Small cars can be an absolute handful at the drag strip and when you bolt up an equally small set of tires and then mix in big power, things get crazy really quick. Being able to put that power down can be a challenge, but the payoff is big with quick elapsed times and a fun ride.

This Holden Gemini from the land down under is a tiny car, on a tiny tire with a small rotary engine, but it can absolutely fly, right into the eight-second zone.

From the factory the Holden Gemini was barley considered a compact car in Australia, with a wheelbase that is not even 95 inches. The Gemini never came with any real performance options, but this owner has addressed that with a nasty Mazda 13b rotary engine. The 13b only has a displacement of about 1308cc’s but it uses every single one of them.

This 1978 Holden Gemini’s 13b engine was built by Holmes Performance has been semi-peripheral ported with SCR Apex seals. A Projay Hurricane inlet manifold takes all the 28psi of boost from the 76mm Bullseye turbo to help put down over 690 horepower to those tiny 8.5-inch tires. MicroTech LT10C dash logger AMS1000 boost controller takes the commands from Holmes Performance, who tune the tiny terror. In this video from FullBoost you can see just how wild of a ride this pocket rocket is as the Holden literally dances down the track to a best pas of 8.95 at 159 mph.

With a wheelbase this small wearing such a small tire and that much power on tap, would you take this mini monster for a trip down the track?