The 1,100 HP Switzer "Ultimate Street Edition" GTR - /TUNED

MATT: Last season on Tuned we drove the Switzer E900 Cornzilla GTR. There were, of course, some issues that came along with the ridiculous amount of horsepower that thing made. Mainly, that it only ran on ethanol, so you had to bring your own fueling station with you. And the transmission, through its upgrade, was a little chattery, and not exactly what we wanted for daily use. Now, there's almost nothing better than when either a manufacturer or a tuner listens to its customers and upgrades cars accordingly. And today, they have sent us this. It's the ultimate street edition GTR, and it makes 1,000 horsepower on pump gas. So I'm going to run up and down the canyon a couple times, and then we're going to go to the flat part and see where we can actually use this crazy horsepower. So what am I standing here for? [LOUD ENGINE NOISE] There's nothing, really, that says complete build like one of Switzer's GTR packages. You get a completely new engine with forged rods, pistons, crank, new cams, new seals, all new cooling equipment, trans and diff equipment, new clutches. So this car, although it's a 2009, all the running gear is basically brand new. So it's sort of like having a new car. The one downside I can see to this is the price. The package is $86,000, plus your GTR. So, considering you can get an '09 for about $60,000, right? For $140,000, you can get 880 wheel horsepower on pump gas, or, like this car as it right now, 962 wheel horsepower on race gas. [ENGINE REVS] This one has Alcon rotors, upgraded pads, stainless steel lines. The sizes of the rotors are stock because they're about as big as you can fit in the wheels anyway. But with the upgraded the hardware, you should be able to stop harder, more repeatedly, getting less fade. Because this is a heavy car, so braking is key. [ENGINE REVS] Oh, yeah! Oowee doggie! That puts down some power, doesn't it? It is laggy. It feels a little faster than stock below 4,000 RPM. Above 4,000 RPM, it's not an amazing sound from in the cab. Wow. The back dances around, but the front keeps you in line. [ENGINE REVS] It's fighting for traction at the back. Nobody will really accuse a flat black Switzer GTR of not looking cool. But when I saw the exhaust tips, I said something's not right about that. They stick too far out. Then I asked why they stick that far out. It's because when the car shoots fire, you don't want to burn the bumper. And all of a sudden, it makes sense. Now, traction, suspension, and diff are all in R mode, so when I hit it, even if the rears break traction, it shouldn't cut power. [REVS ENGINE SHARPLY] And it doesn't. It doesn't. The owner says he got 19 miles per gallon driving this car down to LA for me from San Francisco. But if the fuel gauge is believed, then in three runs up and down the canyon, I have used a quarter of a tank. Sorry. [ENGINE REVS] JUSTIN: We wanted to get a package that basically wasn't super loud, that was quiet, that you can daily drive, and basically is still a beast on the track. They built this specifically around the street. Everything has to be functional. It has to be reliable. And I wanted that. I wanted the reliability. And ultimately, Switzer delivered the best customer service I've ever had. I actually had an AMS Alpha 6 before this. Neil was constantly helping me, even when it wasn't their brand. I love their company. MATT: So your interior has an interesting modification of the back seat. Explain the seat mod. JUSTIN: Yeah, the backseat mod saves about one pound. MATT: Can anyone sit back there? JUSTIN: They can. I'm don't suggest they do. MATT: Power figures are ridiculous. There are actually people out there who will watch this video and go, meh. 962 at the wheels. That's not fast. I saw a video of a car that did this. Yeah, come drive this thing. 962 isn't fast. This thing is stupid fast. Alright. Too much car, not enough road. We need to go find a couple straightaways. What's your favorite thing about the GTR in general? JUSTIN: In general? Launching it. MATT: He told me to launch it. So, a 1,000 horsepower launch. Here we go. [ENGINE REVS] Holy ***. Whoa! [ENGINE ROARS] Wow-wa-wa-wa! That's why people drive 1,000 horsepower GTRs. To do that. Well the launch is properly crazy. Let's see what happens when I have grip. I'll do a second gear roll-on here. [ENGINE REVS] That was pretty impressive. Let's try it again. [ENGINE REVS] [INAUDIBLE] [ENGINE ROARS] I'm not going to tell you how fast that was, because even though this road belongs to us, trust me. You don't want to know. But damn. How about a first gear roll-on. [ENGINE REVS] First gear is basically nonexistent. By the time you get into boost, you're already bouncing off the rev limiter. Alright, how about a roll-on from third gear. 3,000 RPM. Flat, it's going, now-- [INAUDIBLE] [ENGINE ROARS] And if one day you decided you were having a bad day, you could just-- [ENGINE REVS] We end at a gas station here in Camarillo, where we remember the true beauty of this car. The last time we drove a Switzer car, we had to carry jugs of ethanol just to get the thing home. But we're here, with a regular pump. And after driving around all day doing poles, running canyons, I'm going to fill this thing up with 91 octane. And these guys are going to get in it and drive back to San Francisco. It doesn't have race gas, just pump. So they're only going to have 880 wheel horsepower instead of the 962 I've been able to play with all day. 20 years ago, this kind of power would've required a race team, a trailer-- who even knows. And now he can just get in it, type in his home address, fill it with pump gas, turn on the radio, turn on the air conditioning, and he's home just like that. It's the best thing ever. I'd like to thank Justin for bringing me his car today, and Neil Switzer for building it, something so completely ridiculous and still somehow usable. And until next time, for our season finale on Tuned, I'm Matt Farah. Follow me @TheSmokingTire on Twitter. Buy these shirts. Driveshirts.com. I'm done. Maybe you don't like your wife. Maybe you'd prefer jail. Maybe things aren't going so good. Call up Switzer, and then just-- [ENGINE REVS] Jail. Four wheel burnout, straight to jail. Look at the accelerometer graph. Wow.