All posts in “sema 2017”

Gemballa GT Concept is an 828-hp widebody Porsche 911 for SEMA

SEMA is an interesting show, where mad scientists and engineers take cars and trucks and turn them into ungodly, brutal beasts on wheels. Vehicles like the Dodge Demon and Ford Mustang are right at home there. But sometimes we see some more elegant makeovers, like the Audi TT Clubsport, which maintains its European charm but still gets a big boost in performance. This year, Gemballa took a similar approach with its widebody GT Concept.

Based on the Porsche 911 Turbo, the GT Concept features lightweight carbon bodywork. Its fenders are 1.2 inches wider in front, and 2.0 inches wider at the rear, making room for wider, stickier wheels. It also includes styling and aerodynamic modifications, including new front and rear bumpers, side skirts, new engine cover with carbon fiber insert, and carbon fiber front spoiler lip, rear diffuser and rear wing.

Gemballa included its own touch to the GT Concept’s interior. It combines selected leather hides and Alcantara, and includes the embroidered Gemballa logo in the floor mats and headrests.

But it’s more than just looks and aero. Gemballa also added gobs of power to the already potent biturbocharged, 3.8-liter boxer engine. It has carbon intake manifolds and air intake housings, larger valves and modified cylinder heads, a sports exhaust, and remapped engine control unit, among other modifications. The result is 828 horsepower and 702 pound-feet of torque. This allows the Gemballa GT Concept to do 0-62 miles per hour in just 2.38 seconds on its way to a top speed of over 223 miles per hour (with the specific top speed to be announced later). Stopping power has been improved with carbon-ceramic brakes with six-piston calipers up front and four-piston calipers in the rear.

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Acura NSX ScienceofSpeed Dream Project brings another wing to SEMA

Acura rolled into SEMA last year with its non-hybrid NSX GT3 race car, that FIA spec-series competitor pulled to Vegas on a trailer behind a GT3-themed Acura MDX. Sticking with the GT3 theme this year but going road-legal, Acura worked with Arizona-based ScienceofSpeed on a GT3 package that NSX owners can put in driveways. The result is the lower, more powerful, more wing-y NSX “Dream Project.”

Liquid-cooled injecting for the twin-turbo boosts output, adding 37 horsepower for a total of 610, and another 31 pound-feet of torque to register 507. A lightweight steel exhaust sheds 16 pounds and bestows those magnified numbers with magnified bass. A custom suspension drops the coupe by a little more than an inch, a custom iLIFT suspension add-on automatically raises the front axle two inches if the NSX detects a hurdle.

The ScienceofSpeed aero kit includes all you’d expect from the alphanumeric “GT3:” front strakes, wider rocker panels, larger rear diffuser, a rear wing, gold powdercoated carbon ceramic Brembo brakes, and wider Pirelli Trofeo R tires wrapped around Advan GT forged wheels. Drench the package in two-tone Andaro Nouvelle Blue Pearl and gloss black roof, and the NSX Dream Project’s ready to be driven from climate-controlled garage, to parking-lot car show, back to climate-controlled garage. If the owner decides to test a limit or two, Recaro Pole Position seats and a gaugeART OLED display will keep him locked in and informed.

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