Road Course
The road course test is the pinnacle of the USCC. While it is worth no more points than the car show or driveability test, most teams are willing to compromise those in order to finish on the track respectably. It is also the only test where we see hired guns show up routinely to drive in the competition.
The first hotshoe out for a timed run was James Hickerson in the Audi S4. He only got one hot lap before blowing an intercooler pipe off and pitting the car. Still, that lap was a blistering 1:26.37, which set the bar high.
I was up next in the Atom. After hearing about the other drivers showing up, Mike Kim asked me to take the wheel, which I was more than happy to do. The open-cockpit car drove unlike anything I've driven before, including both boosted and naturally aspirated Lotus Elises. It was wicked quick, but sadly, I was unable to extract the maximum performance. With its smooth plastic seat and inadequate four-point harness, there is effectively no lateral upper body support when cornering. The only thing to hang onto was the steering wheel, which ended up wedged against my knees because of the custom pedal placement for Kim, who is a good eight inches shorter than me.
The experience of driving the Atom at speed was sort of like riding a really fast children's tricycle and having someone crack your left elbow with an aluminum bat every time you turn right and jerk your neck with a choker every time you turn left. It was fun, but a proper race seat would go a long way toward bringing it up to speed and attempting to dial in its suspension. Its second-place finish, half a second behind the Audi, was to be short-lived.
The heavy hitters stepped up and laid down some smoking fast times. The PDX Tuning STI just edged out the StopTech Corvette with a time of 1:23.17. Most impressive was the driving of Billy Johnson, who was visibly fighting the G35 but still managed to clock a time just a couple of tenths off the top pace. Dave Dunn, a NASA-licensed driving instructor, also deserves a good deal of credit, as he was the only competitor to drive his own car on the road course. Reluctantly, even Jacko Luong handed the keys of his Skyline over to veteran road racer Steve Mitchell of M-Workz. -Andy Hope
When the checkered flag fell and times were tabulated, a few competitors (especially those with all-wheel drive) balked at the idea of tire-smoking destruction. But when the first car went out for the Gross Display, they fell silent. This is a competition, after all.
Gross Display Of Horsepower
The Gross Display of Horsepower has morphed from just a tire smoke competition to something far more demanding-a smoking free-for-all where burnouts, Rockfords and all-wheel-drive donuts are just the beginning. It's an appropriate end to the USCC and a rich reward for the spectators at the end of two tortuous days of competition-as well as a final chance to see a car blow up. But expectations are much higher after all we've seen over the years.
It's nearly sundown on day two and still 80 degrees F. Each car has to strut its stuff in 30 seconds and earn 25 subjective points, as determined by our three judges, Taro Koki of Best Motoring International, SCC publisher Mark Han and me, SCC's Engineering Editor. There are no 10-point freebies in this one, but the score might just be enough to make the difference between winning and losing.
As always, there was a debate between whether to send out a ringer shoe to earn big points or give the car's owner/builder the potential to blow up their baby. The results are wholly apparent, as professional drifters, hardcore road racers and do-it-yourself mechanics duked it out for bragging rights.
First came Blacktrax Performance's 300ZX, out to show what a modern small block could do to a set of sticky Nitto NT-01s. While the tire smoke was overwhelming, the performance was to be expected from any pushrod beast with this much power. The end result was back-to-back donuts, obscured by billowing clouds of smoke.
Reeser's road racing G35 made its drifting debut with a beautifully choreographed continuous drift ballet (considering the ballerina weighs 3800 pounds), but failed to show the car's true power as it didn't produce enough smoke to be smelled by the judges.
Brent Mattraw, owner of the Audi S4, gave the only proper demonstration of what an all-wheel-drive car's drift potential really is. While the smoke levels were acceptable, the multi-axis spins and multiple near-encounters with the dirt earned due respect. The PDX STI, on the other hand, re-established its ridiculous amount of grip (as on the skidpad) and earned the title King of Understeer.
With its fantastic weight balance and instant supercharged torque, Mike Kim's Atom finally made its mark with a smoke-filled, side-to-side, tail-wagging drift, some with both hands free of the wheel and only steering with the knees.
Groma Fabrication's BMW 2002 started out with the throttle on the floor and a clutch dump that would send even a GT-R shuddering. For the rest of the time, it performed a series of loops, drifts and spins without ever lifting off the gas even a millimeter. Both tire smoke and burning engine oil gave the little BMW the final laugh. This display of absolute mayhem provided it with one of its two victories.
-Jay Chen