Frank Profera has spent six years making his Lotus go faster, stop shorter, and corner harder. Though it only has to move around 2,150 lbs, Frank's Lotus makes 680 wheel horsepower with a twin-charged 1.8L engine; giving it a better power-to-weight ratio than Mario Andretti's Formula One Lotus. It's an ongoing project that may never be finished, because of Frank's never-ending obsession with speed. We had to take it for a ride.
Hennessey Venom GT: The World's Fastest Tuned Car - TUNED
DRIVE EXCLUSIVE: With only six examples built to date, the Hennessey Venom GT could be considered the fastest street car in the world. Built off the Lotus Exige, this tuner car packs a 1200+ horsepower punch with a theoretical top speed of 272mph. Host Matt Farah takes a quick ride in the million dollar Texas built supercar for the Season 3 premiere of TUNED on DRIVE.
Hennessey Venom GT 0-300km World Record Run - TUNED
Tuned joins the Hennessey team in Houston, TX as they attempt to set a new world record for the fastest accelerating production car from 0-300km/hr.
Hennessey Venom GT: The World's Fastest Tuned Car - TUNED
http://youtu.be/8hDDBN_pIUQ
The 950 HP Switzer E900 GTR - TUNED
After last week's Runway Tuner Shootout, Matt couldn't resist taking the winning car, the E85 powered Switzer E900 GTR out for a little drive. What he finds is not just another GTR, because this is the fastest street car he's ever driven.
The 800 HP Formula Drift K.Sport 350Z - TUNED
Tuned goes to Bondurant School of High Performance Driving to meet up with Formula Drift driver Corey Hosford and his 800 HP Blown LS3 Nissan 350Z Drift car. We learn what separates a drift car from a race car, and Matt gets to work on his drifting technique behind the wheel of a monster race car.
Airstrip Attack Runway Tuner Shootout - TUNED
TUNED attends the Shift S3ctor Airstrip Attack Runway Tuner Shootout at Trona Airport in the California desert. Here, 80 tuner cars from Europe, Japan, and America will battle it out in head-to-head half mile drag races to find out which tuner is truly the acceleration king. Featured tuners include BBi Autosport, AE Performance, Switzer, HG Motorsports, COBB Tuning, Cunningham Motorsports, ESS Tuning, VF Engineering, and more.
The 1,100 HP Switzer "Ultimate Street Edition" GTR - TUNED
It wasn't long ago that driving a 1000+ horsepower car came with many sacrifices. These were race or show cars, not to be used daily. Enter the Switzer "Ultimate Street" GTR. On pump gas, it makes 1,000 horsepower with virtually no downside. On race gas, it makes 1,100 horsepower. And the owner of this particular GTR uses it as his daily driver to commute to work. Is 1,100 horsepower enough to get to the office? We'll find out.
**Update** 0-60: 2.5s, 1/4 Mile: 9.4 @ 150, Standing Mile 208 mph.
The 700 HP RennTech CLS63 AMG - TUNED
Hartmut Feyhl left AMG after 15 years to start his own tuning company, RennTech, which is now one of the most respected AMG tuners in the world. His products range from simple software upgrades to full racing builds based on AMG street cars. We take his new, 700 horsepower CLS63 for a spin and establish a new benchmark for luxury sedans: must be able to do burnouts while moving at highway speeds.
BMW M550d X Drive Road Test - CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS
BMW M550d X Drive road test.
It has more torque than the space shuttle and BMW claims it will do over 40mpg. BMW also says it won't be selling the car in the UK or the US, the places that DRIVE is most commonly viewed. But when something has 3 turbos, you've got to go drive it at 155mph: no?
The 600 HP APR Stage 3 Audi TTRS - TUNED
Alabama is the last place you'd expect to find one of the world's largest tuner companies for German cars, but here, at this facility, APR provides hardware and software to thousands of Audi and VW customers every month. Matt helps them with some development testing by providing opinions on their new Stage 3 package for the Audi TTRS, producing 560 horsepower at the wheels in a car based on the VW Golf!
The STILLEN 500 HP Supercharged Nissan 370Z - TUNED
TUNED Visits racing legend Steve Millen's STILLEN in Costa Mesa, CA to see what happens when he gets his hands on the Nissan 370Z. Already a potent machine, what happens when STILLEN upgrades pretty much everything? Fortunately, it doesn't suck.
Muscle Cars and Road Courses Make Unlikely Partners - TUNED
TUNED tests out a couple of suspension-tuned muscle cars on the Willow Springs road course to see how Hotchkis suspension components make old cars less scary, and modern cars fast as hell.
Super Sleeper 1972 Nova - BIG MUSCLE
Wanna race? If so you may want to reconsider. You see this is Dru Diesner's 1972 Chevrolet Nova and it's anything but stock. From a looks perspective it's nothing special, in fact most people wouldn't put up $500 for this thing. Look a little deeper though and OH MOMMA! You see under its faded green paint lurks a twin supercharged LS2 that makes 1,160 hp... at the rear wheels. It epitomizes the term "sleeper", and is lethal to just about every other road going vehicle it comes in contact with. Big Muscle recently visited Northern Chicago to get a sample of this beast, and holy crap was it one of the best automotive experiences we've ever had.
Pagani Huayra: Test Drive in Italy - Chris Harris On Cars
Chris Harris flies to Italy to be one of the first journalists behind the wheel of the new Pagani Huayra. A 24 hour trip to Modena and a proper drive in the 730hp Huayra.
The 700 HP VF Engineering BMW M3 - TUNED
TUNED visits one o our favorite California tuners, VF engineering, who have upgraded the E92 M3's power, suspension, and brakes in order to turn the m3 from a balanced, focused machine into an absolute monster.
