SLP Exhaust Tips & Corbeau Seats

From the turbo forward, Hawks applied the same concept, starting with 2.25-inch pipe and stepping up to 3.5 inches just before the custom-built, front-mounted Griffin intercooler. This gets the charge to the intercooler quickly and then slows it down just as it's about to pass through, for maximum cooling effect. All of these pipes are powdercoated black for a stealthy look. The custom under-car piping also allowed Hawks to install subframe connectors. The car's battery was relocated to the trunk for the usual weight-distribution reasons, but also to create space for this custom piping. Additionally the coolant reservoir was relocated to the radiator support in order for the piping exiting the intercooler to travel through a stock hole in the front subframe and straight to the engine.

Hawkins turned to Speed, Inc., in Schaumburg, Illinois, for a COMP boost-specific cam grind and a speed-density conversion for the engine management system. Speed, Inc.'s Jim Moran performed the tune on the car, achieving 640 rear-wheel horsepower on 93-octane pump gas and incorporating a two-position boost control that allows Hawkins to run in either 400-hp or 640-hp mode with a flip of a switch. "I don't run the car past 13 pounds of boost because it's a pump-gas car," Hawkins says. "I see full boost by about 3,500 or 3,600 rpm."

Hawkins has taken the car to the strip a couple of times, but is quick to mention that this car isn't designed to be a great drag car, with its stock 10-bolt rear and 3.42 gears. "It doesn't leave real good," he admits, but 10.30-range ETs and a 135 mph trap speed don't leave much doubt about the car's performance capabilities, or about how much fun it is to drive. "It can put the wind in your hair and look good doing it," Hawkins says, but that's not the half of it; he also notes that the car's "from-roll" prowess is hard to match. He says it's especially fun to play the hustler, employing the car's low-boost mode at first and then unleashing the car's full power at the most opportune moment.

The most fun he's had with the car, though, was at the Year One event at Road Atlanta. Cruising the track at high speed, while watching spectators run to the fences to see his convertible and hear it blast by sounding like a jet airplane, was the thrill of a lifetime. But Hawkins isn't surprised by the positive reaction the car has received. "If you're a car nut," he says, "who doesn't like a Hugger Orange Camaro?"