The HKS R33 drag car will be retired after almost a decade of tearing down the quarter-mile. The decision came after routine inspections revealed that not only were critical parts no longer available from Nissan, but the chassis itself was on the verge of being ripped in two by the tremendous torque produced by the tuned RB26DETT that powers the car.

The HKS R33 held the title of world’s fastest AWD drag car for five years since recording an astonishing 7.671 second run at the Sendai Highland dragstrip in 2001. Whilst some will be sad to see the car leave the drag scene, there is no doubt HKS will build a new dragster to reassert their dominance over the quarter-mile.

The full HKS media release is available here.

[Source: HKS]