Autoblog Drives the AMS Alpha 12 GT-R

AMS Alpha 12

AMS builds some mighty fast cars.  Evo's, GT-R's, and...well honestly I don't really care about much more than GT-R's.  Autoblog had a chance to drive one of these 1200+ horsepower beasts on the streets of Los Angeles.  Lots of car with not a lot of area to go.

4.0 liter AMS tuned Nissan GT-R engine

By the time my foot had traveled three quarters to the floor the two turbochargers had spooled up like twin GE90s at full take-off power. Responding much like those huge turbines, which need a bit of time to get their significant mass moving, there was a slight delay. Then the thrust hit like being rear-ended by a freight train. In a split second, all four wheels broke free on the loose pavement and the chassis twitched alarmingly to one side as it was launched forward on the bow wave of the angry roar bellowing from the tailpipes.

My camera car, which had been running parallel to us for the past couple miles, appeared in the rearview mirror for a brief moment and then became a blur. Caught off guard by the power, and more than a bit terrorized, I missed the manual shift and the engine hit redline. The unburned fuel quickly exploded like twin howitzers out the back end of the muffler – the accompanying flames and black smoke were the embarrassing icing on the cake.

Ivan, being a true gentleman in the passenger seat, laughed and shook his head. "That wasn't floored," he quipped.

Head over to the Autoblog post for the full impressions, and a ton more pictures. I think this impression is the first of several to come. I remember seeing a blog post from the guys at Motor Trend.  Hopefully the car did some rounds, and has some real world magazine numbers to attach to it.

Source: Autoblog