One of Finland's Own Has A Burning Hot 900+ HP SC

After a tragic fire, this Lexus came back better than ever.

By Brett Foote - December 18, 2017
Fantastic Fin
Starting With a Good Base
Tragedy Strikes
Making a Mountain out of a Mole Hill
No Frills Fun
Simplify and Add Lightness
World's Best Grocery Getter?

1. Fantastic Fin

Tuning cars is a popular hobby in Finland, yet few Finish tuners have the reputation of one Toni Mard. And for good reason. Mard's JZZ30 Toyota Soarer (Lexus SC) is one of the coolest rides we've laid eyes on, no matter what country it hails from. But the car itself also has quite the interesting (and heated) story, one worth telling. So that's exactly what our friends at Speed Hunters did following a trip over the pond.

>>Join the conversation about Toni Mård's radical JZZ30 Toyota Soarer right here in ClubLexus.com.

2. Starting With a Good Base

Mard's Soarer first came into his possession back in 2009, when he imported it from Japan. At that time, the car was already outfitted with a Vertex body kit, exhaust, and fresh paint. But the biggest bonus was under the hood: a 2JZ-GTE sourced from a JZA80 Supra and backed up by a V160 Getrag 6-speed. That combination served Mard well for two years, but the itch for something more could not be denied.

>>Join the conversation about Toni Mård's radical JZZ30 Toyota Soarer right here in ClubLexus.com.


3. Tragedy Strikes

Mard began working on the car with an eye toward debuting the new look at an upcoming car show. But shortly after work began, tragedy struck. An electrical fire set the Soarer ablaze while it was sitting in the parking lot. Now, that would have been enough to make most folks want to scrap their plans. But it gave Mard the resolve to build something even more hardcore than he had originally planned.

>>Join the conversation about Toni Mård's radical JZZ30 Toyota Soarer right here in ClubLexus.com.

4. Making a Mountain out of a Mole Hill

Since the Soarer now needed to be completely stripped and rebuilt anyway, Mard decided to make it into a true race car for the street. He began by putting the body back together before rebuilding the engine with forged internals and converting to a single, industrial strength Holset Pro55 turbo. The refreshed package pumped out an impressive 888 hp on the dyno right off the bat with 31 psi. But with a bump to 34 psi and a beefier ignition system, Mard believes that 950 hp is a more realistic number at this point.

>>Join the conversation about Toni Mård's radical JZZ30 Toyota Soarer right here in ClubLexus.com.

5. No Frills Fun

Mard drove the car quite a bit after completing the monstrous engine upgrade before it was time to turn his attention to the body. He had always preferred red, so he settled on Lamborghini Rosso Andromeda for the exterior. And to ensure that the car lived up to his dream, it was time to start chopping away unnecessary weight. The sound deadening was already gone, but the air conditioning soon followed. Along with the power window motors. So to keep the inside from turning into an impromptu spa, Mard installed an air intake on the roof.

>>Join the conversation about Toni Mård's radical JZZ30 Toyota Soarer right here in ClubLexus.com.


6. Simplify and Add Lightness

Using the newfound useless space where the air conditioning vents resided, Mard filled them with Defi gauges mounted in a custom panel. The rear side windows now resemble something out of NASCAR, with built in air ducts for the rear brakes. The front brakes are likewise cooled by similar air vents in the fenders. When it was all said and done, the Soarer weighed in at a svelte 2,954 pounds. 

>>Join the conversation about Toni Mård's radical JZZ30 Toyota Soarer right here in ClubLexus.com.

7. World's Best Grocery Getter?

To complete the race car look, a set of custom carbon-fiber fender flares were constructed. Those new pieces also made room for the new Work Emotion CR Kai wheels. And despite all these serious mods, Mard doesn't really take his racy Soarer to the track all that much. After all, he built it to enjoy on the street. But he has run it down the quarter mile, just for fun, where the hopped-up Toyota recorded an impressive 10.4 second pass. One thing's for sure: we can't think of anything we'd rather grab some drive-thru burritos in than this!

>>Join the conversation about Toni Mård's radical JZZ30 Toyota Soarer right here in ClubLexus.com.

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