You pull up to the light in your monstrous muscle car and snicker at the Toyota Camry in the next lane. With a jeer, you rev the engine, letting the horses scream for a few seconds, hoping to scare whoever the old lady behind the dark glass might be. The light turns green. You hear the screetch of tires, the roar of massive pounds making feet, and are bathed in tire smoke.
Yet you haven’t moved. It was the Camry. It just toasted you. Sucker.
Welcome to the SEMA Show where anything and everything can be modified. Including a 2015 Toyota Camry XSE. The “sporty” Camry just got visited by the Motorsports Technical Center. It’s now a monster hiding in a Camry body.
The attendees at this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show were shocked when emcee Rutledge Wood lifted the Sleeper Camry’s body to reveal a purpose-built dragster putting out over 850 horsepower.
“This is the most extreme build we’ve ever unveiled at SEMA,” said Toyota Engagement Marketing and Motorsports National Manager Steve Appelbaum. “The transformation from seemingly stock Camry to full-blown racecar just shocks the senses. Chuck Wade and the team at Motorsports Technical Center did a truly spectacular job executing the vision of this project.”
The Sleeper Camry uses the 5.7-liter V8 from the Toyota Tundra, slightly (ahem) modified, along with its transmission, rear axle, and electronics. Some of those modifications include a supercharger, some nitrous, and other goodies. The only giveaway that this isn’t your grandma’s Camry are the tires: 335/30/18 DOT dragsters.
The mod team estimates a quarter mile time of 9.8 seconds for this thing. We’ll find out what it does in the real-world soon enough as it tours NHRA races after the SEMA show.
