2002 Ultimate StreetCar Challenge: Acceleration

Dawn broke early over the desert outside Palmdale, Calif., and for the most ambitious competitors, it was a very short night. Stories of late-night tuning runs floated through the dry desert air as those with egos bruised on the dyno prepared to avenge themselves on the drag strip.

We had a surprise for them, though. Los Angeles County Raceway is not the place to mend your ego. The high altitude, hot air and low-friction surface conspire to frustrate every aspiring John Force who races here.

Geoff Bennett dragged his pushrod-toting live axle Mustang 3,000 miles for one reason and one reason only--to show his stuff on the drag strip. A thrown supercharger belt the day before almost made it a wasted trip. A frantic couple of hours replacing the fried belt and the front main seal it destroyed on the way out got him back on the road, but all was still not well. The new belt, it seems, needed to be broken in or it would slip.

Facing power loss from the belt and traction problems from the dusty track surface, Bennett attacked the drag strip with stony determination. It was clear he was on his home turf. On each of his three launches his Nitto drag radials chittered and squeaked across the rubbery pavement, with only his well-trained right foot keeping 16 pushrods and one big blower from turning that rubber into smoke. His first run was a disappointing 12.51-second pass, followed by a slightly better 12.40. Finally, on the last pass, Bennett laid down a 12.19 at 119.34 mph and a 0-60 time of 4.31 seconds.

Justin Sykes and MotoRex's Sean Morris spent the night in the Skyline searching for the 65 hp that didn't make it to the dyno test. They quickly tracked the problem to the methanol injection system. Methanol injection works much like water injection, cooling the intake charge and preventing detonation, but the methanol also acts as a fuel, and the extra fuel was causing a rich misfire. Over the course of several clandestine freeway runs, they tightened the plug gap, switched to a 50/50 methanol/water mix, and started turning up the boost. After all, they figured, why give it less fuel when you can just give it more air? On the dyno, they were running 19 psi of boost; by the end of the night, they were up to 25 psi. With a gut-wrenching 7000-rpm clutch dump, Sykes ripped off an 11.99-second quarter mile at 118 mph and did 0-60 in a mere 4.11 seconds. We were impressed; Sykes was still disappointed.

Like Bennett, Michael McIntyre brought his Hyundai to the contest for the tests of brute force. After dominating on the dyno, all eyes were on the Hyundai at the drag strip. Watching him drive around the burnout box and roll quietly up to the start line, it was easy to see what a potent street racing weapon this car could be. With a complex and mellow drone from its single exhaust pipe and only a minor protest from the front tires, the Hyundai shot off the line with startling speed. Sixty miles per hour came in a shocking 3.33 seconds; the quarter mile was done in 10.96 seconds at 128.79 mph. McIntyre made his point in one run, he didn't bother to make a second.