This Drag Car Is the Quickest and Fastest Nissan Z on the Planet

With a ton of mods and nearly 2,000 horsepower on tap, YouTuber Emelia Hartford had no trouble setting a new record for the Nissan Z.

Photo by: Emelia Hartford

By: Brian Silvestro

Dec 18, 2024 at 4:00pm ET

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The new Nissan Z wasn't built to be a drag car, but that hasn't stopped YouTuber Emelia Hartford. Over the past few months she and her team have been heavily modifying a new Z to conquer the quarter-mile, and now, her car is the quickest and fastest new Z on the planet.

Hartford published a video on Wednesday documenting the record run. She brought the car out to the Famoso Dragstrip in Bakersfield, California and managed to set a blistering quarter-mile time of 7.75 seconds at 181 mph. That makes it the quickest new Z in the world by nearly two seconds.

The record didn't come without some trouble. Hartford's first two test runs went off without a hitch, but when the car was tuned to maximum-kill for the first real attempt, the rear snapped out and nearly caused a huge crash. Hartford was quick enough to save it, though, getting the parachute out and the nose pointed straight before the car hit the wall.

It was only a matter of time before this Z became a record-holder at the strip. It shattered the record for most powerful new Z back in October, when it managed to lay down 1,899 horsepower to the hubs on a dyno.

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While it still might look a lot like the new Z, much of the car has been radically transformed to accept a new drivetrain. Under the hood sits a VR38 from the now-dead Nissan GT-R, rebuilt with stronger internals, a pair of gigantic turbos, and an intercooler big enough to cool a semi-truck. The rear has been tubbed to fit an appropriate drag-ready rear end and a set of massive radial rubber.

Hartford suggests this isn't the last we'll see of this tire-melting Z. At the end of the video she mentions plans to attempt a six-second run in the future. Considering this is the first time she's ever driven the car, we don't doubt there's more performance to be found.