Pro-level drifters are some of the nuttiest individuals on Earth. On their own, they build 1000-HP machines designed to destroy tires in a fashion that amounts to doing a sideways wheelie. What’s even better about drifters and drifting is that the drivers are very tight with the best media creators in the biz, so they have a deep pool of mad scientists to use for insane creations. The Altimaniac is certainly one of the craziest I’ve seen in over two decades of drifting.
Picture Details:
- Car(s): Nissan Altimaniac driven by Chris Forsberg
- Location: Willow Springs Horse Thief Mile, Rosamond, CA
- Photog: Chris Rosales (IG + Twitter: @chrishasacamera)
- Camera: Canon 5D Mark III w/ 70-200mm f/2.8L
According to Chris Forsberg himself, the car “was on jackstands 14 hours ago” when he unloaded it at Willow Springs Raceway. It was just barely tuned the day before, and Chris dragged it up to the high desert to get some drift laps in, and hang out with a few other Nissans for some PR duties. If you remember seeing the 400Z at GRIDLIFE, this was there along with it. It’s perhaps the coolest Nissan-related thing of the last few years.
The Altimaniac is hardly a new Nissan Altima anymore. It uses the door frames… and that’s it. The rest is a tube frame chassis befit of a silhouette race car. The interior is treated to four Recaro Podium carbon-fiber bucket seats, and a rear-mounted display showing engine vitals and other stats.
It’s powered by a fully built VR38 twin-turbo V6 that is reportedly able to withstand 2000 HP at full chat. Behind that is a sequential race gearbox and a fully custom driveline and suspension setup to get the power to the asphalt. Since it was its first day out, it didn’t look super gripped up, but it made a lot of smoke. Chris seemed to struggle with the handling, which was strange for the normally infallible three-time Formula Drift champion.
For early days, it is very impressive. It will progress farther and farther. As big as we could get it:
