Speed Academy Gives Their FR-S a JDM Makeover

Peter and Dave from Speed Academy have been hard at work this summer preparing their Scion Racing FR-S to compete in the inaugural Ontario-1500.

Racing on 6 different road courses in Ontario for a week straight in mid September means the Speed Academy FR-S requires equal parts mechanical grip and aerodynamic grip. So although Peter and Dave loved the Zele wing they ran on the car during Targa Newfoundland last year, this year they’ve stepped up to a true GT race wing from highly regarded Japanese aero manufacturer Voltex.

Those funky looking swan neck pedestal mounts aren’t just for looks, they actually clean up airflow on the bottom side of the wing where all the downforce is made (contrary to popular belief, the curve along the bottom surface is what creates downforce on a proper airfoil shaped wing like this Voltex Type 7 GT wing).

You know it’s a serious wing when it comes with a massive carbon fiber backing plate that secures it to the underside of the trunk lid and distributes the load across a very large area.

The boys at Speed Academy did have to trim the underside of the trunk to fit this plate, but the end result is very clean and very strong.

With the wing install completed, it was time to bolt up the new wheels for 2015. Last year they ran forged Volk Race CE28RT wheels in bright red, but this year they’ve decided to change up the look of the car with this stunning set of Advan GT wheels in Titanium Blue. These are also a forged wheel manufactured by Rays Engineering in Japan, so weight has been kept at a minimum and strength at a maximum.

Plus Peter and Dave love how concave the face is on these wheels. Delish!

They’ve changed things up in the tire department, opting to run Toyo Proxes R1R extreme performance summer tires this year. As Dave put it, “We’ve had a lot of racing success on Toyo tires over the years, including 7 race wins in the Canadian Touring Car Championship, so we’re excited to run on the R1R compound for Ontario1500, which perform extremely well in both wet and dry conditions.”

There’s lots more to come from Speed Academy on their FR-S build this summer, including swapping in a low mileage FA20 engine and adding a forced induction kit to it, but in the meantime check out their JDM love-fest video covering all the parts above.