Story Jehran Naidoo – Pictures by Etienne Pretorius
Can you imagine driving a thousand horsepower car to work everyday?
Jayson Naicker of Insane Racing Midlands [IRM] need not imagine. He is living in that reality.
The 27-year-old achieved a high speed goal on Sunday morning at Mkuze, pushing his car over the 402 metre in 8.928 seconds @258km/h. Naicker ran a blistering 1.2 second 60 foot.
To cap off his entry into the ‘8 second club’, his father – Mr Naicker was on the sidelines cheering him on.
‘Fully forged’
The 2018 2.5L ‘Daza’ powered RS3 has been in his possession for over a year. Since the acquisition, the boys at IRM have put the RS3 through the mill, hoping to churn out a fire spitting demon on the other side. It’s safe to say they’ve done just that.
The RS3 engine was completely rebuilt, and fitted with performance parts capable of making serious power.
“It’s a fully forged engine. Completely redone. We have MAHLE Pistons with FCP X Beam Rods. The bore is stock. The engine was built at IRM by my father who handles the hardware and I focus on the software side,” Jayson told Auto Rush.
The XONA turbocharger fitted on the RS3 is rated at 1,100 Horsepower.
Stock gearbox
Surprisingly, Audi made a bulletproof gearbox capable of handling the thousand ponies pushing through its system. Jayson said they kept the standard gearbox but just upgraded the clutch to handle the extra power.
A 70/30 ethanol to pump fuel mix is used on race days, in tandem with a water meth kit to cool her down.
“Once it enters boost, the water meth activates and kicks in. We mainly use it to cool the car down,” he said.
The distorting decibels emitted from the RS3 is a result of a ‘sawed-off’ exhaust system which is utilised for race days.
Jayson said the IRM team removes the exhaust system and only run the car with a downpipe which faces the ground.
“We basically just have a coupling from the turbo extending through the car and facing down. That’s why it’s so loud,” said Jayson.
Four Hoosier slicks brace the 880 nm torque Audi to the tarmac as best as they can while the factory ceramic brakes bring her to a stop.
But gravity herself is used together with the ceramic brakes, as Jayson says the car is extremely fluid on the top end.
“You definitely feel the power, especially on the top end with these cars. Its almost as if it doesn’t want to stop. I was excited to run just under 260km but it felt like it wanted to go faster. I go gradually on the brakes because it is really dangerous when you are on the top end,” he explained.
18 inch alloy wheels with HR lowering springs give the RS3 a lower centre of gravity.
Target achieved
For his debut 8 second run, the car was set to 2.7 bar boost but Jayson drives it daily on 1.6 bar.
“This is my only car. I had a S3 before this but I drive this to work and back daily. I run it on the same file but just drop the boost. You can’t really drive it fast on our roads.
“At the moment, our target of 8 seconds was achieved. If the weather was cooler, we could have pushed her harder. But I am happy with the performance,” Jayson ended.
Auto Rush
