I recently visited the Japanertreffen in Schwyz, Switzerland, and overall I was a little disappointed with the style and quality of the cars. The theme throughout the show was bodykits, paint jobs and cheap wheels; I felt like it was stuck in the early 2000s rice scene like the original Fast & Furious had only just come out.

But among them there were a few nicely and tastefully modded cars and one of the more serious ones was this drift-spec GT86 by Event Seelisberg.

They have a whole fleet of lightly tuned GT86s for a driving/drift school, but this was by far the most serious as the bonnet cutouts are there to hide something a bit more impressive under them.

An LS V8 engine was swapped in place of the original 4U-GSE, with a FAST LSXR intake manifold and I’m sure many supporting mods. The radiator has been relocated in the back, seen here with the coolant lines going to the firewall.

What’s interesting to see is the extensive widening that has taken place to the suspension geometry as custom camber plates, together with some frame cutting, allows the shocks to be mounted further out to achieve the correct camber with extended lower arms.

Another cool feature, which I’ll do on the Great Danton eventually too, is the lightened bolt-in front cross-member; made out of carbon-kevlar here. This might be necessary to install the larger engine, or simply for improved access or ease of replacement.

Nice billet suspension components.

The interior is just as serious as the exterior; full cage, racing seats, suppression system, sequential shifter and hydraulic hand-brake. Nice Tilton brake-bias adjuster and floor mounted pedal box.

The exterior is completed by a Rocket Bunny kit and an awesome large swan neck mounted GT-wing.