While browsing through Freestyle Rides' Summernats 25 coverage, one car in particular made me stop dead in my tracks. This eyebrow-raising drag car is based on a tiny Fiat 126. It looks like a real life version of the caricatures I used to draw as a kid!
Initially my searches for more info on this FSM Niki (what the 126 was sold as in Australia) came up fruitless, however it turned out that good friend Mark Boxer from Hoon Media had met the owner. This V8-powered Fiat was the built by Daniel Banks, his father and four brothers. The father is a sheet metal worker, Dan is a mechanic while one brother has a fine arts degree, one is an exercise physiologist, one a baker and the other a horticulturist.
A certain amount of bravery will surely be needed to steer this monster down the quarter mile. To give you an idea of how small it is, the tailshaft is only 390mm (15 inches)! At either end of the 'shaft is a T700 gearbox with 3k rpm stally and a VN Commodore diff.
Somehow the Banks family were able to squeeze a Holden 5.0 litre V8 under the hood.
The rear features a Mc Donald Bros Racing 4-link and 10-inch wheels. I don't know about you, but I love it! Thanks to Mark Boxer from Hoon Media for hunting down the specs.
- Charles Kha
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
backfrip!
Definitely cartoonish, looks just like a Toyota Starlet, a shop in NJ called Competition Imports built a drag version just like this years ago. No V8 tho, 500HP rotary.
It was awesome on the cruise strip.
Polish Power
What does it run in the quarter?
There are 2 of these that exist in the UK. They normally attend the big shows at Santa Pod and pop some awesome wheelies
what is its quarter-mile time? any video of how it launch?
Fiat Bambino in Italy but in Poland - Maluszek
Totally wierd. I LOVE IT!
Polish FSM. Fiat 126P (P for Polish). This little monster is a hoot! Nikki was a designated name for Australian market. Yo still see them running around. Go Poland!
Cars like this make me fall in love all over again. Any numbers on this pocket monster?
nice, but E.T.s?
That much power in that short a wheelbase must be quite the handful. The polar opposite of "stable"
Drogi polaku -zanim napiszesz komentarz zwróc uwage na brak "p" w nazwie.
Drogi polaku -zanim napiszesz komentarz zwróc uwage na brak "p" w nazwie.
THIS IS SPARTA!!!!
I know I see the motor and rear tires in the car but it doesn't look real. wild ride.
so much win.... what an awesome build talk about unique.
The only question that really matters though, "how fast does it go down the strip?"
sketchy!!! =)
thats awesome, so over the top and crazy, love it
I wonder how fast it runs 1/4 ??
THIS IS SOOOOOOO BAD ASS!!!!!!!!!! 3 WORDS I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!
power to weight ratio..xD
Drove one of these stock in Poland some years ago... You can change tyres while I would lift it up with my f*cking arms.... Like no weight on the front
my sister had one of these in dark pea green, we called it the hairdryer!.. but this one looks like it is a rocket! i love whats been done here.. wicked.. this would've made a great Video Roll - Thanks
Hmm, should have sat the engine back just a tad farther so you could eliminate the drive shaft all together. Just have a U-joint connecting the tranny and rear end lol.
I think a wheelie bar is a must for that ride.
xdfkdfjxdtixdkr
Waste of money.
So its a drag car built for Supernats? Last time I checked, Supernats was just a burnout contest. This car is a burnout machine. It does not do any drag racing unless they do some serious wheelie-bar action on the strip.
Please do not call Supernats cars "drag cars" they are burnout machines ONLY built to do burnouts. Supernats is, and I quote, "dedicated to advancing burnouts as a global motorsport"
Supernats is NOT drag racing. Get your facts straight.
SICK! but i do imagine the handling getting rather squirrely really fast. but fk it, just make giant rubber circles on the ground. why the hell not? brilliant execution, though i am really curious about the build. times are one thing, but id love to see/read a build blog on this vehicle.
Hi Weasel,
Actually Supernats and Summernats are two different events in two different cities. However I think labelling either event as being only about burnouts is doing them a disservice. The burnout competitions are just one facet of these events.
Drag cars have long been displayed at Summernats and it doesn't mean they are built only for burnouts...
Cheers,
Charles
where can i get one
Taz Racing run 2 with Chevy V8's, and 2 with 4A-GE's in the back I believe. The V8 ones will happily go 9-10 sec 1/4's all day long.
Two British Fiat 126 v8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FRYbx6p5TA&feature=related
And Fiat Niki in motion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6fYA3i3kmM
weasel its fucking summernats bro get your facts right and i am soo devo i missed it this year seems like it went off.
The article states summernats Weasel NOT Supernats , it may pay to read the article in the future before making yourself look like a complete twat !!!
Lol you can pwn any lambo like a boss with this one :DD
All those asking for times - this broke cover in the Top 60 of the Summernats in Canberra, Australia this year. Given the tiny wheelbase, I would be surprised if it goes down the quarter at all. But given we Aussies have an obsession with stuffing V8s into tiny cars and then doing massive burnouts with them, don't be surprised if the next time you see it there's massive clouds pouring off the rear tyres.
An example: LS1+MightyBoy=http://youtu.be/Crm_KO6tNbA
So where do the ten foot long wheelie bars mount? You can't tell me your able to put any power down without worrying about ending up on your roof. My pops cut up a 55 chevy into a shortie (front end was a 55 Chev and the rear was a 56 chev wagon) when I was a youngin and with a 327cui chev breathing though velocity stacks, it was able to pull wheelstands throughout all four gears and that vehicle (nicknamed the Jellybean because of its yellow paint) was alot longer then this thing.
the holden 5.0 V8 looks reasonably stock on the outside, so it could be making as little as 220HP. I'm sure you could build a stock looking 500HP fairly easily though.
HWO SAID POLLISH POWER
HOLDEN IS AUSTRALIAN
AUSTRALIAN POWER
Someone's got his TuTu in a twist! Talk about getting facts straight, maybe start with your own facts! SUMMERNATS! This car is probably doing a bit of the show circuit before it does any driving events, as alot of other well presented drag cars do!
That is insane. I remember driving half way through Europe with my whole family in one of these. Polish Pride!
trust us aussies
it's one of the Fiats 126p with such a nice V8 engine
pity that there was a series of such
Wow, insane car!
i like it
Maluch!!!!
Im building a niki at the mo, she is top secret at the mo, just ordered a sweet fibreglass kit. this little sucker will be 350kg with a 400hp turbo engine in it (what engine you ask)....be patient peoples.....it will be for circuit racing in australia, hope to debut it at summernats 26 back in my home town of Canberra.....go Queenslander!!!!
I heard about this car being built but this is the first time I've seen it. Awesome. I know the appearance of a motor isn't everything but it does look like that 304 is in fairly mild form but it's not like you need much power in a 126! Love it heaps, fabrication work is awesome
That thing must absolutely haul ass