets twisty, all while turning heads. There will be only 8 Complete Editions made, but at $200,000 each, there had better only be 8 of them. That's more than double the price of a stock GTR, and more than the upcoming Spec V. I don't know if I could swallow that price for a GTR, but I do commend Zele for doing what few tuners do, building a complete edition. I think this company will be one to watch.

Cargraphic Porsche RSC 3.6 - Multitalented Porsche 911 Shows Exotics How It's Done

On September 5th, 2009, a competition was held in Papenburg, Germany, to determine the best accelerating car available today. This showdown - one of the coolest, most extreme and rigorous in the automotive world today - is an annual event held by Sport Auto magazine. When these guys have a slug-fest on the race track, they call fighters from all camps. Here's a brief list of the players at this particular brawl: Lamborghini LP670 SV, Gumpert Apollo, Koenigsegg CCX, Porsche 997 Turbo, Cadillac CTS-V, Aston Marton V12 Vantage, Porsche 997 GT3. But Sport Auto was also out to find the best car available, not the best one available in a pretty showroom that has an espresso machine and a salesman with a watch bigger than his brain.

The best exotics came to the same ring as some of the fastest tuner cars on the planet and went home defeated. And who was the top dog? The Cargraphic Porsche 997 Turbo, referred to as the RSC 3.6, waxed each factory exotic. It went from 0-60 in 3 seconds flat, faster than any other car on the track that day. It hit 120 mph in 9.1 seconds, again faster than any car there. It was only at the highest speeds that it was passed by the Geiger Ford GT, hitting 180mph in 23.8 seconds compared to 22.8 for the Ford.

Here's why the Cargraphic Porsche is so special: it weighs in with 100 fewer horsepower than that Ford, and in the 0-300-0 race it was only .5 seconds behind it. While second place isn't as good as first, when you consider what the Porsche beat, it suddenly becomes clear why this car is so impressive. It was .8 seconds ahead of the Koenigsegg CCX. The CCX is an AWD car with over 800hp and happens to be best friends with Mr. Veyron and Princess Zonda. And a small car, with only 618 horsepower, destroyed it. I say "only" because that is the state of performance cars today. If you see a 0-60 time over 4.5 seconds, it better be from a big sedan or a car that costs less than $40,000.

Why am I so excited about a car with an engine that, in this day of horsepower hierarchy, is barely worthy of fetching an apple for Mr. Brabus? Because a car is more than the sum of its parts. Cargraphic builds CARS, not engines. The RSC 3.6 is built with a comprehensive understanding of weight, friction, power and traction. It starts with a stock Porsche 997 Turbo, which is pretty damn fast even in stock form. Then Cargraphic puts it on a strict diet of carbon fiber and aluminum. A carbon fiber hood, doors, and fenders are installed, but even that wasn't enough for the scientists behind this car. Nah, your neighbor's Civic has a CF hood by now, so some lighter seats and wheels were put in too. But the trainers at Cargraphic are perfectionists. So they went "Scuderia-style" and even installed lighter floor mats. This may seem like a gimmick to some, but to me it's a sign of attention to detail. They squeezed out every ounce of weight, while keeping it a road car. At the end of the day, the Porsche had shed 330 lbs, almost the equivalent of one of Rush Limbaugh's chins. For comparison, when the Superlegerra came out, it was only 220 lbs lighter than a standard Gallardo.

Once they were done with the fat, it was time to build some muscle. A better intake, custom intercooler, modified turbo chargers and a high-flowing exhaust were all installed. After ECU tuning, they were rewarded with 618hp @6500RPM and, more impressively, 623 ft.lbs of torque at a low 2500RPM. Again, people might wonder why Cargraphic would settle on 600 horsepower. After all, the CCX was showing up with over 800 horsepower. And that's where the magic of Cargraphic lies--in how all the little efforts come together to create one terra firma-curling, G-meter shattering car. Cargraphic didn't only get 618hp, that was their goal. Of course they could have made more power than that, they're not stupid. Their SPR1 M car, built on the same 997 platform, puts out over 850 horsepower.

It's not that Cargraphic brought a .22 to a gun fight, it's that its marksmanship is flawless. The RSC had 623 ft. lbs of torque sent through a racing clutch, and all controlled by a 6 speed manual transmission (It's sad that this is seen as some sort of injury or flaw nowadays.) And somehow, all these parts came together, and the RSC simply pummeled the competition. To be invited to this race was a compliment. To be referred to as competitive with the cars on this list would be an honor. But to cross the finish line ahead of a CCX, a full 2.5 seconds ahead of the ugly but still formidable Apollo, and a whopping 5.5 seconds ahead of the new 670 SV, is incredibly impressive.

The fact that the Cargraphic 997 RSC 3.6 got 2nd place means little to me, because it still beat hyper-cars with a 200hp advantage. In a comparison against a Lamborghini Gallardo by Tim Schrick, of the German television show D Motoring, the Cargraphic 997 Turbo GT RSC 3.6 was 3 seconds faster around the race track per lap. I have a feeling that if the road started to get curvy, the Geiger Ford GT would quickly surrender its title. Cargraphic set out to build a car that can do everything. They improved the handling, feel, weight, braking, grip, cooling and power-delivery of a 997 Turbo. It almost seems that the added horsepower was at the bottom of their list. Attention was paid to every part of this car and the result is a car with incredible turn-in, stopping power rivaled only by a UFO, and acceleration that didn't require a turbo the size of a wagon wheel to run away from the competition.

How it all added up to become what the 997 Turbo GT RSC 3.6 is, I do not know. But what's important is that Cargraphic knows. Cars like this are a testament to what a complete build means. This is a street car. And not like a '66 Nova with a 9 point cage, tubbed wheels and a parachute. It's registered in Alabama (you know, to avoid smog checks) as a street car. You can leave the track, change a suspension setting, take it to pick up some oranges or your grandmother and neither will get bruised on the way home. If you want 1000 horsepower, buy a junkyard bound V8, bolt on a supercharger and a big blue bottle of nitrous. You can strap it to your kitchen table and use it to make Frito Pie. But if you want to make a CCX owner cry on the drive home from your kid's school you only need 600hp, a good diet, and some light floor-mats. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to buy some light-weight floor-mats.

Zack K