The Ultimate Handling Shootout: 5 Magazines, 10 Cars, 3 Tests, 1 Tire, 1 Champion
We dig competition. Hardcore, cutthroat competition. Whether we're playing Monopoly or racing a car, we compete to win. We compete to beat the other guy, to watch him lose. We compete to prove we know our shit and he doesn't. Which is why we dig the G-Games. It's the ultimate automotive handling competition.
The rules were simple. Five magazines, Sport Compact Car, Turbo, Import Tuner, VW Trends and european car, would bring out 10 cars, two each, all wearing a set of new BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD tires. The cars would be subjected to a day of handling evaluation on the skidpad, through the slalom and around a racetrack-the Streets of Willow in Rosamond, Calif. All the cars had to be street legal. Dave Coleman would handle the driving chores on the skidpad, a hired hot shoe (each mag chose one) would run the cars on the racetrack, and yours truly would evaluate the cars in the slalom.
At the end of the day, the scores would be tallied and a winner would be crowned. We would know once and for all which cars handle best. And which car magazine knows its shit.
The Mags,the Men and The MachinesSport Compact CarOur choices for this test were made with great care. We knew going in that we needed a front- and rear-drive car waving the SCC flag. After all, both can be made to handle well and we figured if we could kick everyone's butt with either configuration, why not give it a shot? We all quickly agreed the best handling rear-drive car in the sport compact family is the third-generation RX-7. It's relatively light, can be quite powerful, will take huge tires, and put simply, has the best chassis for this kind of test.
We found one after a phone call to Mazda Specialists Tri-Point Engineering in Canoga Park, Calif. Tri-Point knew of a third-generation RX- 7, which had shown success autocrossing at the national level using its parts. We were quickly put in touch with the car's owner Wolfgang Hoeck, who agreed to be part of the show.
Choosing a front driver wasn't quite as simple. Our experience with front drive led us immediately to a contender from the double wishbone Honda camp. However, that doesn't really narrow the choices. There's a huge number of modified Hondas spread over the years and model ranges with double wishbone suspension. Knowing we needed a car with better-than-stock power and a well-sorted suspension, we stumbled into Frank Lin's '95 del Sol. Lin's car seemed to have enough suspension goodies to get the job done and was outfitted with a drivetrain to match.
Next up was picking a driver to wheel the SCC cars around the racetrack. This was simpler than picking the cars. Rhys Millen can drive anything fast. His driving experience ranges from all sorts of rally cars to Baja-racing trophy trucks to precision driving for TV commercials. Ever seen the Nissan spot where the Maxima blasts sideways across the dry lakebed? That's Rhys. Ever seen a red Lancer Evolution sliding sideways on Speedvision's SCCA ProRally coverage? That's also Rhys. Plus, he's a decent fellow and lives right in our back yard. We asked. He said yes.
European Car ec showed up with a '94 Ford Escort Cosworth and a '71 Porsche 914/6. They had Danny McKeever, owner of the Fast Lane Racing School, which is headquartered at Willow Springs, signed up for driving duty. We weren't worried.
VW TrendsThe Trends crew brought two Beetles, which were quite surprising upon initial inspection. The Purple '71 Super Beetle didn't worry us all that much, but was an extremely clean car. Jack Van Wettering's '69 Bug, however, gave us serious pause. Its tube frame, full coil-over front suspension and claimed 250 hp was troublesome. It showed up with a license plate proclaiming its street car status. Street car? Yeah, sure.
Both owners were set to drive their own cars on the track.
Import TunerWe were eager to see what the g-string loving, show car crew would bring to a handling test. To our surprise, they showed up with a tricked-out Integra Type R and a not-so-tricked-out Subaru WRX-both capable cars. Stephan Papadakis would drive the WRX while the Integra's owner, Robbie Montinola, would pedal his own car around the road course.
TurboBig horsepower was the name of the game in the Turbo camp. Two 1994 Supra Turbos owned by Nils Neufven and Ken Henderson and each boasting more than 500 hp showed up to play. Both were driven by Chris James, a Busch Series Craftsman Truck hopeful. That made us wonder as well. As far as we know, handling means turning both ways.
The TestsIt was hot. The kind of hot that brings on headaches, overflows radiators and pushes street tires past their optimum operating temperature almost instantly. The air was 108 degrees and the track surface was 140. Like I said...hot.
In other words, it was the ultimate torture test for BFGoodrich's latest ultra-high-performance tire, the g-Force T/A KD. Any tire that could survive track use in this kind of heat would certainly qualify as an outstanding performance tire.
SkidpadLateral acceleration is the simplest measure of grip in the world of handling tests. Our skidpad test represents a car's ability to hold the road while accelerating around a 200-ft circle. This test places emphasis on tire size and compound as well as suspension design and geometry. Keeping as much tire on the road as possible on the skidpad will earn a car big numbers. The numbers we publish are derived from an average of the two fastest laps around the skidpad.