You didn't think we would stop, did you? It's a new year and another Ultimate Street Car Challenge is upon us. We've gathered up ten modified super compacts and are planning on letting them loose through our entire lineup of sadistic tests. Which one is the cheapest? Which ones will run 11s and which ones will fall flat on their faces? That's the glory of the USCC, nobody knows for sure.
All the USCC tests that you've grown accustomed to seeing are back for a taste of vengeance, and if you're joining us for the first time, get ready for the most comprehensive automotive dissection around. Our tailpipe emissions sniffer is already on order and K&N Engineering has again graciously offered the use of their all-wheel-drive dynos and R&D facility. We've collected up more judges than American Idol and America's Best Dance Crew combined and they've got their clipboards and game faces on. Our engineering guru panel judges will be tearing apart egos and bursting bubbles as they pick apart each car and grill the owners. Drop hints about your turbo's compressor map and they'll be happy; forget your alignment specs and they'll kick you to the curb. The same goes for our car show and drivability judges. Nothing gets missed in the USCC. We'll even be checking the entrants' fuel economy (which makes for even more relevance in these near $5/gallon of gas days) and original purchase price. There's so much to cover, in fact, that the USCC results and event recap are continued in the next issue of SCC, December 2008.
From there we'll be heading out to the track to separate the Enzo killers from the Ferrari Fiero wannabes. Each of these cars is going to see the dragstrip, skidpad, and the mother of all bragging rights, the road course. Just like you, we've got our own guesses on who's going to come out on top, and we're sure it's going to be an all-out slugfest until the end.
The almighty R35 GT-R will be put up to the task of living up to its massive media hype. It'll be up against a squeaky clean twin-turbocharged Nissan 350Z, widebody fully-built Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Lancer EVO X (built by the experts at AMS, no less), an older R32 GT-R, V-8-powered (from an Audi S8) Quattro, Mazda3, Impreza coupe, Acura NSX, and a supercharged V-8-powered (from a BMW 7-Series) E30. It may have beaten the Corvette Z06 and 911 Turbo, but can the new GT-R fend off the hordes of modified compacts? Did we forget to mention that the NSX has a fully built 3.8L naturally aspirated engine?
So, gather up all your friends and start placing those office bets. We've added something new this year, a little something to help you guess who will win and to keep the talking going around the ol' water cooler. For those of you gamble-holics who are familiar with numbers, start guessing. For those of you who aren't, just hold on. This competition is about to take off.-Joey Leh