Let’s talk about the Kia Stinger GT 420 racecar

The Kia Stinger GT 420 is not your typical Kia, that’s for sure. Here’s how it came to be and why you should care about the one-of-a-kind racecar that nearly never happened.

The Kia Stinger GTS and its 365bhp V6 has been kicking about since late 2017. Though not as suit-friendly as its rivals, it was reasonably interesting to drive and marked a radical departure from the south Korean manufacturer’s typically sedate offerings.

Since then we have seen the smaller 2.0-litre Stinger T-GDi petrol, which is less thirsty than the 3.3-litre in the GTS. Then came a frugal diesel that felt somewhat out of place in a car designed to excite.

Now there’s a racecar version known as the Stinger GT 420. Originally destined for the scrapheap, Kia made use of the original Stinger GTS prototype (as seen on the Grand Tour) as a basis.

Kia Stinger GT 420 racecar: What is it?

As you would expect from a car designed to go round a track, the Kia Stinger GT has seen a power increase to 422bhp. That’s a boost of 57bhp. Torque, meanwhile, is up from 510Nm to 560Nm so it’s going to pin you to your seat better than ever.

To extract more power from the 3.3-litre twin-turbo, Kia fitted a K&N sports air filter and HKS M45iL spark plugs, both on recommendation by the Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Centre (HMETC), which played a role in the project.

There’s also a six-row automatic transmission cooler instead of the usual four-row. This keeps things chilled when under strain, while a Milltek Sport quad-exit exhaust system without the catalysts helps the engine breathe. And make more noise.

25mm and 17mm thick anti-roll bars were fitted at the front and rear, respectively, while Eibach Pro lowering springs compliment the dampers found on the production car.

Continuous damping control was ditched in favour of ‘a more conventional setup’ that could be fine-tuned, while the camber has been reduced by -2.5 to help in the corners.

As for the Stinger GT 420’s tyres, Kia has gone with Pirelli Trofeo Rs wrapped around OZ Racing Leggera lightweight wheels to improve grip and reduce weight.

Though not extensive revisions, it’s enough to make the Kia Stinger GT 420 a much more enticing proposition, especially as the automatic gear shifts have been re-calibrated to be faster in the Sport and Sport+ driving modes.

Is the Kia Stinger GT 420 still fat?

It’s a little on the chubby side, yes, but Kia has managed to remove 150kg of unnecessary weight, which will make it lighter on its feet, quicker to accelerate and better in the corners. 

This is despite the addition of a roll cage, fire extinguisher (accidents happen), Sparco race seats with race belts and more potent 380x34mm Brembo discs and six-pot calipers, racing steel flex pipes and Endless pads. That’s a brand, by the way, and not an incentive to drive like you stole it. Although you will probably do that anyway.

So how was weight saved? By making the Kia Stinger GT 420 a more dangerous vehicle, thanks to throwing the airbags, seats, belts, parking sensors, boot and bonnet dampers, interior trim, and standard door cards out of the window.

Kia then stuck in in some lightweight door cards, glued in plastic rear windows and replaced the sunroof with a steel panel that features some Hyundai-designed honeycomb panel to improve reinforcement and structural rigidity.

Your typical heavy car battery was also jettisoned in favour of a Lite Blox LiPo, saving a not-so-insignificant 22 kilograms.

So why is the Kia Stinger GT 420 a thing?

Cynical answer: Because it’s an easy publicity fix for relatively little money and effort. But also it helps remind people that Kia, since ex-M man Albert Biermann’s inclusion anyway, can make cars that can get the blood flowing.

While attending the launch of the rather pretty ProCeed GT, Kia’s PR team told me they were unsure what to do with the prototype. It had, after all, amassed 10,000 largely praised miles and so sending it to the great scrapheap in the sky seemed wasteful.

As Kia explains: “When it came to ordering the truck to take take the very first Stinger in the UK to the crusher at the end of 2018, there was an unfortunate and mysterious delay in creating the required paperwork.

“In the background, while it sat in the showroom at Kia’s headquarters, heads from the product and public relations teams were pressed together to discuss ways of sneakily keeping the HiChroma Red GT S.”

Pressed together enough, as it turns out, that the GT 420 became a thing with input from ex-Ford fast hatckback bloke Tyrone Johnson, who joined Hyundai in August, 2018.

Does it look different?

Kia calls the visuals changes ‘some extra visual muscle’, which comes in the form of a Stillen front splitter and rear diffuser, plus an Air Design rear spoiler for that authentic racecar aesthetic.

Not content with keeping the car plain red, there’s also some custom wrap action happening in the form of white and graphite grey detailing and a multitude of sponsor stickers. Basically, it now looks like a proper racecar.

Will it ever reach production?

At the moment, Kia is yet to confirm whether the Stinger GT 420 is anything more than a bit of fun (and publicity). That’s hardly surprising given that it’s gone from being a comfortable grand tourer to a reasonably hot racecar with zero practicality.

Still, the engine tweaks could crop up as an option for the production Stinger, given that it’s been tested officially. Or perhaps it could pave the way for a more aggressive model in its own right. Either way, it should be one that’s enjoyable to drive.

Sadly, I had to turn down attending the official driving event at Silverstone so I’m unsure exactly how enjoyable. But I can’t imagine being at the wheel is going to be any great hardship.