There was a point somewhere in the last two years that the folks at Bring a Trailer sat down, had a meeting and said “Screw it, we just sell the craziest shit you ever heard of.” and that has been their company mission statement ever since. That may be a slight dramatization, but I imagine a similar conversation must have occurred at some point, because they’re selling a damn Formula Drift Toyota Corolla now. And you know you want it, because if you didn’t you’d be an absolute damn fool.
This thing started life as a bog stock Corolla iM, post Scion, and was stripped down to a bare shell before it was completely re-engineered to be a rear-wheel drive drift monster with a huge 2.7-liter four-cylinder and a huge turbocharger. The engine is mated to a G-Force 4-speed manual transmission, a carbon fiber driveshaft, and a custom rear differential. The work was done by Papadakis Racing ahead of the 2017 Formula Drift championship, and campaigned by Fredric Aasbø.
With 10.5:1 compression JE pistons, a giant BorgWarner turbo, custom AEM fuel injection, and an auxiliary nitrous system, this Corolla isn’t messing around.
Obviously the suspension was completely custom made for this application, as the team adapted RS-R front suspension components to give the car a 65 degree steering angle.
If you want to see how the conversion from stock Corolla to Formula Drift winner was executed, watch the video below.
This car is still eligible for competition in Formula Drift for the 2019 season, so if you see yourself kickstarting a new career on the back of purchasing this mad machine, now is your chance. You’ll probably be good at it. Just listen to your baser instincts telling you how great you are. They’re never wrong.
If you do plan to compete in professional drifting with this car, however, you’ll need to remove the sponsor livery. That money doesn’t come for free.
If you’re a wealthy person and you don’t spend your ridiculous stores of money on either helping the less fortunate, or buying dumb shit like this (preferably both), what is even the point of being wealthy?
Live fast, die young. Bad girls do it well.