Optima batteries’ 2013 event season kicked off in Elkhart Lake, WI last weekend with the Optima Faceoff at Road America. Optima’s Faceoff is a timed track event that, like the company’s Ultimate Street Car Invitational, features some of the world’s fastest street cars. To win, a driver needs to combine a car’s handling balance, predictable power deliver, and – of course! - driver skill. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Stephen Kepler was able to drive his track-prepared Switzer P800 GTR to second place overall!
Switzer’s P800 GTR PKG was developed, specifically, with trackday performance in mind. “The P800 was never meant to be track-day package that would deafen you out on public roads,” says Tym Switzer. “The clients who pushed this package forward were looking for a car that they could drive out 2 or 3 hours to the track in reasonable comfort, fill it up with pump gas, use the 800 hp to set killer times lap after lap after lap, then drive to a nice dinner afterwards without issue.”
That’s a lot to ask of any car, but the Switzer P800 GTR shown here had even bigger shoes to fill: it was built as a homage to the old Paul Newman-era BRE Datsun 510s.
“We’ve talked about doing a BRE or Sox and Martin-style GTR for a while, but it never seemed like the project was right,” explains Tym. “This was totally different. Stephen came to us and immediately said he wanted to do a BRE Datsun themed car. His team came up with the graphics and the racing livery, and they deserve all the credit for the look of this car. It looks great.”
With a strong 2nd-place finish against stiff competition on the car’s first competitive outing, it looks like this P800 / BRE Datsun special won’t let the legend down.
Click here for the official results of this year’s Optima Faceoff, and subscribe to our newsletter for updates on SPEED’s Optima event coverage with Bill Goldberg, and other chances to catch Switzer Performance-tuned cars on TV. Contact Switzer Performance for more information on the P800 GTR PKG and the track-oriented Switzer ClubSport trackday package.
