Turbo Car vs. Turbo Bike: 1978 Porsche 930 Turbo vs. Kawasaki Z1-R TC Photos
From the Archive: We pit Porsche's fiercest 911 of 1978 against a wild turbocharged Kawasaki sport bike around Road Atlanta.
The battle of car versus motorcycle is an old one. In 1978, we brought together one of the fastest production cars of the day, Porsche's 930 Turbo, and a special turbocharged version of the Kawasaki KZ1000 Z1-R for hot laps around Georgia's Road Atlanta. Professional racing driver Danny Ongais was at the controls of both. Mechanical carnage ensued. Read the full story here.
The Kawasaki Z1-R TC was the product of a partnership between Turbo Cycle and American Turbo Pak, which modified the production motorcycles with a turbocharger kit and sold them through certain Kawasaki dealers.
The stock 1978 Kawasaki KZ1000 Z1-R weighed 555 pounds and made 90 horsepower at 8000 rpm. The TC's nominal 8.5 pounds of turbo boost let the 1015cc engine develop quite a bit more ponies.
1978 Porsche 930 Turbo vs Kawasaki Z1-R TC
The Porsche 930 Turbo, as with all old turbo 911s, was a handful to drive quickly.
Kawasaki Z1-R TC
The 1978 Porsche 930 Turbo's tendency to see-saw from understeer to snap oversteer made driving it on the track a classic example of "slow in, fast out."
Kawasaki Z1-R TC
1978 Porsche 930 Turbo
1978 Porsche 930 Turbo
Kawasaki Z1-R TC
1978 Porsche 930 Turbo
Kawasaki Z1-R TC
Kawasaki Z1-R TC
1978 Porsche 930 Turbo
1978 Porsche 930 Turbo
1978 Porsche 930 Turbo
1978 Porsche 930 Turbo
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