2005 Ultimate Street Car Challenge - USSC

Scoring: How It Works* All but one of the 15 USCC tests are scored on a 110-point scale, with the winner getting 110 points and the loser getting 10. Those who blow up so bad they can't cross the finish line get zero. The scores for everyone but the best, worst and most blown-up are based on how the competitor finished relative to the best and worst car. If, for example, the most powerful car made 800 hp and the least powerful car made 300 hp, there would be a 500-hp spread between them. A car making 700 hp would be 80 percent of the way from the loser to the winner, so it would get 90 points (that's 80 points, plus 10 points for not blowing up.)

* Now the exceptions. The Gross Display of Horsepower is worth only 25 points and is scored by a panel of judges well versed in the art of the burnout. The Fuel Economy test is worth a total of 120 points since we offered an extra 10 bonus points to those willing to pour our 91-octane swill into their tank.

* A perfect score for the USCC would be 1,575 points. Last year's winner took the trophy with 76 percent of the total points. Kim Johnson's Skyline took 75 percent this year.

Thorough. Comprehensive. Punishing.Sport Compact Car's Ultimate Street Car Challenge can be described in many ways. Easy isn't one of them. For the fifth year in a row this contest has tested the speed, durability, comfort and utility of the country's best street cars. It's two full days of track and street driving to prove whose car is the baddest in the land.

This year's group includes 11 of the fastest, most thoroughly sorted and most heavily modified cars to ever compete. They came from across the country: California, Arizona, Connecticut and even Idaho. If you read last month's features on these cars, you know they're as diverse as any bunch we've ever gathered. Some are homebrew specials using do-it-yourself solutions and good old-fashioned know-how. Others are a product of the best tuners in the land-XS Engineering, Dynocomp, Autowave and Idaho Speed Center, to name a few.

Day one of the USCC was held at K&N Filters headquarters in Riverside, Calif., where we measured everything from how they rode to how well they were engineered and how many hydrocarbons they emitted. The second day was all about performance. We began on the dragstrip at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale, Calif., where we tested acceleration and braking before moving on to Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, Calif., where we tested each car's road course merit, skidpad prowess and ability to grossly display horsepower.

Every year, contenders turn up with more serious equipment than those before them. The cars come thoroughly sorted, with more development, better engineering and improved strategy from their owners, drivers and tuners. The bottom line is USCC contenders are stepping it up. And we can say with confidence that this year's contest was the toughest yet. Eleven cars. Fifteen tests. Serious competition. - Josh Jacquot

01 USCC PriceThe Big PictureThe day started with Junko Hyodo leading; her Integra a mere two points ahead of David Vespremi's MR2, both well ahead of Kip Olsen's NSX in last place. As the first grog of morning evaporated, teams turned their final wrenches and the first of many diapers gingerly swabbed away last night's desert dust.

The price test scores are based entirely on the base price of the cars before modification, but don't think that meant the racing hadn't already started. David Vespremi, for instance, negotiated a lower base price (and higher score) because his MR2 turbo started life as a cheaper non-turbo model. After checking his VIN number and verifying his claim, we congratulated him for a well-planned attack.

In the Ultimate Street Car Challenge, no contest can be ignored.

02 USCC GrandmaGrandmaWhack! The sound of a leatherette bag full of Ensure, Tucks medicated pads, and $10 in nickels crushing into nerd skull is one we haven't forgotten. You see, Granny delivers "the purse" to anyone she catches trying to sneak a peek as she emerges from the senior care van for her annual trip to judge all that is (or isn't) comfortable in the world of ultimate street cars. Coleman never saw it coming.

Grandma's job is an important one. She's the best judge we know when it comes to cold A/C, soothing stereo sounds, soft seats and smooth rides. And putting up with her bowels, breath and blistering backhand is all in a day's work for everyone at the USCC.

The aging socialite first wormed her way into the APR EVO, demanding a ride to the dollar store for some Beano to settle her colon. Apparently, the lack of A/C and ride quality were a combination that didn't sit well, as it took Coleman 30 minutes to retrieve her from the ladies room. The APR EVO finished ninth.

Realizing she had forgotten her purse, she summoned the MR2 to fetch it from the dollar store. Unfortunately for the old bag, the MR2's race seats, granite suspension, lack of A/C and loud exhaust rattled more than her nerves-she returned cussing as if a wasps' nest had let loose under her house dress. Granny unleashed her full wrath, awarding the MR2 last place.

The old hag was really worked up after her ride in Junko Hyodo's Integra. Former USCC car show judge Elton Lo castrated the 'Teg's exhaust on one of Riverside County's many railroad crossings, leaving the mangled mess in the middle of the road.

"That crazy whippersnapper could learn a few things about how to treat a lady," Granny said, after searing her backside in the 90-degree heat waiting for rescue. Even so, she scored the Integra fourth.

A few hits from her trusty Mylanta bottle settled Granny down just enough to crawl into Tom Passalacqua's EVO for a run past the Fading Daze Retirement Center to see a few old friends. We're not sure if it was the near-stock interior or Passalacqua's East Coast chivalry, but the EVO finished third.

"That McGaha boy sure does like them big and black," Granny said as she dumped herself into the Idahoan's Darth Vader-themed Supra. But Granny's report card came back positive, with the Supra scoring high for being low, long, cool and comfy. Good enough for second.

The old bird returned from her ride in Brett Mayes' S2000 clucking like a school girl. The roadster's stock seat, quiet exhaust and cold A/C whipped her into a diaper-changing frenzy, which must be good since she scored it highest. - Tom Paule

03 USCC Car ShowCar ShowCar show judging at USCC has always made the least sense to us editors. As true enthusiasts, we've always been more concerned with going sideways, making power and having fun-looks always come second. The same is true of this year's lot of USCC contenders; they, like us, simply want to go fast. Some of them just happen to look good doing it.

This year, judging in this test was divided into 10 categories: underhood, wheels and tires, paint and body, stereo, brakes, suspension, interior, judge's choice, cleanliness and overall appearance. Each category was scored on a scale from one to 10, with three points being equivalent to a stock vehicle.

We might not be appearance experts, but we do know where to find them. Dennis Halloway from Mothers, Phillip Phong from Mackin Industries, two-time USCC champion James Chen from Axis wheels and Yuji Nagata from Import Showoff comprised our four-judge panel.

In the car show world, cleanliness is nice, but it's the details that matter most-at least that's what they tell us. In the end, only three points separated Tom Passalacqua's winning EVO and HPA's Audi TT. Both oozed excruciating, functional detail. In fact, the decision to give the EVO the win came down to its fuel cell preparation-evidence that even car show judges can appreciate racecar functionality on occasion. The big-dollar Japanese exotics netted top points even if they were only mild in bling. On presence alone, the Supra, NSX and GT-R scored 90 percent of the car show points available.

Even APR's widebody EVO, a show car by any definition, faltered relative to the winners. The fiberglass and carbon bodywork earned points, but weren't enough to make up for the relatively Spartan interior.

But the judges showed their true colors as fickle appearance weenies as well. Both the Integra with its JDM fascia and headlights and the carbon-overload MR2 with a Champ car-sized rear wing were penalized for their lack of style. The RX-7 rounded out the field with its chop-shop interior, misaligned hood and factory red paint seeping out from underneath a fresh coat of silver. - Jay Chen

04 USCC Guru PanelGuru PanelTo the uninitiated, our guru panel looks like any other assemblage of car dorks. But this is an elite geek squad. Here, clipboards, greasy fingernails and enough undiluted car knowledge combine to break down any contender's arsenal of bullshit. Any one of these guys has enough geek clout to make Einstein bow down. Together, their collective automotive know-how is enough to make even the purest enthusiast hemorrhage data from a single download.

Having these guys poke through the engine bay and undercarriage is more intimidating than having R. Lee Ermey go through your college dorm room. Nothing has to be immaculately fabricated or pretty, but there better be a damn good reason for its existence and it better be done right. Their verdict may place a car among the automotive elite or label it as an overbudgeted parts whore.

It takes more than a collection of the best parts in the world to impress this panel. Integration is key. It doesn't hurt to be a good salesman either, because convincing these judges won't be easy.

This year's judges are seasoned USCC gurus. Heading up the group is Mike Welch, the man behind Road/Race Engineering and an expert on anything that involves the words Mitsubishi and turbo. Jeff Cheechov of Progress Group and Steve Ruiz of StopTech are the suspension and brake pros while Mike Kent, all-around engineer and consultant, has built more homebrew turbo cars than every contestant to ever enter this event combined.

In their geek eyes, HPA's twin-turbo Audi TT was the shit. Using both proven components from the Audi, VW and Porsche parts bin and meticulously fabricated parts, the TT was the perfect compromise between streetability and ultimate performance. The seamless integration of the stand-alone fuel cell and full roll cage into the completely finished interior earned big points. But it was the sheer man-hours sunk into this car that pushed it over the top. Incidentally, when it comes to salesmanship, few can top the skills of HPA's Marcel Horn.

The two EVOs scored on opposite ends of the spectrum. Tom Passalacqua wowed the ff,ff,,fff,,f,,fff,ff,,,ff,,f,,fff,ff,,fff,,f,,,ff,ff,,,ff,,f,,fff,ff,,fff,,f,,fff,ff,,,ff,,f,,,ff,ff,,fff,,f,,,ff,ff,,,ff,,f,,fff,ff,,fff,,f,,fff,ff,,,ff,,f,,fff,ff,,fff,,f,,,ff,ff,,,ff,,f,,,ff,ff,,fff,,f,,fff,ff,,,ff,,f,,,ff,ff,,fff,,f,,,ff,ff,,,ff,,f,,ber-geeks with his EVO VIII, a car that left no stone unturned in the engine and driveline. It had everything but a 2.4-liter 4G64 block. APR's widebody EVO with mild engine work, meanwhile, scored only cosmetic points.

Neither the Skyline nor the Supra earned big engineering kudos in the engine bay because both stayed mild and retained their stock bottom-ends. The Skyline did shine with the extensive and expensive suspension work, while oddly enough, the Supra scored well for its interior details and gauge installation.

For its ingenuity, the LS1-powered RX-7 had the potential to score well, but the last-minute assembly and racecar interior hurt what would have been a monumental performance, given more time to prepare.

It took more ingenuity, originality and resourcefulness than ever to survive the guru's salvo of automotive scrutiny. The USCC's demand for ever-increasing levels of preparation raises that bar every year. Show up with unique, well-executed solutions and you'll walk away on top-exactly like HPA's Audi TT did.- Jay Chen

The Big PictureThe first few contests were for softies. After checking wallets, we let Grandma, the Q-tip crew and the geeks all render their opinions. The test of civility, the test of prettiness and the doctoral defense before the tech tribunal were all, ultimately, tests of opinion; other than the ride around the block that Granny got, the cars didn't even have to run for the first four contests.In spite of this, front-wheel drive already seemed to be a disadvantage. After its early lead, the Integra got a lukewarm reception from Grandma, failed to impress the car show crew, and apparently pissed off the engineering judges. Hero to zero in three contests. Tough crowd.

Tom Passalacqua's spotless EVO, on the other hand, made nothing but friends, pulling it 16 points ahead of HPA's Audi TT. In a tight battle for third were the GT-R and S2000.

05 + 06 USCC DynoThe Big PictureGentlemen, start your damn cars. With the popularity contest over, it was time to make some noise. Apparently, our gurus knew how to pick winners, as the three leaders ended up with the three best scores on the dyno. The order didn't change, but the battle for third was decided decisively. No surprise, it was the Skyline pulling ahead of the S2000.

DynoFour things you never expect to see: an EVO at 9000 rpm; an Audi spinning its tires in sixth gear; a Supra tied for sixth place on the dyno; an EVO owner disappointed with 567 hp at the wheels.

USCC is full of the unexpected.

Given the Supra's finishing position, the next thing you do expect is an R34 Skyline taking home the peak power trophy, and XS Engineering delivered, to the tune of 572 hp at the wheels. That victory was anything but decisive, though, with the 2.6-liter Nissan making only 5 hp more than the amazingly high-strung 2.0-liter four in Tom Passalacqua's EVO.

Even more shocking than the power figure was the explanation for it: the dyno pull stretched to 9004 rpm. But while everyone else in earshot stared slack-jawed at the dyno screen, Passalacqua's reaction was stoic. He'd heard the sound plenty of times and saw the stunning output for what it was-second place.

Establishing third place was a challenge, not because we can't count, but because we couldn't keep Marcel Horn's twin-turbo Audi TT from smoking its hides. There are only two rules in the USCC dyno room: you only get two pulls, and you have to use third gear. The TT was pardoned for breaking both of them.

The first attempts on the dyno were met with sputtering and bucking as the computerized all-wheel-drive system tried to figure out why the tires weren't going the same speed. Dynojet rollers aren't connected like the ground between a driving car's wheels, so the only thing keeping them going the same speed is the car's all-wheel-drive system. When the Audi's Haldex clutch proved incapable of synchronizing two rollers, the digital ninny squad shut down the fun.

We finally disconnected the Haldex, running 100 percent of the car's prodigious fury to the front tires, which spun in both fourth and fifth gear. Finally, with its torque output divided by the tallest gear in the box (sixth), the TT still managed to spin its tires just a little.

Even using a portion of its output vaporizing rubber, the TT laid down 533 hp, and more importantly, a vast plateau of torque that started at 429 lb-ft way down at 2800 rpm and peaked somewhere in the 520s. That was just enough to snatch the power delivery score away from the Skyline.

Both the STi and the LS1-motivated RX-7 doled out impressive midpack performances, making 448 and 439 hp, respectively. Bringing up the back of the pack was Hyodo's real-world Integra, which whacked out a righteous 288 hp-impressive anywhere except in this contest.

The grand total of 4,849 hp from 11 cars, 10 of which displaced less than 3.2 liters, is also something you never expect to see. - Dave Coleman

Peak Power

Power Delivery

07 USCC DriveabilityDriveabilityFor most of the competitors in the Ultimate Street Car Challenge, the first day at USCC presented no challenge at all. The Dyno test? A breeze. Emissions, Fuel Economy, Grandma ... all those tests were a total non-event. But getting up the not-so-steep driveway at K&N Engineering without scraping off the car's nose? Now that was a challenge.

The essence of the Ultimate Street Car is that it combines an aptitude for track heroics with an ability to accomplish the mundane things cars need to do. Things like idling at a crossing until the train passes and then crossing the tracks without cracking off suspension bits; like accelerating from 0-to-30 mph at eighth throttle without burning a valve; like being quiet enough that you don't have a ringing in your ears by the time you get to work; and like having windshield wipers for when it rains and a driver's seat with some reasonable comfort for awkwardly shaped men who write for car magazines.

In other words, while the rest of USCC is obsessed with the heroic (or in Grandma's case, the gastrointestinal), in driveability, we want to get up K&N's driveway.

Once again, Jacquot assigned me to this segment of the competition mostly because I'm old and fat and he wanted to get pictures of me trying to get into and out of the car. It's all just so hilarious.

Kip Olsen's NSX had the significant advantage of being, well, an NSX. That means its structure is as dense and stiff as a beryllium atom and the suspension doesn't have to be brutal to be effective. The long-proven Comptech supercharger system results in an engine that's probably even more easygoing in traffic than the standard VTEC V6 and feels so strong we could have added a hitch and a 24-foot Airstream to the car and headed to the Grand Canyon for some R and R. It wasn't just the most driveable car in this competition, it was also one of the sweetest-driving NSXs we've experienced.

Despite being right-hand drive, Kim Johnson's Skyline finished second. As with the NSX, starting off as such a solid production car helped immensely. And after driving many Skylines with radical meth-snorting engines, this one's was composed and even capable of puttering around Riverside. And the interior was plush, comfy and pretty quiet. Brett Mayes' S2000 was third best mostly because, as good as the S2000 is, it isn't an NSX or a Skyline.

Tom Passalacqua's EVO was pretty good for a car that really looked like it should be more vicious. Brian McGaha's Supra was accommodating but the power delivery was a bit ragged, while Junko Hyodo's Integra felt ragged in most every conceivable way. Mark Corbett's RX-7 drove surprisingly well, but wasn't finished and the seat couldn't be adjusted to accommodate anyone but Mark Corbett. The APR EVO was a bit hyperactive on the road and dang near impossible to get in and out of.

Finally, I just couldn't wedge myself into either Marcel Horn's Audi TT or David Vespremi's MR2. And Jacquot was really happy about that. - John Pearley Huffman

08 USCC EmissionsEmissionsIt was the job of our emissions police to keep the USCC power junkies in check. And doing so required a comprehensive three-gas test like the one we created. While not a perfect reflection of transient-throttle emissions, our steady-state test was a fair and accurate comparison between the contenders, laying bare their true intentions.

Each car was measured at idle and 2500 rpm for hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions. We used an Emissions Systems five-gas analyzer with wireless capabilities to record the data. As always, the results were wildly inconsistent.

Both EVOs showed up with no cats and were easily the biggest polluters-we could tell just by looking at the soot on their bumpers. The Skyline and LS1-powered RX-7 did have cats, but ran so much valve overlap at idle that they were virtually useless.

True to their green heritage, all three Hondas ran reasonably clean even though the S2000 had misfire issues with its brand-new engine. Most surprising was the Integra, which with an open exhaust, was nearly as clean as some of the cars running cats. The STi, with its cat, factory exhaust manifolds and precise tuning was by far the cleanest car of the day. - Jay Chen

The Big PictureNobody expected the emissions test to be the one that catapulted a 572-hp Skyline into the overall lead, but that's how it happened. The same big cams that made a 4G63 breathe at S2000 revs made it stinky at idle. Too bad Mitsubishi invented balance shafts instead of VTEC.

09 USCC Fuel EconomyFuel EconomyAs this is written, 91-octane fuel is running just under three bucks per gallon here in sunny California. This magazine is not built around maximizing your miles out of every gallon, but it doesn't advocate wasting money, either. And a street car shouldn't be sucking through your wallet the way a blue whale gulps the Pacific to filter for tasty krill.

USCC's fuel economy numbers are calculated by filling each vehicle at a Shell station just outside the gilded gates of K&N Filters in Riverside, Calif., and then having the owners pilot them over a rather hilly 70.7-mile course-more or less along State Route 138-to an agonizingly dumpy Mobil station just outside Palmdale, Calif. How much fuel each car slurped up by that second stop determined the winner. Any car could use race fuel if so desired, but forfeited 10 points in the process.

Of course, each driver did his best to save fuel-gliding, snail-like acceleration and drafting were all standard operating procedure-but it was no surprise that this test was bracketed by David Vespremi's dinky MR2 that turned in a sterling 34.52 mpg and Mark Corbett's V8 RX-7 that downed go-juice at a 19.10-mpg rate.

"We did the standard stuff-bumped up the tire pressure, kept the headlights down, drafted our VW Golf support vehicle and stayed out of the boost," explains Vespremi. "But we also had the hand-held A'PEXi Power FC Commander monitoring injector duty cycle and kept that number as low as possible. We knew exactly how much fuel we were using."

Physics-they're laws we can live with.- John Pearley Huffman