Meet the 1000HP Hyundai

Some of the more keen enthusiasts (or car “nerds”) may recall that not so long ago Hyundai made a sports car called the Tiburon. Only the title sports car was a bit far-fetched because while it had two doors and a coupe like body shape, its range of engine’s wasn’t particularly inspiring, nor was it dynamically well balanced.

When it was discontinuation somewhere around 2001 Hyundai focussed its attention on more mainstream offerings, bringing it and sister company Kia in line with their European competition.

Then in 2008 it was time to have another go. So at the New York International Auto Show the Tiburon’s successor was announced. Hyundai had clearly put some thought into the all new Genesis, which was now rear-wheel drive and came boasting a proper amount of fire power, in the form of a 3.8 litre V6 producing 257kW.

But that just isn’t enough for some, or at least isn’t enough the pairing of Hyundai and tuning company Bisimoto, who feel it could use an extra 490kW. For those of you still measuring lengths of rope in yards, that’s a total of 1000 horsepower. And yes, that’s as much as Bugatti’s Veyron, only with less than half the number of cylinders and half as many turbo’s.

The car was put together by Hyundai and a tuning company called Bisimoto for the 2013 SEMA show in Las Vegas. And by put together I mean Hyundai provided the car and a tin of special electric blue paint.

Bisimoto was left to all the real engineering, which included whipping out the stock, normally aspirated 3.8 litre V6, adding forged pistons, steel con-rods, new fuel injectors, and level 2.4 camshafts.

The chaps then found a pair of Bisimoto/Turbonetics turbochargers lying around the workshop, so those got bolted on together with a dual RG45 wastegate and some amusingly named ‘Godzilla’ blow-off valves. And to let it all breathe they whipped off the front grille to expose the massive radiator and intercooler. There’s also an ‘Action Ironman’ clutch to handle all that power, which I presume is somewhat more robust that the plastic figurine of Tony Stark I had when I was a kid.

Progress coilover suspension, anti-roll bars and wider wheels help keep the Genesis stuck to the road, while the addition of racing seats and a roll cage help beef up safety – although I fear that’s as useful as dousing a forest fire with a tot of whiskey.

Bisi Ezerioha, owner of Bisimoto Engineering, reckons the “key to producing reliable, high-horsepower engines goes well beyond the design, engineering and fabrication of performance parts. The core powerplant must be strong enough to withstand advanced modifications.”

So the bloke isn’t beating around the bush. They’ve designed the concept to possess the reliability of a street car but with the outrageous power of a no-holds-barred racer. The latter of which is in no doubt; and I’d be more than happy to test its longevity for them.

First published in Autodealer KZN