Sub-10 Seconds: Eric Teo’s GR Yaris Takes on the Quarter Mile at Santa Pod

Eric Teo and his team recently took their heavily modified Toyota GR Yaris to Santa Pod for what was intended primarily as a trial run. The result? Two official quarter-mile passes of 9.991 and 9.945 seconds, putting the car firmly into the sub-10-second quarter-mile bracket.

A Proper Shakedown

The Santa Pod outing wasn't intended to be the ultimate attack on the quarter mile. The team was still working through the car's setup, and during the first few runs they experienced boost issues, with a clamp coming loose twice.

Despite that, the car delivered.

The first two runs were driven by Eric's mechanic Joel, producing official Santa Pod quarter-mile times of 9.991 and 9.945 seconds. After resolving the boost issue, Eric took over for the remaining runs, with his final attempt recording 9.95 seconds on Dragy.

The car was running on Mickey Thompson 235/60 R15 Street SS tyres, with the team planning to return later in the year with further optimisation, including proper slicks and a more refined setup.

So, there's potentially considerably more to come.

Behind the impressive times

The car features an Ignite Automotive-built engine, Hughes Racing ported cylinder head, Kelford valvetrain, Nitto pistons and rods, ACL bearings, a high-strength turbo setup with a Turbosmart 6262 turbo, Overkill Performance fabrication, MME Motorsport air-shift system, RaceCal tuning, Injector Dynamics 2600 cc injectors, Syvecs Yaris plug-and-play ECU with X10 expander, ECU Master dashboard, and a Radium fuel system with twin 520 pumps.

All that power is channelled through an X Shift sequential gearbox, giving Eric the fast shifts needed to make the most of the GR Yaris's performance.

And This Is Only the Beginning

The Santa Pod event was essentially the first proper test of the current combination rather than the finished product.

The car is also due to feature on the Officially Gassed YouTube channel, giving the project an even bigger audience.

With another Santa Pod outing planned for 17 October, this time with further setup work, improved geometry and eventually a set of drag slicks once the new wheels are ready, Eric and the team are already looking towards an even faster quarter-mile time.

For now, though, 9.945 seconds over the quarter mile on what was essentially a shakedown run is a pretty serious introduction.

And judging by what's planned next, this GR Yaris is only getting started.

Stay tuned.

Keep X Shifting Forward!