Let’s face it, America has nothing on the crazy turbocharged burnout machines Australia is known for producing. Some of the wildest creations we’ve ever laid eyes on have come out of Oz, and this banana-yellow 1970s Holden Gemini is no exception.
The Gemini was sold in Europe as the Opel Kadett and offered with either a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine or a 1.8-liter diesel. It doesn’t sound like the beginning of the recipe for a 9-second drag car, but the Gemini is rear-wheel drive, making it the perfect candidate for an engine swap. In America, some type of LS motor would most likely be dropped under its small hood, but this Australia, so something a little less conventional was put in the four bangers place: a 1.3-liter Mazda 13B FD rotary engine.
The rotary engine in this Gemini has been paired up with a gigantic Garrett turbocharger, allowing it to complete the drag-strip dominating feats you can see in the video below. On its first run, the Gemini slides from side to side on the track before losing its rear window. Its second and third passes down the track are a little less dodgy, but no less entertaining. Its best time was an incredible 9.12 second pass at 152.13 miles per hour, effectively embarrassing the V8-powered Utes it lined up against. Check it out in the video below.
Comments
Yeah too bad that in a few days at the track he needs a new engine, rotary engines are garbage regardless of what they can do with “small displacement”, there is a reason the LS swap is so popular in rx7s. GM was the first to develop it and then scrapped the idea, the same reason no one else made one but Mazda. Because Mazdas are also junk.
“GM was the first to develop it and then scrapped the idea”
Woefully incorrect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSU_Motorenwerke
Mac.. you are a twat. Die.