This British Liberty Walk S15 Silvia Used to Be Endless’ 9s Drag Car Back in Japan

We’ve lost count of the builds that have evolved over the years, moving from one extreme form to another. If a random owner holds on to a car and gives it a new shape, nobody bats an eye. However, when an S15 Nissan Silvia that used to be one of Japan’s top-tier drag racers lands in the UK and gets an extreme widebody conversion, you can expect a heated debate.

This S15 Nissan Silvia was special from the get-go, being one of the final models that left the factory in 2002. And Japanese tuner Endless Racing, a 1987-founded company that’s still in business, decided to turn it into a drag racing star back in the day. As with most demo cars, the coupe was heavily massaged.

So, it went from a sports car animated by a legendary 2.0L turbo-four that made 247 hp (250 PS) stock to a machine that could eat up the quarter-mile in the high-8s or low-9s range. That’s right, no production car built to date could touch this Nissan, not even the headline-addicted Tesla Model S Plaid. But, while the powertrain has remained unchangedโ€”for nowโ€”the new stance of the vehicle has nothing to do with the drag strip.

A long and winding journey

The S15 has maintained its demo car status. However, it now serves Auto Finesse, a car care product developer that was in its early years when the Nissan rose to drag racing fame back in its home country. And, as mentioned above, it’s been brought about as close to the ground as possible, with a Liberty Walk widebody being as far from the previous fender flares as possible.

Founder James Batty had the Silvia brought to the UK from Japan (after all, they’re both right-hand-drive countries) with just 29,000 km (18,125 miles) on the clock. This probably happened in late 2020 or early 2021โ€”check out the importer’s Instagram post below. And while he did keep the car in its Endless R form for a while, the S15 entered its thorough transformation at the beginning of this year. Fast-forward to the past weekend and the machine debuted at the Players Classic 2022 show, held at Goodwood.

The LB Walk widebody, whose super-sized overfenders are mixed with a matching front lip and a not-that-large wing, is just part of the fun. The wheels are different (it rides on Rotiforms now) and so is the liveryโ€”what we said about the widebody difference also applies to the color scheme. And once you look past the said pieces, you’ll find a full cage, as well as air jacks in this bad boy.

Expect some tech updates too

As far as we could tell, the new colors present in the engine bay don’t signal any changes. So we can still talk about SR20 featuring a 2.2L stroker kit and a monstrous turbo, among others. This means the unit makes 950 hp, but that doesn’t include the nitrous setup installed on the car. The factory manual tranny is gone, having been replaced by a sequential gearbox.

Of course, since this is no longer a quarter-mile chaserโ€”nor is it a drifter, by the wayโ€”but rather a mix between a showstopper and a time attack creation, we’re expecting some changes in this department. And with social media already being divided between the #madrespect and #ruined camps following the said debut of the S15, the debate isn’t expected to end anytime soon.

And, while you pick your camp, keep in mind that you’ll be hearing more about a Liberty Walk S15 this week. However, this is the Japanese widebody specialist’s demo(n) car, which will stun the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed with its twin-turbo four-rotor Wankel.

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