Acceleration
As with the dyno challenge, the acceleration test is always a coveted category for bragging rights. For this year's competition, we decided to switch from the dusty and downright dangerous drag strip at LA County Raceway to the much cleaner surface at California Speedway. The change in venue alone made for a much smoother schedule.
It's a two-part competition: the fastest overall quarter-mile times and 20-to-100mph acceleration times from three runs get up to 110 points each. Combined, the 220 points from here typically pull the front-runners ahead of the pack. It wasn't easy getting a perfect score, as running 11 seconds was almost par for the course this time around.
We gave the first volunteer a roll of the dice. For being first and doing everyone the favor of blasting dust off the track, we rewarded them with five runs. Brent Mattraw stepped up instantly, seeing the advantage of more runs and the cooler 80-degree morning air for his all-wheel-drive, twin-turbo S4. The first practice run was already in the mid-11s. And with every successive clutch-dropping, bushing-shredding launch, the S4 made its way toward a final quarter-mile time of 11.16 seconds, just 0.03 of a second behind last year's fastest Skyline GT-R (albeit in far better traction and ambient conditions).
Also in the 11s were the Skyline GT-R, Supra Turbo auto and small block-powered 300ZX. But not without casualties. The Supra's only run compounded its transmission woes incurred the previous day on the dyno into a DNF, and, adding insult to injury, ripped off the aluminum front splitter and all its rivets halfway down the track. The Blacktrax 300ZX driver also managed to detach its 'custom' shift knob while slamming up to fifth. His excuse? The odd domestic shift pattern.
The jaw-dropping performance expected from the StopTech Corvette never materialized. On its first run, a missed shift threw the dual tensioned supercharger belt and bent the tensioner bracket. We allowed them to fit a new belt on each run, but the damage was done. The fantastic Ariel Atom, advertised to have sub-three-second zero-to-60mph times, also failed to inspire. Although Kim's Atom is the lowest-power model, this so-called street car only managed time slips in the high 12s. Three runs just weren't enough to figure out whether first or second gear was the fastest way to launch.
With all its immense power and grip, the STI couldn't overcome a glitch in its standalone engine management's traction control system, which only allowed boost-less granny launches time after time. Even so, its sheer muscle managed to pull off a 13-second run and place it in a tie with the Corvette for its 20-to-100mph acceleration time.
By this point, the performance underdogs were obvious, even though the BMW and mid-engine Integra continued to put up a fight. But the lack of power put them last in the quarter-mile test and opened up the spread of 20-to-100mph times. For them, trap speeds never broke 100mph. But the effort was there, exemplified by Groma Fabrication as they snapped off the little BMW's go pedal on its way through the firewall.
There was talk about StopTech having a crew member work on the Corvette in their enclosed trailer during the tow to Willow Springs. But they chose (wisely) to hit the road early and fix it upon arrival.
-Jay Chen