Ralph Bossino

Following from the last post I think I will stay in the Ferrari territory for a while, allowing the comparison between the tuning work of a German company and that of a Japanese company, Garage Saurus.

Narutoshi Hayashi has a great history building cars, with one example being the fully CF R32 skyline, a street legal car with over 900whp and a 1/4 mile time of 8.95 seconds. This time he turned his attention to a European model, a Ferrari 550 Maranello, doing a twin turbo setup with a power target of 1000hp.

Having opened up the motor to see what work had to be done Hayashi sought OS Giken to produce the custom engine components required, due to the lack of aftermarket parts available for these cars. OS Giken produced cylinder liners, forged lightweight pistons custom camshafts, a triple plate clutch and a limited slip differential.

Two HKS turbo-chargers were to be used to achieve the power output, in excess of 1000hp, they were aiming for. They fabricated the headers and the piping whilst ARC fabricated a twin-entry intercooler and a titanium exhaust. With a car like this one of the biggest problems is cooling. Saurus got rid of the quad exhaust and replaced it with a dual centre exit exhaust. In the locations of the old exhaust they put a couple of Setrab oil coolers!

The last thing they worked on was the bodykit to give the car a ‘race’ look. This is the one part of the car that I think could have been improved on. I personally am not too keen on the new look of the car

This is a car you either love or hate. Some people will never agree with modifying a Ferrari, especially adding a twin turbo and a body kit. On the other hand others will look at it in amazement as to what can be done with almost any car out there. Either way I think everyone will be in agreement, whether you like it or not, that it is an amazing piece of work and a great effort by Hayashi.