Turns out even when a dragstrip is dry, it doesn’t have much grip after a heavy rainfall. Our best guess is that all the VHT or sticky chemical compound that’s spread on the asphalt for added grip gets washed away, leaving only a glass-smooth surface for our Shootout teams to slide around on. GST’s Gary Sheehan was one of the first to test his luck down this 1,320-foot strip of black ice, and as the in-car video footage showed, he had to go full opposite lock on the steering wheel when he suddenly found himself facing the wall at 90 mph. Scary stuff, and it was a feeling Jeremy Renshaw in the AFI Turbo S2000 also experienced when he got severely sideways on his first run. But Forrest Wang had the worst luck of all, with his rear window blowing out near the finish line, shattering all over the track and causing a 10-minute delay as the track workers swept up the mess.
It seemed like Mother Nature and the racing gods were conspiring against us, but with an extra 10 minutes of track time (thank you, NASA AZ!), all the teams got safely down the quarter-mile strip twice, except for FXMD. After the autocross event, we noticed they had the oil pan off the engine and were feverishly working beneath the wide booty of their NSX. The motor had apparently developed some unwanted noises after the autocross, perhaps from the heavy use of first gear during that event, so the FXMD crew was attempting to complete an emergency crank bearing replacement. Sadly, time ran out on them, the dragstrip being closed just minutes before driver Billy Johnson came running over to tell us they were ready to go. Understandably, they decided discretion was the better part of valor, packing it in rather than risking a more serious and expensive engine failure during the time attack. So just like that, the overall Shootout leader after the first two events was down and out.
As if spotting the opening, Sheehan found the courage to leave his foot in it after facing the wall only minutes earlier, posting an amazing 11.276 at 134.64 mph in the GST Impreza L, claiming the drag event win and vaulting them into first overall going into the last event.
Second best in the quarter-mile was the YimiSport STI, proving just how effective Full-Race’s twin-scroll turbo kit is. Keep in mind, this is a full-interior street car that weighs almost 3,400 lbs, making its best run of 11.592 seconds at 124.60 mph all the more remarkable. Clearly our darkhorse of the event had emerged, since with this impressive performance down the strip the YimiSport/Full-Race entry was suddenly in second place overall.
Third quickest down the strip was Tarzan Yamada in the Crawford Performance STI, posting a best time of 11.698 at 127.32 mph on a smooth and controlled run. But where was Forged Performance and its R35 GT-R? Surely this technological wonder-machine was the perfect weapon for the tricky track conditions? Inexplicably, on both timed runs the GT-R’s ECU went into limp mode, cutting power and leaving them in sixth place with a best time of 13.578 seconds at 103.79 mph. Afterward, Sharif was able to decipher the ECU data and determined that the problem was the very low tire pressure they were running, which allowed the tires to slip or rotate on the rims, causing the wheel speed sensors to go bonkers and send the ECU into limp mode.
Finishing ahead of Forged’s GT-R was the SoS NSX and the Evanson/Hasport Civic, the rear-drive Honda posting a 13.222 at 113.35 mph and the front-drive Honda just one-tenth slower with a 13.322 at 110.31 mph, good enough for first in their respective classes. Ksport struggled even more to put the power down, finishing seventh overall and second in the FWD group with a best time of 13.88 seconds at 114.63 mph. Sportcar Motion’sEG Civic was also spinning its wheels through the first three gears on its way to a 14.426-second pass at 109.80 mph.