Turbo XR at Kinnekulle
We’ve seen this car before, and it’s not to everyone’s tastes. This is Saab at its most extreme in terms of both looks and performance.
This is PA Johansson’s Saab 9-3 Turbo XR. A custom built monster of a Saab 9-3. The full build page and gallery is hosted over at Speedparts. Click.
I first featured this car back in March and this weekend, it’s been out at Kinnekulle racetrack proving that it’s not all show.
Judging by the video shot by Peter at Speedparts, it seems the track is a lot shorter than it was when I drove around it this time last year. Oh, wait a minute…..no it’s not…..it’s just that this car gets around the track in about a quarter of the time it took me in an automatic diesel convertible 
Folks. This is speed. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but you’ve got to respect the build and the grunt.
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This car is amazing. I wonder if they strengthened or changed the stock gearbox. Ha ha ha.
Lap time about 1.05. Car is to powerfull for that track or the driver isn’t experienced enough to use it. Also hard to get the tire temps up and get the “flow” in just 3 laps…A race team that drove a 9-5 fwd with about 500550 hp make their laptimes about 59 seconds a few years ago….
Stock gearbox?
There’s never been a stock gearbox mounted in that car….
500550hp, WOW! How many turbos did that thing have?
ooops, 500-550
Yeah, I was wondering about the way it was being driven. I’m not a race driver, but could tell that he wasn’t taking advantage of the curves. He seemed a bit unsure of himself.
In any event, it’s a nice car.
I think he would have done much quicker if he had the tires and brakes warmed up
I love the straight-cut sequential box. And holy crap has that thing got some serious turbo going on.
2008 with SID on the dash. Nice.
Yeah, why the SID?
A detuned version with 500 bHP and usable passenger space + comfort should be what the Turbo-X was about…
That body kit - I want one!
Well, it doesn’t beat the video where Hans-Joachim Stuck do a lap on Nordschleife…
Vector-SS, this car was built a few years ago, and they just switched some body panels to make it look like a 2008. Guess they did not bother about the dash…
Beautiful…… no question about it!!!!
Thanks Ken. I’m glad they didn’t “bother” about the dash because it surely looks better
this is disappointing….
the cars great sure but this guy is purty darn slow
through the first corner especially hes slow as on entry and not pushing the car anywhere near hard enough under braking and then wheres the exit? on the complete wrong side of the track.
Maybe its his first time but he seems to be the kind of guy who would drive around downtown in the middle of the night doing burnouts and thinking hes Michael Schumacher just because he can leave and eleven on the road 6 feet long.
but yea the car seems nice the turbo whine is great and it seems to have plenty of punch off the bends. its great how it revs out not many cars on the market do that nowadays but hes hardly never using the revs! my only quarrel on the car is the gear box, for what hes doing it needs something more motor-racing orientated. i noticed it was sc/cr but is it dog engagement? that would reduce the crunches and make him sound less like a trainee bus driver
They are just trying the car. Mostly he races the quarter mile with it.
Tune the suspention for track racing and have an experienced driver drive the car and the XR would fly. Wonder what a car like that would stand in competition with the DTM Audis and Mercs round Hochenheim?
/Tompa
and the XR isn’t roadlegal so there wont be any nighttime downtown races…
its pretty obvious he couldnt handle the thing round a corner if his life depended on it.
i hate to burst your bubble but the DTM cars would absolutely kill your saab. the main problem being this is a modified road car as opposed to a full strength race bred racing car. you wouldnt think there is much of a difference but the improvement is insane. this turboed rice burner wouldnt stand a shot against a real racing v8. let alone the mechanical grip and handling of the DTM with all its aerodynamics. the long straights and fast corners of Hockenheim would show this thing up like you wouldnt believe.
the suspension setup didnt seem too bad, as a rule the spring rate wouldnt hurt to be increased as well as stiffer bars, this might help with the understeer that would undoubtedly appear once somebody started to cane the thing. also the oversteer off the corners is insane… the guy either has lead boots or it needs waaay more rubber on the back end.
Oh and the downtown bit was a joke? i didnt neccesarily mean this car maybe he has an M3, he seems to be the type of guy that Jeremy Clarkson describes would drive an M3!
Since this Saab has BMW parts in it, I think he be better off in a real hoon mobile like the M3…
As boring and pathetic as the DTM is to me, DTM cars a built to go around the corner. This was obviously built to just go down a straight line (and if it wasn’t, something is clearly wrong with the car and/or the driver). I think a WTCC Seat would outrun this thing on a normal road track.
I wouldn’t put too much blame on the driver. Anyone can see how twitchy the car is in the corners. Probably the chassis+transmission are (so far) totally unsorted for cornering purposes.
As ctm says, a WTCC car with about one third (?) of the horsepower will beat this car around a (road)race track.
btw, using words like ‘rice burner’ says it all about ones expertise…
It’s made for the drags, not the track. I don’t see what all the discussion from Ellig is about.
I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone at that meet knew PA, the owner, personally. Many of them would have helped him work on a project at some time. Taking the car out somewhere like Kinekulle is as much about showing everyone the car as it is about actually driving it.