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Updated: Sep 25, 2019


It's always good to have a home grown build especially when it's one that wears an aero kit of your own, to actively promote and have around you at your disposal Is so good to have, especially when the build in question is owned by one of your close friends Iby the owner of Speedwell Wheel Refinishers, personally I'm extremely pleased he took the bull by the horns and took on this epic build, as I know how anal he is when it comes to perfection and that's exactly what this 997 Turbo is... utter perfection.

Porsche 997 Turbo-R

As most of you know that follow the blog or our social media news, this 997 Turbo started life as the Dragon performance demo car, you can read all about that in an older blog as the car has come an awful long way since that stage in its life, the less said about that look the better, and the first 12 months of its life with Iby the 997 remained in its basalt black colour-way but I always knew it wouldn't stay that colour as a black 997 was never really on the shopping list to start with, but right car, right place and above all the right money the deal as we know was done, with a colour change at some point in the near future.

Now we loved the car in its black form, but it did hide a lot of the beautiful touches the R aero kit has and with the new colour you get to see those touches in all their stunning glory, as they just stand out, like the front fender vents, the rear bumper vents, and just how wide the car really is, it’s so wide, at roughly 7 feet and it just oozes road presence, I personally was pretty sceptical when Red was discussed with regards the potential colour change and I have to say he nailed it, because it really is stunning.

As with any build you get to collaborate and get involved with various companies, and although Iby did most of the work himself there are a few companies that need a mention with regards the input and help that has been fantastic, especially Taj and Perfection Midlands Limited who just so happens to reside next door to the Speedwells empire, he applied the first round of paint, giving the build its first lease of life

Shoot location, the custard factory Digbeth Birmingham

The boys at MSL Customs who have totally transformed the look of this R conversion, I must say the wrap is the best we have seen to date and I have personally been around a lot of wrapped cars, this one they smashed it out the parts as this is not an easy one to pull off, the beauty of this is it looks like paint, the finish is that good.

We would also like to thank Bilstein uk for not only supplying a first class set up for this Turbo, but also for the bespoke specification we so desperately needed for this conversion, which we now offer exclusively for the 997R conversion, along with the up and coming 991R.

Markski Tuning has also been an absolute legend with the tuning side on this Turbo, with his Intercoolers sitting either side of the R bumper and his ECU mapping skills makes for one seriously fast road car, with the best part of 700 HP now on tap, it certainly has the go to match all that show.

With the Build now complete and Iby content for the foreseeable it was time to take the car out for a little shoot, so we paid our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman a visit down in Digbeth Birmingham which is a great location for such an epic car.

It’s now time to enjoy the build and get to as many shows as we can this year and it will soon be joined by another GT3 road car with our very own BMW Z4 V8 coming to the end of its build and if you fancy building your very own 997R then get in touch with us, we will be more than happy to discuss your individual requirements.

Speedwells Porsche 997 GT3-R Turbo

Updated: Sep 25, 2019


Our Speedwells Wide Body Supra aero kit has reached all new heights over the last 6 months, with 5 builds happening at the moment in various parts of the world.

There are a couple that we can’t wait to see finished, one because it sees another Speedwells come to life and two we love to see the ideas that the owner bring to the build table, for example, Jason who is building one in Florida is taking this build to a whole new level, his plans are mind blowing, you only have to see his previous build in the form of a Veilside Fortune Mazda RX7, its one of the best examples I have seen to date, so we are pretty excited by this particular build, then we have Sean Reids build that is about to launch and its one of the best colours we have seen on a speedwell build, Porsche Slate grey which is very similar to Audi Nardo grey, it looks stunning and its one we cannot wait to take on a photoshoot, Sean’s along with the white build that is happening with Nizam from Newcastle are two builds that we are really excited to see.

Sean Reid's immaculate slate grey Speedwells Wide Body Supra

Another one of the builds that has really caught our attention is one that’s happening in Denmark by Thomas Larsen, who took delivery of the kit back in October 2018, and he has been slowly building his Supra under the radar, but he has been slowly releasing pictures of his build in process and we are extremly impressed with the attention to detail, thomas always said he was going to put his own spin on the build, which is what we like to see, Thomas wants oem levels of quality which is a tall order for a GRP aero kit, but we do like his optimisum.

The kit was never supposed to be a mass produced, Iby built this kit originally just for himself, as he was simply building what he couldn’t buy, but that is also a hindrance because what do you do if you damage a part and you can’t physically replace it, so in his spare time over a period of months Iby produce his own moulds, so if the unfortunate ever happened he could make a new part., so with the news hitting the Supra airwaves that he had moulds, it didn’t take long for Supra customers enquiring if they could have their very own Speedwells wide body, those requests only intensified when iby built his second Supra … the black beauty.

Speedwells Supra wide body, Thomas Larsen

Sups_1

We love them all, they all have their own unique qualities, Jan from Next Level Automotive knocked his build right out the park, we are so impressed, not just with the build but the fit and finish, the thought of upping that level of quality is insane, but we mean that in the nicest way, this build is a credit to Thomas and its one we will be extremely proud of, as we are for every build that hits the street

When I personally think how far this conversion has come, I get goose bumps, because I know the levels of time, money and effort that iby has put in to this marquee, he is known so well around the Supra Scene, the builder of one of the finest Supra’s the world has seen, I never thought his Red Supra would be topped, but we have some pretty amazing customers working on these builds that are striving to have the very best Speedwells that you can put together … and we have some serious contenders of the very best Speedwell Supra’s to hit the scene.

Speedwells Wide Body Toyota Supra, Denmark Build


We can honestly say we have no idea where Iby gets time to work on his projects as well as the hectic workload of working life, with the Porsche Turbo R undergoing some serious engine modifications which should see it pushing out the best part of 700bhp + with the new Turbo & ECU upgrade not to mention all of the other goodies the engine has been treated too, it should now have the huge performance to match those aggressive but stunning looks, let’s face it the 997 Turbo in factory form isn't slow by any means, so just imagine with an extra 200 + HP, this is going to be one incredibly brutal Porsche 997.

To complete the rest of the upgrades, with a fresh enhancement to the suspension being completed, with a bespoke set of Bilstein PSS10 coilovers that have been built to GT3R specification, such a fantastic addition to how this 997 will look & drive, all being well it should be sitting on the Bilstein stand at the Performance show at the NEC Birmingham in January 2019, so if you haven’t seen this car in up close and personal we strongly suggest you head to the show, it will be worth it just to see this beauty.

Not content with one project car on the go Iby also has the Datsun 280ZX and a few months back we did a blog post on the start of the build, and we are happy to report it has progressed a little further, it has sat around for a while whist the GT3R has got most of the attention, but with a slot booked in at Perfection Midlands body shop, the ZX was treated to some extremely sexy paint work.

The interior of the shell was treated to some matte black, with a nice contrasting gloss red on the roll bar, it’s a combo that looks amazing against the all new pearl white paint work which has been lavished on the external panels, and believe us when we say pictures don’t do this finish any justice.

With the Datsun painted the next job will be to treat the underside of the shell to some extra protection and then Iby can start to add the suspension set up and get the Lexus V8 Turbo engine sitting where it should be, as well as fixing the extended riveted over fenders in place, after they have had their coat of gloss black paint.

Its great seeing this build take some shape, and we will of course be sharing the build progress over the coming months, this is going to be one serious looking Datsun, with form and function.

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Unit 5
James Road
Tyseley
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