2002 Ultimate StreetCar Challenge: Braking

Stopping a car from 60 mph is a black art. It's a difficult test to conduct and an even more difficult test to prepare a car for. And without anti-lock brakes, it's almost impossible to execute effectively. Those are the reasons the owners drove their own cars for the USCC braking test. And why those with ABS had a significant advantage.

Purists may argue that a sharp driver can beat ABS any day of the week, we're here to tell you that's hogwash. ABS is good. Very good. Modern ABS cycles quickly enough and consistently shortens braking distances enough that, with few exceptions, there's no longer any reason to leave it off your must-have list. Nothing illustrates this fact more than the braking results in USCC.

Fifty feet separate the first and last place finishers in 60 mph to zero distance in this test. To put things in perspective, that's more than 14 Acura Integras lined up nose to tail. Mark Allen's Integra Type R, the car that won this test, stopped from 60 in 117 feet. Not bad, but certainly not record-setting by any stretch of the imagination. The last stock Toyota Celica we tested did the deed in 113 feet on street tires--Allen's Integra used Kumho race tires. This is an indication that the surface halfway down Los Angeles County Raceway's drag strip offers very poor grip, even after being swept--twice.

Less than one foot behind Allen's Type R was Mani Jayasinghe's Supra, another ABS car fitted with huge tires. Bringing up the end of the field was Tod Kaneko's rotary-powered Datsun 510--a lighter car than the winning Type R. Kaneko's 30-year-old Datsun used ultra-sticky Hoosier R3S03 race tires and Wilwood brakes all around, but didn't have ABS. What's that tell you?