Ever wanted to hit the drift circuit with 7 of your besties on board? Neither did we, until we saw Hyundai N division’s latest creation, the iMax N drift van, which comfortably seats eight whist roasting its rear tires. Where do we sign?
Unfortunately, this drift-tastic creation is a one-off, built by N’s Australian wing, and it won’t see any track time at a track near you (unless you live in Australia). Shame.
Packing 402 horsepower and 409 lb-ft of torque, the van’s rear tires can barely put the prodigous power down, even with a gaggle of your friends weighing down the rear end of this fantastic smoke-show party bus.
When engineers get together to have fun and share ideas, a ‘love child’ is often born. Jaguar’s legendary XJ220 (once the world’s fastest supercar with a terminal velocity of 212 mph) is one of them, so is BMW’s Z3 M roadster and 1M coupe. While not quite as, shall we say, sensuous, the iMax N proves a point: Hyundai is bent on having fun, and bringing smiles to as many people as possible.
In this case, the creative juices got flowing when the N team tossed the iMax’ standard diesel engine in the bin, and installed a highly-tuned 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 in its stead. Suspension tuning and a big brake kit followed, along with a few minor aesthetic and aero upgrades.
This may well be the greatest sleeper ever built – and with the rear seats removed, this sleeper sleeps four smoke-scented occupants.
Interested Aussies had the chance to see the iMax N in action in the World Time Attack challenge that recently ran in Sydney, Australia. The super-van went to battle in the Drifting Cup, and showed its clean-lap speed in the Clubsprint Class and Flying 500 race.
[Photo credit: Hyundai]
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