Late at spring, we wrote about the awesome white compact car, equipped with the Chevy V8 and able to pass quarter mile in 11.72 seconds — it was a “09 Smart, or frankly speaking a prototype with Smart body panels. And now there appeared an ideological antipode — another Smart with minimal changes in the body but still able to leave behind many sports cars. Well, Smart fans don’t stop pleasing us with their achievements.
The new box with a secret appeared in the United States, where engine swap seems to be a kind of national active way of life. Paul Barnes from Illinois owns a white 2008 Smart which looks similar to the previous prototype. There are not many changes in Paul’s car, it is known that instead of the standard engine a Toyota 5EFE 1.5L 16 valve engine from Toyota Paseo was put under the hood. The engine was supercharged with Sprintex blower, was manufactured a new sub-frame and the whole unit almost fits into a regular place of the small Smart. Gearbox was substituted with Toyota transmission as well and according to rumors the rest of the car remained the standard.
As a result, 900 kilograms of weight have 207 horsepower and quarter mile this miracle box overcomes in a bit more than 12 seconds, amusing spectators with wheelie just after the start. By the way, the weight distribution for this Smart is 30\70 in favor of the rear axle, so there is no problem with traction, but the supporting wheels, wheelie bar will be quite useful at the competition. Meanwhile Paul has the idea to implement nitrous oxide injection system to drive even faster and to be as fast as V8 Smart
But the most important advantage of Paul’s car is that he leaves drag strip and goes not to the parking lot, to put a car on a trailer, but to the road and while driving home he can celebrate a victory over a muscle car with a cup coffee or a milk... imitating the Indy winners.
Specifications:
Body:
Smart MY2008
Engine:
Toyota 5EFE 1.5L carburetor engine, Sprintex supercharger, MSD ignition, 207 hp
Transmission:
Automatic Toyota transmission
Suspension and brakes:
No data, perhaps Toyota parts are used
Wheels and tires:
No data
