The racing culture in Brazil matches the country’s general culture: it’s vibrant and all about having a good time. We’ve seen some wild cars making fast laps in Brazil, but our friends at 1320Video found a Chevette ripping off 6-second passes. This car is no joke, and watching the owner, Brian Gabardo, blast down the track banging gears in this 1992 Chevette is just an awesome sight to see.

General Motors sold the Chevette in Brazil until 1994 where it was marketed as an affordable car for the masses. It came with a small-displacement engine for most model years and it wasn’t anything to write home about when it came to performance. Now Chevette racing is a huge class in the Brazilian drag racing world, with cars dipping into the 7-second zone regularly.

Gabardo’s Chevette is powered by a four-cylinder Volkswagen engine that measures just 2-liters in size. A Precision turbo crams boost into the mill as a FuelTech ECU controls the engine while Gabardo shifts his own gears going down the track. This combination stuffed into the 1,600-pound car netted a best pass of 6.98 while 1320Video was on location at the track with Gabardo.

After his record-setting pass, Gabardo wasn’t ready to let up — he wanted to show what his car was really capable of, but that came at a price. In this video from HotCampinas we see Gabardo light the boards with a 6.78-second run at over 195 MPH, however, disaster struck in the shutdown area. The parachutes failed to open on Gabardo’s car and that sent him into the sand trap at a high rate of speed. Fortunately, Gabardo wasn’t injured in the crash and his record-setting ride appears to be repairable.

Photos courtesy of 1320Video