2006 Ultimate Street Car Challenge

Gross Display of Horsepower
The Ultimate Street Car Challenge is a series of objective tests that are judged against empirical norms or against the performance of the other competitors. Everyone competing knows what they have to do in order to win, whether it's a certain number they're striving toward or a carefully planned strategy determined months ahead of time.

Except in this test. We don't tell competitors what to do or how to do it. We simply open the fence to a secret, empty parking lot at the top of Willow Springs raceway and throw away the rulebooks for 30 seconds. What each team chooses to do with the blank canvas of asphalt stretched out before them is entirely up to them, though judges Neil Chirico of Motor Trend, Mark Han (SCC's publisher), and yours truly were there to watch.

It's the absolute last test of the USCC, and whether or not they're up here to win, there's a really good likelihood that each driver is ready to let loose about 47 hours of stress and competition. Sometimes what comes out naturally is better than anything that could have been pre-planned.

In proper form for a British sports car, the Lotus of Prototype Racing declined to compete in such American debauchery. The Beetle RSI was one axle short of running, and Robispec's Evo was missing a functional engine, so it was down to seven cars.

HASport must be commended for their effort with the front-drive CRX. None of us asked if reverse gear was gone for good after the backwards, gear-grinding burnout attempt ended in what sounded like a an empty oil drum tumbling down a rocky pass, and there wasn't much comment when the only remaining option was a front-wheel-drive burnout.

At the other end of the spectrum was the Crawford STI, which, as soon as it entered the parking lot, erupted into a series of all-wheel-drive pirouettes, landing the car just inches from the metal fence. The crowd went crazy.

The LS7-powered RX-7 had no problem turning its NT-01 meats into smoke-it's something the LS engine has been doing since the idea of a Japanese tuner car was a funny joke. Paul Dentice put his Skyline GT-R inches from the crowd during a drift, and Steve Mitchell made his drifting experience obvious, with flashing lights and highbeams glaring while he executed perfect dorifto slides.

We're happy to report that for the second year running, this subjective-but-fun competition had no bearing on the finishing order of the combatants.
-James Tate

The Big Picture
At this point, none of us know the USCC 2006 is already over. Jay is still in the garage, tallying up points, punching in totals and calculating final scores. So like sullen, war-weary gladiators, the remaining able-bodied competitors file into our makeshift arena for the final battle. Like the days of old, it is an utterly meaningless, disturbingly perverse exercise in tire destruction and engine abuse. And yet we can't stop clapping, especially when Crawford narrowly avoids adding bumper, trunk and door panels to his list of replacement parts.

By Barry Hathaway

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