Having transitioned from wreck to
track weapon to drift star over the course of a decade, Chris Soehren’s
V8-powered 240SX has finally become the car he always envisaged…
Knowing that he wanted to hit the track straight
away, Chris beefed-up the brakes and suspension a little and got himself booked
on to the next Club Racing Arizona event. He had a real blast, with the car
running really well. He was just conscious of what a state it looked inside and
out! So he started saving money for the interior, but in the meantime began
addressing the shell. “It just so happens that I worked with a gentleman who
did interior work, so that happened sooner than expected,” Chris recalled. He
had the seats reupholstered, new carpets fitted, the dash covered in suede and
the interior trim replaced. It was as good as new inside, prompting Chris to
finish prepping the body with a JDM Type X Aero package he’d gleaned from Scott
and give it all a lick of fresh gloss black paint. With a set of matching 17”
wheels added under the arches, Chris was ready for more track work.
It
was as good as new inside, prompting Chris to finish prepping the body with a
JDM Type X Aero package he’d gleaned from Scott and give it all a lick of fresh
gloss black paint. With a set of matching 17” wheels added under the arches,
Chris was ready for more track work.
He ran the 240SX that way for some time
but, as you can imagine, the K24 under the bonnet began to struggle to satisfy
his power hungry demands. It was also getting pretty old and tired, so instead
of rebuilding it or sourcing a like-for-like replacement, Chris began exploring
other avenues.
“I found an LS1 in a junkyard in California
there were no install kits available and no one locally had done the swap
before. I had a friend who was working on one, but he was at about the same
stage as I was so we weren’t much help to each other! Myself, my wife and a
friend from down south that worked with me at the time did the full swap
ourselves. We built our own mounts and cut up some headers to make them work.
It wasn’t pretty but did the trick.” Chris then took the car to a local
specialist to tackle the wiring for him.
It was at this point his brother offered
him a complete Silvia front end conversion. Reasoning that the beefier nose
would complete the car’s transformation nicely, the deal was done and Chris was
soon back competing in road race events with NASA. Only this time, he wasn’t
driving a 240SX. He was now piloting what he and his wife call, the ‘570SX’!
Only
this time, he wasn’t driving a 240SX. He was now piloting what he and his wife
call, the ‘570SX’!
“I really wanted to learn the car and
become a decent driver before jumping into drifting,” Chris confessed. “I spent
so much time at the track I eventually became an instructor there and ran the
car Time Trial groups. I road raced for four years in the NASA Pro Racing
series.” Obviously the car evolved over that period but mainly in terms of
chassis setup. Unlike in the States and Australia, not many in the UK hone
their S-bodies in to focused track tools. Sharp, precise handling isn’t what
the models are best known for. It’s interesting to see that with the right
enhancements, though, the 200SX/Silvia can become a capable circuit weapon.
That said, Chris did have his arm twisted and eventually signed up the car for
its first drift event... he was hooked. He continued instructing for the NASA
but fully transitioned the car in to a drift machine about a year later, in
2008.
That
said, Chris did have his arm twisted and eventually signed up the car for its
first drift event... he was hooked.
