Van Man: Stephen Ray’s 700 Horsepower Vauxhall Astra Van

Have you ever looked at a utility van and thought, “man, that would make a really awesome race car”? Chances are you haven’t, but you’re not Stephen Ray, who did think it would be a great idea. Ray’s Vauxhall Astra Van breaks every conventional rule when it comes to having a fast racecar, and that’s what makes it so darn cool.

The Vauxhall Astra Van is a front-wheel-drive vehicle that was built to hall lighter loads of people or products. These vehicles came from the factory with a wide variety of small-displacement engines, none of which were known to make big horsepower. So naturally, these wouldn’t be the first choice for most racers to use as a project car.

Ray worked with SD-Autos Racing to create the world’s quickest and fastest Vauxhall Astra Van. The first thing to go was the OEM engine — in its place you’ll find a fully forged Saab B204 mill. A Syvecs ECU controls the Saab engine and other functions of the Astra Van. This combination is making an estimated 650-700 horsepower, pretty stout for such a small engine package.

Shift Light TV was at Santa Pod Raceway when Ray set a new personal best of 10.14 at 143 MPH. Ray’s Vauxhall is also a stick car, so he’s ripping his own gears during each pass. You can see in the videos that there’s a lot left for Ray on the front half of the track, and with that mile-per-hour, the little Saab-powered Vauxhall has 9-second potential for sure.