ENTRANT: Mike Cove
TOTAL BUDGET: CAD $1201.00
EVENT YEAR: 2003
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Photo by Mark Langello
How do you make a turbo car faster? Yep, more boost.
Ontario resident Mike Cove applied that popular formula to the 1987 Pontiac Firefly Turbo that he brought all the way to our $2003 Challenge.
“Pontiac Firefly Turbo?” you ask. Yes, it’s a real car. The Suzuki Cultus, sold in the U.S. as the Chevrolet Sprint, entered Canada as the Pontiac Firefly. For a short while, North Americans could buy a hotrod version packing a three-cylinder, 993cc engine force-fed by an equally cute turbo.
Mike cranked up his Firefly’s boost to 22 psi, almost three times more than stock. That extra boost, combined with some sticky (and used) BFGoodrich Comp T/A R1 tires, shot him down the quarter-mile in 15.8 seconds, about a second quicker than Car and Driver’s original reported time for the car from back in the day.
Join us at this year’s Challenge to make some great memories of your own.
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