Honor Roll

Who gets to drive the Beast? During the past 5 years there have been a number of people who have been invited to drive the Beast.  The car has been an evolving project and as such, it has been driven by different people at different points in it's development.
Those who drove the car earlier in it's development saw it when the engine was still running stock injectors, had stock internals, ran 14 to 16 psi with the T04E-50 BB turbo.  

Those who drove it when it had 550cc injectors, S-AFC, Built bottom end, ported head and stage 5 turbine wheel and 16 to 20 psi saw an engine that punched hard and fast and then tapered off rapidly.

The group who drove the car around the time of SE2001 saw the best of the street engines, Haltech, 850cc injectors firing sequentially, Turbonetics Stage 4 eleven blade turbine, with the wide torque curve, smooth power delivery, and nearly flawless delivery at 16 psi. 

I enjoy having qualified people drive the car.  They give me the feedback I need to make improvements.  I drive it so much I often miss things that others spot quickly.  With the exception of my son Chris, Kerry Wood (wood.kerry@worldnet.att.net)  probably has more time in the car, over a wider period of time than anyone else. He has provided excellent critical comments which have led to changes in the engine.

  The Beast is NOT a race car and does not drive like a race car.  The Beast is about the Balance between power, handling, comfort and dependability.  

Typical comments after driving the car:

"Wow, this thing is a rocket!"
"I can't get over how smooth it is!"
"I can't believe it! I looked down and I was doing 110 in traffic! How did that happen?"
"I'm in trouble now.  My wife wants one!"
"Thanks Jim, that was fun. Damn that thing is quick!"

Those who have driven the Beast:

Jim Griffin (owner/ builder)
June Griffin (Drives it, afraid of it, and rarely makes it perform)
Chris Griffin (Has Driven the car in all stages of development)
Kerry Wood (Has driven the car in all stages of development, Kerry probably has more actual seat time than anyone else, outside my own family, in the car)
Ron Rutledge (From Birmingham, drove it in early stages)
Mark Sink (Drove it during early stages, Mark bought an NSX)
Norm Viano (Has driven it several times.  Norm is a friend and Eric Bostrom's manager, for those into motorcycle road racing)
Jeff Bihn (Early stages)
Pete Feret (Early stages)
Michelle Clark  (really neat lady!  Michelle is quiet and sweet but drives like an F1 driver.)  Michelle....Where are you?  Come back!
David Hawkins (Has driven the car in middle stage and on a track, Founder of Club MR2)
Phil Naut (Drove it on the TGPR track) Phil passed away of cancer after the SE2000 meet.  We will miss him.
Ken Blake (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001)
Isidro Castillo (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001, supplied many of the parts on the Beast)
Robert Istre (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001)
Jim Krug  (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001)
Brian Moore (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001 and earlier)
Armando Perez (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001)
Frank Darby (drove it with S-AFC and 550cc inj.  Frank has a  nice highly modified Mk2)
Aaron Bunch (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001)
Silo Bertakis (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001, Silo, my German buddy)
Mark Pond (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001)
Jesse James Allen (Drove it with Haltech at SE2001, Father of MR2DIE4)
Jimbo Barrett (Toyota Mechanic, Driven all stages)
Eric Hux (Hux Racing, Drove at SE2001)
Jason Dover (Drove it with S-AFC and 550cc injectors, Jason has a modified Mk2 here in Birmingham)
Jim Allen (latest stage)
Bill Jones ( Personal friend, Owns a 96 Porsche Carrera but loves to drive the Beast, Middle and latest stage)
Ross Burns (Drove it with 550cc inj., S-AFC, Ross owns a beautiful 92 Celica Alltrac), Ross drove the Beast again on 05-27-03 with the Haltech system and boost set at 21 psi.  The car is making around 344 RWHP in this configuration.
Lance (Toyomoto/ Installed Haltech and 850cc injectors)
Chuck Hartsfield   Lives next door.
Dave Thompson (MR2 owner, Excellent drummer, Drove the Beast on 6-30-01)
Chris O'Rourke   Owner of  "The Shuttle", Modified Celica Alltrac.
Brian Hill  (Aug 1, 01)   Owns a modified 93T .  I need to do a special feature on Brian's car called "MR2 from Hell".  It's a very nice black Mk2 with a Gen 3 engine.  I have learned many  Gen 3 lessons from this car.  Most relate to finding parts and fixing Haltech problems.
Lee Hurley  (2001)  Lee has driven The Beast several times.  Lee is the owner of HESCO which is an excellent performance facility located in Birmingham, AL.Scott Richardson (9-15-01)  Scott drove the car at the NOPI meet but without the good fuel and probably with piston damage.   The engine damage appeared shortly after returning from NOPI.  Scott owns the beautiful Blue Mk2 with the white stripes seen in MR2Die4.  I love his car!
Manjit Gosal (10-13-01)  Drove both the 89SC and the Beast.  Manjit drove the car while I was in denial over the engine's problem.  Like many of you, I kept telling myself that the miss was electrical, when it was actually a broken valve.
Chris Lund  from Malta (05-23-02)  Chris came all the way from Malta to attend SE2002.  Chris drove the car with 17 psi (308 rwhp) and 670 miles on the new engine.

Chrissy Ogden (07-28-02)  Chrissy drove the car at the Cars-CE meet.

Brian Prady   (07-28-02)  Brian piloted the Beast at the Cars-CE meet at the Hoover Met stadium.  He looked like he enjoyed it.

Justin Griffin  (09-15-02)  Justin my youngest son, age 15, with new learners permit drove the car at the Hoover high school parking lot.  He did well considering it was his second time with a 5 speed transmission.

Garrett Schiller   (02-07-03)  Garrett drove the Beast after it was dyno tuned by the Hitman at 340.5 rwhp.

Eric Glenn   (05-22-03)  Eric was in Birmingham to pick up his car after having the engine built.  He and Daniel Wakefield came by the house and each drove the Beast.  I got to drive Eric's new engine.  It felt really strong with it's new TD06.

Daniel Wakefield  (05-22-03)  Daniel was here with Eric Glenn.  Daniel piloted the Beast.

David Russell   (05-23-03)   David Russell mastered the Beast.  His comments, "Can I have it?"

Andrew Nuckols  (02-28-2004)  Andrew Nuckols was a friend of Justin's.  He drove the Beast like a pro. We stopped by a friends house, who is into Porsches, and  Andrew got to drive his new Twin turbo Porsche X-50, the new GT3 and an older air cooled  Carrera Porsche.  Four high performance, world class sports cars in one afternoon is not bad Andrew.

Kwok Wong   (04-24-04)  Kwok  and Tran Vu came to Birmingham for a Karate event at Samford University.  Kwok bought the Racing Hart C2 wheels I had for sale.  Both own MR2's.  Kwok drove the Beast at full boost and 340 HP to the rear wheels.

Tuan Vu  (04-24-04)  Tuan, the Karate master, Black Belt, and excellent Beast driver mastered the Beast.  Tuan had the touch to make it perform!

   Manjit Gosal    Dave Thompson              Chris O'Rourke       Chris Lund            Cars-CE meet       Garrett Schiller         Eric Glenn           Daniel Wakefield

      
 
    David Russell     Ross Burns' Alltrac         Andrew Nuckols                  Kwok and Tuan
       

* If you have driven the Beast and I left you off this list, e-mail me and I will add you.
   ace123jim@aol.com