zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
This Geo-Metro-Based Porsche 935 Is The Pinnacle Of Lemons Engineering
This Geo-Metro-Based Porsche 935 Is The Pinnacle Of Lemons Engineering-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:04

Porsche will theoretically sell you a 991 GT2 RS-based 935 race car right now. I mean, not right now, because they’re sold out by now, but you know what I’m getting at. The Porsche-certified track-only car was about three quarters of a million dollars new, and they occasionally trade hands for $1.5 million now. If that’s too much for your household finances to bear, rest easy knowing that you can faithfully replicate the experience using engineering, dumpster diving, charity, and $500.

24 Hours of Lemons competitors Team Charnal House chose the latter route, building their own. This car has been racing in various guises for a decade, showing up to its first Lemons event as a mid-engine Geo Metro with a Ford Taurus SHO engine mounted behind the seats. Since then the car has made apperances dressed up like the late-1980s Jaguar GTP “Silk Cut” prototype, and later as Nobuhiro Tajima GoPro Suzuki SX4 Pikes Peak race car.

Around 2016 the team had really developed the car and made it work pretty well. Which is a fancy way of saying the wheels didn’t fall off anymore. The suspension was cobbled together from dumpster-picked coilovers of unknown origin. Allegedly there are parts from 67 different manufacturers bolted to the original Geo chassis.

2016 was also about the time that real actual racing driver Scott Sharp got wind of the the project and gave the team a huge charitable boost. And by boost, I mean turbochargers. Mr. Sharp, formerly the head of the Extreme Speed Motorsports racing team, sent the Charnal House boys a set of super exotic turbochargers from his Honda-powered Ligier JS-P2 LMP2 car that raced at (and finished 10th) the Le Mans 24 hour.

The Honda HR28TT engine is a 2.8-liter V6, so really how different could it be from a Ford 3-liter V6? The team bolted both of these super exotic liquid-cooled turbos to the back of their Lemons car and when it raced again it was about as close as you can get to a Porsche 935 for under $500. According to my friend Lemons Judge Eric, the team’s most recent budget calculation was around $360.

Image for article titled This Geo-Metro-Based Porsche 935 Is The Pinnacle Of Lemons Engineering

With about 7psi of boost the Geo Metro now makes about 340 horsepower and another 340 foot lubs of torque to the rear wheels. Considering the original 1-liter 3-cylinder made around 55 horsepower at the crank, that’s a not insignificant jump. Take any car and sextuple the horsepower and you’re bound to have both a lot of fun and a handful.

Honestly, for my money, you can keep Speedycop’s upside-down Camaro or the Zombee or . Ten times out of ten, this is hands down my favorite 24 Hours of Lemons cars ever built. This team has shown not only an ability to engineer some truly hooptie crap into a fun and fast race car, but they’ve managed to keep a seriously strict budget in the process. Hell, I’d almost prefer this over a real 935.

And if you want to see an in-depth walk-around of the car with an explanation from one of the team’s genius engineers, check out this video.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
If you follow racing in the U.S., you probably already know about the . Most of the episodes are too much of a distraction to put on as background noise while you work, but a couple of recent entries in his series have been working incredibly well for me....
Jul 15, 2025
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
Name a car from the early 1960s built by a famed racing driver with curvy, lightweight aluminum bodywork, a big American engine, and a reputation for being unruly and fast as all hell. Your first thought was probably the famed Shelby Cobra, did you know there was a who...
Jul 15, 2025
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Fellow nerds, get ready to open your wallets, because I’ve found what may be the greatest store of all time. With designs from Formula 1 teams like , you’re sure to find something that fits your particular nostalgic niche. I’d like to introduce you to Racing Retro. I first...
Jul 15, 2025
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
In another unsurprising example of motorsport’s inhospitable mindset toward hiring competent women, the Racing team has announced a new partnership with Ava Rose, a literal , who will... engage with fans? Share knowledge about technology? “Navigate the cutting edge of innovation to create positive change” (whatever that means)? I...
Jul 15, 2025
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
If you listen to Formula 1 or local officials from Las Vegas and Clark County, you’d probably think November’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was a success. Some sources estimated that the city of Las Vegas made over $1 billion in revenue from the event — but there were...
Jul 15, 2025
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
The partially North Carolina-based squad has determined that after , it needs to mix things up a little. The team’s firebrand has been following an abysmal 2023 season which saw the team score just four points-paying finishes. The team’s , where scored a fourth-place finish, but that season too...
Jul 15, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved