As cool as it is to see cars built to exceed their inherent levels of performance in ways complementary to their OEM design, there’s something truly impressive about seeing a car built to perform at those higher levels across the board, even in areas that may not have been of primary concern on the drawing board.
Take muscle cars, for example. We can’t begin to count how many times we’ve seen them churn out power and torque several times over their stock levels, and blast straight-line acceleration in a fraction of the time they could from the factory (see our recent NMCA West coverage for more).
Each and every time, it’s impressed us and left us wanting more. But even more awe-inspiring (at times, bewildering) is seeing them do that while also out-braking, out-cornering, and out-lapping their smaller, lighter, later-model performance brethren.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF AUTOCROSS
Autocross – where “going fast” is more about maintaining as much speed around a course as possible, rather than going faster in a straight line than the other guy. Here, braking performance, suspension setup, weight distribution, heat management, aerodynamics and grip in all directions are just as much of a concern (or more) as power production.
It’s a game the smaller, lighter and nimbler cars are naturally better suited for, but one in which—if the turnout of this round of competition at Fontana has taught us anything—an impressively wide variety of vehicle can excel, given the right attention.
MEET HOTCHKIS, THE “NITTO” OF PERFORMANCE SUSPENSIONS
Just as Nitto Tire has been making the best high-performance tires for nearly 70 years, Hotchkis Sport Suspension has been doing one thing better than most for over 30 years: developing performance suspensions. Today they offer everything from individual components to fully integrated systems for everything from late-model, high-performance imports and exotic sports cars to classic American muscle.
Even that O.G. Bronco or C10 pickup sitting behind the barn—they can make it a handling machine, and they test everything they make on their own 14-turn autocross track, located at their nearby facility in Santa Fe Springs, California. So it should come as no surprise that our Fontana autocross event was embraced by drivers of an equally wide variety of performance-tuned machines—Broncos and C10s, among them.
RULES OF THE AUTOX GAME
Competition in the Hotchkis Cup AutoX Series at the NMCA West Presented by NittoTire is divided into several classes to help level competition for various vehicles.
Unlimited | U
For purpose-built autocross machines, usually radically modified and far from street legal:
Modern Muscle | MM
For late-model Chevy Camaro, Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger and Charger, etc.:
Classic Muscle | CM
For pre ‘82 muscle cars:
Sports Car | SC
For Chevy Corvette, Nissan 350Z/370Z, Mitsubishi EVO, Subaru WRX STI, miscellaneous V8-swapped models, etc.:
Compact | C
For Ford Focus and Fiesta, Honda Civic, Fiat 500, Dodge Neon, etc.:
Truck | T
For those Ford Bronco, Chevy C10, Nissan Hardbody pickup, El Camino, etc.:
Racing commences with each car lapping a course laid out in cones, completing the course clockwise on one of the event’s two days, and counterclockwise the second. Lap times are recorded, averaged through the day, over the two days of each event, and throughout a full season (minus any two-second penalties for hitting a cone), and prizes are awarded accordingly. There’s even a “beginner’s challenge” the Friday preceding official competition, and other awards are handed out along the way.
MOST IMPRESSIVE
Unsurprisingly, the fastest single laps of the event were clocked in by thoroughbred sports cars, led by:
David Carroll | ‘75 Datsun 280Z | :46.343
Dan Livezey | ‘04 Chevrolet Corvette | :46.864
Rick Jung | ‘03 Mitsubishi EVO | :46.918
Rita Wilsey | ‘02 Vette | :46.967
But more surprisingly—and very impressive—were some of the nearly-as-fast times in the Classic Muscle and Modern Muscle classes:
Greg Nelson | ‘14 Chevy Camaro | :47.156
Jordan Priestley | ‘16 Chevy Camaro | :47.496
Mike Cuthberton | ‘68 Camaro | :48.235
Chad Ryker | ‘68 Camaro | :48.744
But maybe most impressive were the fastest laps posted by the Truck guys (and girls), not too far off from their sports car and muscle competitors:
Wes D | ‘59 Apache | :48.546
Mike Sullivan | ‘65 El Camino | :49.929
Brandy Phillips | ‘72 Chevy C10 | :50.583
And for you Bronco fans, the one in attendance clocked a pretty respectable time:
Bill Kinsman | ’72 Bronco | :54.644
FINAL THOUGHTS
Out of dozens of competitors this time around, crowd favorites became the show-quality vintage and late-model domestics turning uncharacteristically fast lap times. Muscle, import, foreign and truck fans alike would agree—it was rad to see.
Curiously absent were the masses of Miatas, Civics and other compacts common to most autocross events, but with the final round of the season fast approaching later this month, we’re betting there will be plenty in store for fans of just about every machine imaginable.
Sound fun? Learn how to get your start in autocross, and make sure you check out more shots from this Hotchkis AutoX event in the gallery below.