NSX vs. Sentra
In the "Things That Shouldn't Happen" category reside such outrages as losing the popular vote but winning the presidency, Enrique Iglesias going platinum, and a Sentra passing an NSX on the front straight. Buttonwillow isn't the greatest track for viewing, with much of the track obscured from the pits, so the crowds gather along the pit wall to watch action on the front straight, where the chat room children lined up to fill their ammo bag.
Appearing for another epic battle, the little Sentra that could went on track in the third session of the day behind the Science of Speed Limited RWD Class '92 NSX. There's little on this white exotic that doesn't induce envy in any car nut, from tech pundits to show weenies. The car serves as a rolling catalog of Science of Speed's products and services, and was universally acclaimed for its mellifluous exhaust tone and general presence, on and off the track.
The aluminum-bodied, mid-engine NSX looks pretty trick to begin with, but Science of Speed grafted on a carbon-fiber/Nomex honeycomb widebody kit from Cantrell Concepts, installed headlights from an '02 NSX-R, and slid a tray and diffuser under the car. The engine received "Stage 2" treatment, meaning the block was punched out to 3.3 liters, filled with forged 11.0:1 pistons, and its heads ported before being filled with larger valves, stiffer springs and healthy cams. These modifications are good for a claimed 345 wheel hp. Big-time bling Science of Speed/Moton dampers and Science of Speed adjustable anti-roll bars with non-compliance beam and toe-link bushings combine to make the NSX fast and, most importantly, predictable.
Flaherty figured he'd stick with the NSX as long as possible before it walked away, leaving plenty of open track to turn a fast lap. By the end of the first lap, however, the NSX had yet to shake the Sentra. The last turn was taken head to tail, the Sentra just trailing as they blew onto the straight. This made for a very public drag race, with the Sentra leading and on the inside line by Turn One. After laying down the pass, Flaherty implored the NSX pilot to "look at the science in this bucket!" At the end of the day, each car's best lap times proved the showdown wasn't a fluke, the SE-R turning a 1:59.3 to the NSX's 2:01.2.
Blowed Up Stuff
With this much over-boosted, hastily assembled machinery whipping around the track, we expected copious mechanical carnage. Only five of 39 cars, however, experienced event-ending failures, and most of these occurred at the beginning of the day.
Our favorite Unlimited FWD Class Suzuki Swift, campaigned in a road racing series in Mexico by Jason Steinhart, had just administered a whoopin' south of the border two days prior. One-point-three liters of T3-turbocharged fury make a claimed 250 hp at 10 psi, and more than 300 at 20 psi, and trick items like S2000 front brakes and custom short gears help this featherweight do what no Swift was ever designed to do. What isn't there to like? A big hole in the number four piston during the morning session, which sucked.
Skunk2's touring car-style Unlimited FWD Class Civic Si arrived with high hopes, a fresh engine, mucho engineering and a professional Michelin test driver. In the second session, however, the car experienced a spun bearing and posted a best lap time of 2:12.9 seconds, about 10 seconds off the time they set in testing.
Eric and Marc Kozeluh from Twins Turbo showed up to trump the Signal Skyline with an exquisite silver turbo Supra with enough firepower to invoke a weapons non-proliferation treaty. How does one fit 18x13-inch Kinesis wheels swaddled in 335mm Toyo race rubber under a car? A huge widebody kit from Extreme Dimensions that you chop to make 4 inches wider. A tremendous number of items, like an exhaust manifold with 22-inch runners and the undertray and ducting were produced in house.
The twins tell us 840 or so wheel hp, at 24 psi, huff through twin ball-bearing
Innovative T3/T4s pressurizing an engine with more aftermarket parts than Janet Jackson. From Penske dampers to a Motec M800 to the Stoptech brakes, this Supra brought everything required for domination except a tough enough front main seal. Thereafter, one bystander declared it "the world's most gorgeous coffee table."
We know that Chen's ubiquitous yellow Limited RWD class 350Z is fast from its performance in our Ultimate Street Car Challenge. Part of the reason Chen, owner of Axis wheels, is successful is because he knows to pay other people to do what they do best. Chen contracted Samuel Hubinette, a Swedish rally wiz, Skip Barber instructor, and driver for the factory Viper drift team to pilot his two rides (he also brought his Ferrari 360 Modena F1). The 350Z being professionally pounded resulted with an engine compartment painted with boiled-over coolant and supercharger oil, but not before Hubinette knocked off a 2:02.1
Never Say Die
It's unfortunately fitting that we write about Mani Jayasinghe in the "never say die" portion of our coverage. Mani, who has also competed in past USCC events, showed up to the time attack with a 2JZ #7 recently installed in his redder-than-red Limited RWD Class Supra. How Mani has managed to pop six of the most robust engines ever built is beyond us, but then on one of his first laps out, he came close to making it seven.
A result of yet another stretch of sleepless nights swapping engines, a coolant hose was improperly tightened, puking coolant mid lap. "Easy fix," Mani figured as he coasted into the pits. Several knuckles later, the Supra was ready to go, except now the battery was dying. The irreplaceable-in-the-desert Supra alternator was dead. A big, single-turbo'ed Supra making stupid power uses gigawatts to light off all that fuel, so Mani's perhaps-not-so-safe solution was to wire several batteries in a series, securing them with tie-downs and charging them between run groups. He got three laps between charges; one warm up, a fast lap and one cool-down lap. Hard-core. Not smart, perhaps, but hard-core.
Previously featured in our magazine, David Vespremi's Limited RWD Class MR2 was back with more power, more carbon and a whole lot more wing. It turns out turbocharged cars need a sealed system to make horsepower-birthing pressure, and a torn wastegate diaphragm releases pressure like Coleman after a goat burrito.
Not having completed a full lap, Vespremi went to work pumping the phones to find a replacement. He eventually found one in
Orange County, about 2.5 hours away, and paid a random person to bring it up. It arrived 15 minutes too late.
Nic Wong, another past USCC competitor, along with Sean Morris slaved the week before the event to find your garden-variety RB26DETT to fill the hole under the hood of his R32 Skyline. And they found one. After installing it, however, they fired it up and realized they had found one with rod knock. Just to prove how badly they wanted to be there, they trailered the car up nonetheless.
The "Never Say Die" trophy went to Hasport, which replaced the built K20 (with another K20) in its Limited FWD Class EK Civic after we did a good job of blowing it up a couple of days prior. Then, the night before the event, techs realized the turbo bearing was bad. They found another, differently sized turbo at 10 p.m., only to discover at the track that the fueling map wasn't happy with all the new compression and differently sized turbo. AEM-sponsored drag racer Stephan Papadakis, competing in his Limited FWD Class street beater Integra, happened to have his laptop with him, which held a new base map they plugged into the EMS. The car was tuned driving around the pits and made it back out for the last session of the day and claimed a second-in-class time.