Factory Five 818 Wins Top 10 at SEMA!

A year ago at SEMA 2012, we showed our prototype 818. This year, we brought four 818s to the SEMA party and walked away with two significant awards and a ton of attention for our newest Factory Five model. The 818 earned Sony Playstation’s Gran Turismo “Best Domestic” Award and it was one of only five finalists to be recognized by Sony Playstation.

One of the 818s at SEMA was placed in the Wilwood Brakes booth. That car was special because it had custom hand-laid carbon fiber body panels and dash and aero parts. It was also a right-hand-drive model. The car was selected #3 out of 10 finalists for “Top 10 Carbon Fiber Themed Vehicles of SEMA 2013”!

The 818S had some VERY exclusive company on this Top 10 list. The number 2 car was GoPro’s Pagani Huarya, a hugely expensive custom supercar. The number 1 position was occupied by a stunning 1969 Mustang by The Ringbrothers with a full carbon chassis and body.

The 818 has, in one short year, earned a tremendous amount of attention and awards. The car was featured in Road & Track Magazine and Automobile Magazine. It has been on the cover of Kit Car Build Magazine and it was on the cover of Grassroots Motorsports Magazine where it also earned a 2013 Editors’ Choice Award by GRM. Online, the car was featured and earned rave reviews on Yahoo! Autos section. At this year’s SEMA Show, the car walked off with these two major awards.

This particular 818 was built in-house by tech guru Tony Zullo and his crew. The paint is custom Sherwin Williams green metallic. The carbon panels were molded in-house by our master molder John Crowell. The car was built with a normally aspirated Subaru Impreza donor car.