Engineering Guru Panel
The Gurus' job is to pick, probe and prod every facet of a car's construction in an effort to divine the vehicle's true potential, unapologetically distilling years of work and untold riches into a plain number. Here, message-board hype and armchair BS cower before decades of industry experience. This year's esteemed gasoline geeks were: Jack Burns, founder of Burns Stainless; John Concialdi, founder of AEM; John 'Johnny Mac' McNulty, resident aerodynamicist; Jay Morris, founder of Ground Control; and myself, SCC contributor and head guru.
Moving across the aisle from judging to judged, Steve Ruiz knows a thing or two about presenting to the Gurus. The principal of StopTech has helped us pick apart cars for the last couple of years and finally wanted to throw his wheels in the ring. His 'Vette was well sorted, displaying a balanced approach to improved power and handling while taking little away from the factory Z06 engineering. The real pride of the car, however, lies in what is simply the most exotic braking system we've seen yet.
Well-developed cars are the rule rather than the exception at the USCC and Brent Mattraw's S4 followed in the Z06's tracks with focused improvements to sound factory hardware. A concerted effort to manage the car's weight through changes to the drivetrain, suspension and brakes scored big with the judges. The STI and Skyline took a more wholesale approach to upgrades, dipping into the motors and going big on the budget. It's obvious professional assembly was required, and both were outstanding examples of modern Japanese performance.
Ryan Hawkins' association with the USCC as a participant spans further than most SCC staff members. His purpose-built Supra displayed solutions to many lessons learned by previous competitors: a solid powerplant, ample cooling and real safety equipment. However, possibly the most important lesson of all is to arrive with a stable set-up. None of the Gurus took kindly to his admission that he'd not corner-weighted the car, nor re-tuned the ECU after upgrading the turbo.
We love engine swaps, though that alone couldn't carry you to victory. The Blacktrax crew did a great job mounting a V8 lower and further back than the stock VG30DETT, but didn't have enough car to go with the engine. On the other hand, the vintage 2002 was a real looker, with a comprehensively re-engineered chassis, well-built motor and terrible engine management. In the end, it was only logical that Dave Dunn's mid-engine Integra would really captivate the geeks. A flawless install by a guy in his garage, for under $12,000 complete. After all that work, the question remained: why was an engine with such potential left alone?
While the Gurus tend to be pretty neutral on the aesthetic front, it was hard to turn a blind eye to the G35 coupe. With a claimed 61 track events under its belt, there may be some justification for the, um, 'sturdy' splitter up front. The scrubbed inner fenders, rubbing control arms and scraped brake caliper, however, indicated some set-up and suspension tuning to be done.
Regarding the Ariel Atom... Years ago, James Chen brought us a brand-new Ferrari F360 encrusted with nice wheels and a soft, cushy, custom interior. The Gurus sent him away with nothing and told him to get some new shoes too. The next year, Jay Ester turned up with a car he purchased as a kit, in a box. Having decided it wasn't quite right, he proceeded to re-engineer the whole thing before putting it together. We cried with joy. While there is merit in leaving well enough alone, precious little comes from the factory with the 'Ultimate' pedigree.
-Mike Kent
Eight hours of nit-picking later, it was getting close to 4pm. The cloud cover broke around 10am and the relentless Riverside sun had been beating on us since. The adrenaline-stirring dynos were silenced hours earlier. With the heat sapping any remaining energy, pretty much everyone was ready to call it a day. But we still had one more test, so the pack headed off to a local Chevron gas station.