Enter: Goliath

Switzer Goliath GTR

The Switzer “Goliath” GTR is the answer to a question.

What question? See, over the last four years, Switzer’s GTR program has been focused on cars that delivered blistering performance without asking their owners to sacrifice things like comfort or reliability. That focus has led to bulletproof high-horsepower cars like this one, with dozens of 9-second drag passes to its credit - or this one, which has covered almost 100,000 miles since its conversion from a stock, 475 hp early GTR to an 800 hp Switzer P800. The Switzer GTRs are cars are built to last, but building “conservative” cars that drop jaw after jaw, run after run inevitably leads people to ask: “What if I want to push the limits? What if I don’t want to be conservative?”

The Goliath car was built to explore the limits of Switzer’s package architecture, building off of the same hardware upgrades as the Ultimate Street Edition, as well as the same intercoolers, plumbing, and exhaust hardware used in the USE, as well as the P700, P800, and record-breaking R1K-X Switzer GTRs. “The other component to this exercise,” explains Tym, “was to see how much power we could make on our engine program’s standard-bore/stroke 3.8L VR38 build that’s been so reliable for us over the past four years.”

Keep in mind, this is not some chopped-up dyno-queen/ringer car. Grinding or welding on the chassis was not permitted, so Goliath’s firewall, frame rails, and power steering systems are totally intact. The factory AC system is completely intact, and “is a must”, according to Switzer … which makes sense, considering how many of these cars end up in extreme climates.

“At the end of the day,” says Tym, “this is still a drivable streetcar, albeit at the limits of what most people would tolerate in real-world traffic. It’s an exercise in how far you can take a streetcar, which is what this customer wanted, even after I explained the risks and the process. The only ‘race stuff’ in the car is the fuel. In this case, it’s Q16. I’d have preferred something a little more ‘green’, like E85, but that would have been too hard for the car’s owner to source locally. So, only the fuel is ‘race’, really, but that doesn’t mean Goliath is for everyone. It’s not the no-excuses, Veyron-baiting, liter-bike chasing super car. That’s the Ultimate. Goliath … Goliath is just a monster. It’s the limit of how far we can push our GTR package hardware, so it shows the value in those packages as ‘building blocks’ to something bigger.”

We’ll have more information, more (read: up-to-date) photos, and new videos in the coming days. Until then, you’ll have to be satisfied knowing that the car made over 1500 whp* on Switzer’s dyno. Run after run. Every time.

Stay tuned.