This Infiniti luxury sedan has four doors, a 4-liter racing V8 and a 200-mph top speed—it’s a 4-4-2.

BY FRANCIS SOYER
Photos by Louise Ann Noeth
Published on: September 1, 2000

Under that impressive Super Stock-like hood scoop lies an Infiniti Indy V8.
 
Have you ever been to Wendover, Utah? Yeah, we know, it’s not exactly a vacation spot. But Frank Honsowetz, manager of Infiniti Motorsports, spent some time there recently. He's the guy who wants to put Infiniti in the winner's circle at the Indianapolis 500. No, it hasn't happened yet, but he and his team are getting closer.

A couple of weeks ago, Honsowetz took a detour from Indy and the rest of the Northern Lights Indy Racing Series to visit Wendover, which is just down the road from the world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats.

It was Bonneville Speed Week, and Honsowetz was there to watch Larry Detrich drive an Infiniti Q45 luxury sedan powered by a 650-hp Infiniti Indy V8. Detrich drove all right, to an average speed of 200.460 mph. That's more than 12 mph faster than the six-year-old E/Gas Coupe class record. It was enough to get Detrich inducted into the 200-MPH Club alongside such legends as A.J. Foyt and Bobby Unser. E/Gas Coupe class, by the way, is for stock-body sedans with normally aspirated engines displacing from 3.01 to 4.26 liters.

Just 244 cu. in. (4 liters) is enough to produce 650 hp. That’s just a little shy of the engine that powered Eddie Cheever Jr.'s Indycar in the 500 last May.
 
"It was pretty fantastic," says Detrich. "As a land-speed rookie I would say the week was a total success. The Infiniti Q45 held up perfectly at speeds topping 200 mph and the motor ran flawlessly with the help of [engineer] Mark Honsowetz from Ed Pink Racing Engines. And my rookie crew of Mark Mercer, Kay Kelly and Al Arnold kept the car running at record pace. It was an unbelievable week for everyone."

Frank Honsowetz concurs. "Setting a record at over 200 mph with a production Infiniti Q45 and a normally aspirated, 4-liter engine is a significant achievement," he says. "Larry and his crew did a great job of building and running the car, and the input from Ed Pink and his staff on the engine side made it all possible."