This Toyota Camry is a dragster in disguise
LAS VEGAS -- From the outside, it's just another 2015 Toyota Camry. But it's only a disguise.
Underneath, it's a dragster. And the "Sleeper Camry" was one of the hits of last week's SEMA aftermarket trade show here.
The idea is that this innocent little midsize family car pulls up at a drag strip and then, to everyone's surprise, it rips up the quarter mile. In drag race parlance, it's known as a "sleeper."
Or, as Marty Schwerter, the project director for Toyota put it, it's "a vehicle no one would expect would be, 'holy cow.'"
The outside body is only a frame, even through the doors and truck work. The inside is totally about racing, with only a driver's seat surrounded by a roll cage. The 5.7-liter V-8 engine, used on a Tundra pickup, has been tuned to put out 612 horsepower, but there are three nitrous bottles in the truck that add another 250 to 300 horsepower for the strip.
Just how fast is it? Toyota has taken it out to the drag strip, but not fully opened it up yet. It's believed, however, that the "Sleeper Camry" will pull a quarter-mile time of 9.8 seconds.