Sunday morning. Everyone else fed and doing whatever it is they do on a Sunday morning – including the dog, snoring away in the corner after being awake for all of approximately 22 minutes.
On the table is a plate of fried eggs, flanked by two pieces of sourdough toast with perhaps just a smidge too much butter. No matter, the smart phone is queued up with a classified car search, something different today – the Toyota FX16. It’s shaping up to be a good way to wrap up the weekend.
Classified ads scroll across the tiny screen from the east coast to the west. Halfway across the upper midwest, a purpose-built Toyota FX16 race car appears. Small thumbnail pictures on the smart phone enlarged, when…
IS THAT A GSI RACE CAR????
And why is this goofy Toyota hatchback in the way???
Opening the ad revealed details on the racing Toyota itself and a nice-sized gallery of several professional action racing shots, static photos, spare parts and such. However, there was but one lonely photo of the true object of desire, a real, live, racing Geo Prizm GSi. I had to know more. Fortunately, some of the shots included the watermark of the photographer, and a quick Google search later, I had uncovered a treasure trove of thousands of racing photos. Thousands. And of course, I jumped straight down this wormhole with zero hesitation – finding a handful of glorious action shots of the GSi in question.
Now for those who have looked, the concept of a Geo Prizm GSi race car is not unprecedented – there’s at least one video of such a car making a dyno run set to nu-metal on YouTube. There are a couple of brief references to the car and a couple of photos on ancient forum posts, but not much more detailed than this:
So finding a second GSi racer was a surprise – and there was something different about this one. I couldn’t quite put a finger to it…
Ah yes, that’s it. Checkered flags — a confirmation that the AE92 platform can compete with the usual assortment of SCCA ITB-class Civics, GTIs, Fox body 4-cylinders and the like on the track. That screaming little 4AGE, whose song is so beloved by aficionados, runs with the big boys. And looks great while doing it, too – just look at it.
This GSi is the business.
While the bright red paint may be slightly marred by a couple of racetrack scrapes, the fully prepped interior, side net, wide banana-spoke wheels and meaty-as-all-get-out tires are absolute perfection.
Further Googling found race standings, more photo galleries, driver names and all sorts of information. PrizmGSi.com has reached out to the car’s owner for details on the build and we’ll provide updates as they are received. So many questions remain about engine modifications, suspension settings, tire sizes and the like, but we still have the photos. The beautiful, beautiful photos.
Photo credits: the #41, all red GSi are courtesy Mark Windecker, taken at various times from 2014-2016 at the beautiful Waterford Hills track in Clarkston, Michigan. The red, white and blue #86 car were found online in various locations and are presumed to be the property of the car owner.
PrizmGSi.com 