SOUTH AFRICAN METH ADDICT LEXUS EXCELS ON US DRAG STRIPS
We love feelgood stories, and Ian Repsold is the subject of a great one. I’ve known the man since high school days, and I’ve been lucky enough to have a glimpse of how his obsession with cars, Toyota in particular, has evolved over the years. From having fast streetcars through to drag cars, it’s been a mad journey. I should have known back then that the man would be destined to do amazing things, he always had all the usual modifications on his cars, but he also did R&D that most people in SA weren’t bothered with, and there was no YouTube or Google to get any help or advice. One car he had was a Toyota Corolla with the iconic 4A-GE 1.6-litre 16-valve, and in an attempt to get more out of it, he modified the intake plenum to have a butterfly and throttle on both sides to suck more air in. It worked because the neighbourhood ‘fast Golfs” used to get hidings on the streets. He moved to Europe for a while and bought a Toyota MR2 in Holland that was slowly turned into a drag car, it went with him to the UK and was raced at Santa Pod a few times before being brought back to SA when he returned. The car managed a great 10.1-second pass at Tarlton International Raceway, this was around 2007.
Still obsessed with the brand, Ian eventually started another project, the end result is what you see here, a monster of a 2JZ-powered Lexus drag car. It wasn’t a quick process, all the necessary R&D was done to make sure it would not only be fast, but safe. Looking at the car, you’d never say it was built in a garage at home, but it was. That Lexus body too, it wasn’t bought, he made that too. His daily driver Lexus had to park off for a while because he used it to make the moulds for the Lexus shell you see here. As I recall there were a few engine setups before going with the 2JZ coupled to an automatic transmission. The man’s work was so professional that he started helping other local drag racers with their builds, and that eventually turned into Billet Hub, a company making bespoke CNC aluminium intake plenums and other parts. The car soon became one of SA’s fastest on the quarter mile. Skipping lots of details, the car eventually went on a race trip to the States for a round of the World Cup Finals in Maryland with a few other local racers. It was hoped that the car would put in it’s best performance to date, but as is the nature of the game, technical gremlins made it an unsuccessful trip.
It’s clear that the whole racing scene in the United States and the tracks took proper hold of Ian, because jumping forward to 2022, he packed up his family and racecar and emigrated to Florida. Being a ‘local’ has afforded Ian and the Meth Addict crew the ability to properly tune the car for the climate and elevation, and especially the amazing grip that international tracks have. That brings us to the recently-held Haltech World Cup Finals, again in Maryland. This time round the car performed flawlessly, and gave Ian the chance to get used to the way the track needed to be driven on. Meth Addict qualified just outside the top ten, but leading up to the finals the auto 2ZJ clocked a new personal best for both Ian and the car with a pass of 6.58-seconds at 338 km/h. This is the fastest South African-built car we know of to leave SA shores, and it makes us proud AF.
Take a look at the YouTube video showcasing Ian Repsold's Meth Addict 2JZ-powered Lexus and it's first full event since emigrating Stateside: MechAddict 2jz Automatic From South Africa At World Cup Finals 2022 Maryland International Raceway | Pal Fiebru TV
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