The 8-sec race car that's actually a
street car...
As I sit quietly watching in absolute amazement while Gabe
Ellingsen’s API blasts 8-sec quarter-mile passes on YouTube, I come across a
clip of the car driving much slower than its personal best of 168 mph. Still
fully suited in its appropriate race attire, including livery, sticky footwear,
and anchored parachute, the Spa Yellow roadster, with wifey in the passenger
seat, cruises gently down a city street just like any other S2000. The couple
ends up ordering lunch at a drive-thru and off they go, further cementing the
fact that the world's fastest street-legal S2000 is every bit as “streetable”
as that neighborhood guy who floors it onto the freeway everyday on his way to
work with a few minor bolt-ons.
As I sit quietly
watching in absolute amazement while Gabe Ellingsen’s API blasts 8-sec
quarter-mile passes on YouTube, I come across a clip of the car driving much
slower than its personal best of 168 mph.
Before the 8-sec passes and prior to his
relationship with world-renowned tuning shop, King's Performance, Gabe spent a
year searching for the perfect S2000 to purchase. Though he lived in Oklahoma
City at the time, his hunt led him to a Subaru dealership, a state away, in El
Paso, Texas. A one-owner, Spa Yellow beauty with little more than 42,000 miles
on the clock, it had absolutely no signs of modification — it was perfect.
After reviewing the incredibly detailed pictures of the entire car, top to
bottom, courtesy of the salesman, Gabe made the trip to Texas for a test drive.
He recalls, “I knew I would take it home for sure. They had it parked out
front, clean, with the top down. We took the car out for a test drive. It ran
absolutely amazing, and I fell in love with the car even more.” Not even a
half-mile off the dealer's lot in his newly acquired roadster and Gabe put
phone to ear, immediately ordering a number of bolt-ons that found their way
onto the car just a week later.
A
one-owner, Spa Yellow beauty with little more than 42,000 miles on the clock,
it had absolutely no signs of modification — it was perfect.
For the next 12 months, Gabe was content
with the car—until he started taking note of King's Performance, Red Star
Motoring, and the achievements of one Pepo Besosa. After deciding to get a
little more serious with the build, Gabe's AP1 attended IFO Oklahoma in 2011,
and again in 2012 with a best of 11.33 at 135 mph after having a shop work on
the car.
After
deciding to get a little more serious with the build, Gabe's AP1 attended IFO
Oklahoma in 2011, and again in 2012 with a best of 11.33 at 135 mph after
having a shop work on the car.
