Wednesday 9th May 2007

A Petrolhead on the ovals

Tony Kanaan's wheels of choice

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Kanaan after his Motegi win

According to a story on the web, the heavily modified E46 M3 and the Porsche Carrera GT shown in the photos at the bottom of this page belong to Indy Racing League driver Tony Kanaan. The Miami-domiciled Brazilian is currently fifth in the IRL standings, with a win at the Motegi round earlier this year to his credit.

Apparently, Kanaan is a bit of a petrolhead away from the circuit, and if the photos are anything to go by he also has a strong liking for carbon fibre and black paintwork, and windows, and, well – just about black everything. Nice bonnet, mill and brakes on the M3 Tony, and full marks for the purchase of a Carrera GT too.

The day job...

Although we’ve no way of verifying the claims (go on Tony, send PH an email), we really hope it’s true. In an era when so many professional racing drivers seem to have little in the way of romance for their sport or quick cars in general, it’s refreshing to see one world class driver that’s into cars ‘off’ as well as ‘on’ the track.

To find out more about Tony Kanaan and his racing, try these links:

http://www.tonykanaan.com.br/

http://www.indycar.com/

Images below...

 

[work-shy-wanabe]

That M3 supercharged?

[lap_time]

work-shy-wanabe said:

That M3 supercharged?

It certainly looks like a centrifugal supercharger. Though it does seem strange he's used (what looks like) an air-to-air type intercooler. Most of the guys over here (Australia) use water-to-air ones when working with superchargers.

That black-with-red-trim-on-black does look unbelievably mean though

Edited by lap_time on Wednesday 9th May 14:53

[RobPhoboS]

Good man.

Now share the wealth !

[Frank1e]

That's what I thought, whopping great supercharger on it. With all the mods it must in the high 400's power wise right? Looks mean as from the front too. Sweet...

[anonymous-user]

Hes a regualr on the M3 forum , seems a v nice guy too , based in America not aus though. Coooooooool

Paul

[road_terrorist]

lap_time said:

work-shy-wanabe said:

That M3 supercharged?

It certainly looks like a centrifugal supercharger. Though it does seem strange he's used (what looks like) an air-to-air type intercooler. Most of the guys over here (Australia) use water-to-air ones when working with superchargers.

That black-with-red-trim-on-black does look unbelievably mean though

Toyota use air to air intercoolers on it's factory supercharged cars like the 4AGZE. Water to air are usually better for general street use but manufacturers dont really trust people to keep the water levels topped up. I guess there would be space isssues as well, not sure where you would put a water to air intercooler on the already tight m3 engine bay, but air to air intercoolers can usually be squeezed in somewhere up the front.

[rimmer]

its alright for some im sure he wouldnt mind giving me his m3 or carrera gt

[identti]

Lovely cars, and very mean looking to boot.

[autoblogger]

A story on the web?
I think this one: www.autoblog.nl/archive/2007/05/08/de-m3-van-tony-kanaan

When did pistonheads stop linking?

[Mr Whippy]

road_terrorist said:

lap_time said:

work-shy-wanabe said:

That M3 supercharged?

It certainly looks like a centrifugal supercharger. Though it does seem strange he's used (what looks like) an air-to-air type intercooler. Most of the guys over here (Australia) use water-to-air ones when working with superchargers.

That black-with-red-trim-on-black does look unbelievably mean though

Toyota use air to air intercoolers on it's factory supercharged cars like the 4AGZE. Water to air are usually better for general street use but manufacturers dont really trust people to keep the water levels topped up. I guess there would be space isssues as well, not sure where you would put a water to air intercooler on the already tight m3 engine bay, but air to air intercoolers can usually be squeezed in somewhere up the front.

ESS made a chargecooler come manifold for the M3 application...

501bhp for a £5k kit... nice

The centrifugal chargers give a pretty nutty delivery of torque though... still, bet it's bloody rapid when you can get the revs up!

Dave

[mat205125]

That M3 is lovely. The Wheels let it down slightly, but looks perfect in ever other respect. Give it a set of BBS CH, and i'll meet you on

[pSyCoSiS]

That M3 looks the dogs!!

[MotorUniverse]

Performance wise, it seems to be sweet.
Don't think he did nothing that improved the looks over the standard M3.

I rather like his taste in woman
www.papodebola.com.br/24horas/z24-patriciadesabrit.jpg

Impressive for a rat face guy like him.

[TEKNOPUG]

What first attracted you to the multi-millionaire racing driver.....

[MK4 Slowride]

Some of the brand spankers we get in need to have the number plate bracket put on the front & it's like putting a brace on Nicole Kidman's teeth. See how bad boy that M3 looks without a plate on the front the black wheels with a red accent is quite a nice touch.