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G-GAMES
... also known as ... He Who Makes The Rules Can Guarantee He Wins By Breaking Said Rules (and then admitting it in writing)
written by ken henderson

The G- Games, sponsored by Sport Compact Car (SCC) magazine, B.F.Goodrich and a number of other McMullen-Argus titles (Primedia), such as Turbo and Hi-Tech Performance, Import Tuner and European Car, was a contest between the magazines and cars each magazine had previously featured, all on tires provided by BFG. The tires, ultra high-performers called the g-Force T/AKD, is BFG's answer to the Bridgestone S-03 Pole Position, the Michelin Pilot Sport and the Dunlop Sport SP 9000, among others. With each vehicle wearing BFG skins, there was no way to tell whether, in fact, these tires were superior to their primary competition. And, although the competition amongst the vehicles gathered was suppose to be fair and objective, the following tale, and SCC's own account of the goings on, tell a different story.

"To Finish First, First You Have To Finish". This racing axiom was never truer than the G-Games competition at the "Streets of Willow Springs" where the magazines, BFG personnel, equipment and tires gathered to test the mettle of the cars and the high performance BFG tires. I say this up front because I don't want this article to come across as sour grapes from aparticipant in the competition. I was unable to finish the competition because of a stuck overflow valve that literally decimated my power steering system, rendering the car undriveable and unable to continue in the competition. Notwithstanding my mechanical difficulties, the following story provides a perspective from at least two of the competition participants, myself and Nils Leufven whose car was featured on the cover of the December 2001 Sport Compact Car magazine in which the G-Games article first appeared. To wit.

Unpacking at the Hotel, we had a long weekend ahead of us

(left to right) Evan Griffey, Chris James and Ken, having a little chat

"Evan Griffey of Turbo magazine is on the phone", said my secretary. "Do you want to take it?" Of course I did, and so began the G-Games odyssey. Evan explained to me about the competition SCC, Turbo, BFG and others weresponsoring at the "Streets of Willow Springs" and that each of the magazines was attempting to round up cars the magazines had previously featured forwhat BFG was promoting as the ultimate tire test. Having been in the December 2000 edition of Turbo magazine, Evan had first contacted Alex Shen of SP Engineering, the builder of my car, to determine if the car could bemade available for the competition. Alex put Evan in direct contact with me and, from there, Evan explained to me the rules as best could be determinedat that time. The cars were suppose to be street legal with up to dateinsurance for starters. No ringers allowed. Turbo would enter two cars, mine and SP's Subaru WRX. The WRX, although unmodified, would make a worthy companion to my car (highly modified and at the other end of the performance spectrum as street cars go). Unfortunately, or fortunately as aficionados of t04r.com would see it, SP was successful in finding the limits of the stock WRX motor, having spun a bearing at approximately 18psi during shakedown R and D testing of WRX aftermarket performance products. What to do? Evan and Turbo wanted to be properly represented and didn't want to go with one vehicle. I figured if one Supra was good, two would be even better.

As you can see there were lots of tires laying around

day of the event, in the hot pits

The BFG crew at work, specializing in racing events, they carelessly managed to scratch nearly all of our rims

Enter Nils Leufven, Supra enthusiast par excellence, proprietor of t04r.com and all-around good guy. Nils and I had met at Vegas 2000 and had become fast friends. In fact, I was able to get him connected to the SP Engineering crew when he was making the transition from BPU to the full-blown t04r-based big single turbo upgrade into which his beloved Silver Bullet has evolved (671whp and counting). It took all of about 5-seconds for Nils to agree to drive the approximately 250-miles to my home and an additional 105-miles from my home to Rosamond, California, home to Willow Springs International Raceway. So, as Evan Griffey would later say, Team Turbo was good to go, ready to do battle with the owners of other high performance street cars, or so we thought.

No need to recapitulate the Turbo magazine version of the G-Games here. Suffice it to say that not all of the vehicles were street cars, including the winning Mazda RX-7, the tube frame VW representing European Car and the Acura Integra Type R showing the flag for Import Tuner magazine. In fact, the RX-7 and the tube framed bug were both trailered to and from the competition. Although we had our suspicions during the course of the event, it wasn't until SCC published its article on the G-Games that we learned how early in the process the SCC crew had subverted its own rules. The staff of SCC, active in the conceptualization and administration of the event, had pre-ordained that a Mazda RX-7 would win the event. How do I know this? Read the December 2001 article thoroughly and draw your own conclusions. Before or after you've done that, sink your teeth into some of the following tidbits.

According to SCC's own writers, they searched high and low for a Mazda FD (one of my favorite cars by the way) that would put the smack down and, if possible, annihilate the competition. SCC finally settled on Tri-Point Engineering, as good as any place to land if you are looking for balanced, easy to drive, high performance race or autocross cars, particularly if said cars are of third-generation RX-7 vintage. Remember, the SCC staff felt the RX-7 was the best handling car of its generation. One thing I've learned in reading SCC and a few other magazines with young and inexperienced editors, feature editors and technical editors is that, through no fault of their own (other than believing the history of cars started with their own journalism careers), they have no real history of high performance OEM vehicles predating the early 1990s. The staff's premise that the RX-7 was, or is the best handling car of its generation is not, I repeat, not borne out by the facts.

Wolf's black RX-7 infront of the camera crew

hmmmm.... we thought this was a street car challenge?

Our cars infront of the BFG rig

A review of the literature from 1990-1995 will demonsrate my point here. Road&Track, Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Sports Car International, Car,Option and Option 2 magazines, among others, conducted various comparative tests involving OEM and tuner versions of the Supra, 300ZX/TT, Mazda RX-7TT, Corvettes, and Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR-4s. These tests involved the usual0-60, 0-100, braking and handling tests for which the mainstream automotive titles are famous. In some cases, the tuner cars were timed (in Japan) from0-300kph (186mph), tested in 150-0 braking and timed on various handling circuits, ranging from stadium parking lots to Japan's and Europe's finest roadracing facilities. In no instance, OEM or tuner, do I find the Mazda RX-7 TT outperforming the Supra TT. This is one of the reasons why the SCC staff in particular was taken aback by the performance of the Team Turbo Supras, even with one vehicle DNFing. One article, published by MotorTrend, anointed the 2JZ-GTE as the new "Top Gun" in an article that featured all the high performance cars of the day, including the FD.

So, how DO you ensure your magazine's entry will win? As I noted above, pick the right race/autocross vehicle and anything is possible. A multi-year regional and national autocross champion will show it tail lights to virtually all high performance street cars, especially in the highly capable hands of Rhys Millen who has as many hot laps at the "Streets" as anyone. Two, pick the "Streets", a renowned handling course over the big track. The big track has its share of tarmac that puts a premium on good handling, but it also contains very high speed sections that allow cars with big horsepower to show it off. I've attended various Porsche Owner's Club (POC) events over the years and one thing I've always admired about individual event oraganizers is their good faith efforts to balance handling(read 914) versus power (read 911). Do they always succeed in this balancing act? In a word, no. But, from what I've observed, the effort is always there. I wish I could say the same about SCC. For those of you who remain unconvinced, talk to Mani Jayasinghe about his recent experience inthe SCC-sponsored Ultimate Street Car Challenge. I don't want to steal Mani's thunder so for those of you who are interested, I believe you can contact him directly with a t04r.com link.

Henry DeKuyper shooting the interior of Ken's car

The SP crew in full action trying to bypass the power steering on Ken's car

Alex Shen going over some last minute details with Ken before the Lateral G testing

Big horsepower cars, ironically, are at a clear disadvantage at the "Streets". Just as the motor is generating serious power (at least turbocharged OHC motors), its back on the brakes for the next corner. As I've said, a great handling circuit used by many popular car magazines. With that said, Nils' car blasted through the slalom and skidpad portions of the test, finishing second to the RX-7 in both events, and finishing sixth in the timed road course event. Me? My car finished second to the RX-7 on the handling course (although by a distant 2.0 seconds). The aforementioned power steering gremlins limited my track time to one and one-half of a possible ten laps. The Team Turbo driver could have used the extra laps, having no experience in big-horsepower turbocharged vehicles. In fact, the driver, Chris James' claim to fame was driving aspirated small-block V8s in the Craftsman Truck Series. Chris demonstrated his ability to come up to speed, though, (pun intended) by knocking one full second off his lap time during the second five-lap sojourn with Nils' car. This was all the more impressive when one considers that this occurred during the hottest part ofthe day (108 degrees fahrenheit).

Josh Jaquot of SCC Magazine shooting Nils car at sunset

What would I change in this event if it occurs again and I had the power todo so? For starters, I'd keep the skidpad and slalom events and transfer the track event to the "Big Track" at Willow Springs. I WOULD NOT conduct the event in August of any year, as the heat was debilitating to both car and driver alike. I would use the same driver, owner assent assumed, for each vehicle entered rather than go with the inherent variables different drivers with different levels of track experience create for the event. I would honor the published rules and not manipulate the event and event participants to arrive at some pre-ordained result. Even if the event remained at the "Streets", having the same driver in each vehicle would tend to level the playing field. I certainly believe Rhys Millen, driving my car, would have challenged the RX-7 for overall win honors, assuming the damn thing would have finished the event. It would also help to have magazine editors who have some real RWD driving experience. I could be wrong, but I certainly gathered the impression that Nils' Supra and my car were the first time SCC editors had been in such cars or had the opportunity to drive them as God intended. All this, of course, doesn't matter if you don't finish the event. So in the event I do something like this again, rest assured, I will have a cooler on my power steering pump, and anywhere else I can hang one!

Until next time, keep it on the road and out of the ditches.

Questions, comments, rants and raves? Email me here.

G-Games magazine coverge:
- Turbo Magazine
- Sport Compact Car Magazine

complete image set

bf_cosworth.jpg	bf_monkeys.jpg	bf_supras.jpg
bf_supras2.jpg	evans_gn.jpg	henry.jpg
hotel.jpg	james_wrx.jpg	ken.jpg
ken_alex.jpg	ken_bfguy.jpg	ken_evan_chris.jpg
ken_photoset.jpg	ken_skid.jpg	ken_skid2.jpg
ken_steph.jpg	mountain.jpg	mountain2.jpg
nils_photoset.jpg	nils_photoset2.jpg	nils_photoset3.jpg
nils_photoset4.jpg	pit_ken.jpg	pit_spcrew.jpg
race_prep.jpg	race_prep2.jpg	redbug.jpg
rx7_tv.jpg	spguys.jpg	track1.jpg
track2.jpg