Not long after professional drifter Daigo Saito’s 2020 Toyota Supra drift machine made its online premiere, it burst into flames during its public drifting debut.
Footage captured of the scene shows the heavily-modified Japanese sports car catch fire as Saito throws it into a left-hand bend and kicks out the tail. Fire spews out of the engine bay, seemingly swamping the interior. Almost instantly, Saito brings his newest creation to a halt and quickly shuts off the engine, temporarily extinguishing the flames in the process.
Fire crews rushed to the car to ensure Saito was safe. The car was then taken back to the pit lane where it re-ignited. Fortunately, the team behind the crazy creation was able to quickly get the fire under control. It remains to be seen how much damage was caused to the car by the fire.
Saito is believed to be the first to outfit the latest-generation Supra with Toyota’s 2JZ-GTE 3.0-liter twin-turbo straight-six engine from the previous Supra. Saito’s expert team increased the engine’s displacement to 3.4-liters and replaced the standard turbochargers with a huge KHS GTIII-4R one.
The vehicle’s boosted powertrain pumps out 800 hp and 651 lb-ft (883 Nm) of torque, a huge 465 hp and 286 lb-ft (387 Nm) upgrade over the BMW-sourced B58 six-cylinder of the standard GR Supra.
It apparently took Saito’s team just 42 days to build the bespoke drift car. Here’s hoping that all their hard work wasn’t totally undone by the blaze.