The Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational is the final event in the Optima Ultimate Street Car Series, that aims to find the best street car in the USA.
The Ultimate Street Car Invitational runs along side the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. As such, thi will be my third time checking this event out. The first was in 2019 (which you can read about here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2019/12/13/optima-ultimate-street-car-invitational-at-sema-2019/) and the second was in 2022 (which you can read about here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2022/11/16/sema-2022-optima-ultimate-street-car-invitational/)
It’s not simply an event to find out which car is the fastest. The cars have to undergo a number of performance tests including a drag race, autocross, laps of a circuit, brake tests and more. They also have to complete a drive on public roads and the event even has a judged section covering usability, visual modifications and sound systems.
American muscle cars, from the 1960s up to present day, are hugely popular for these events.
The Corvette is the perfect platform for this type of event. Powerful, agile and heavily supported by the aftermarket and motorsports industries. The Corvette was represented from the C2 all the way up to the C8.
There was a Viper! These were obviously produced in much much fewer numbers than the Corvette and since they were discontinued in 2017 they have become rather collectible.
The Mazda MX5/Miata is the perfect autocross car! There were a handful entered.
The Honda S2000 is the angrier cousin of the Mazda MX5.
Overall though, there weren’t as many Japanese sports cars as you might expect.
Teslas are becoming quite popular in the motorsport world. I’ve seen a few modified as race cars on both sides of the Atlantic now. The Tesla drive trains still seem to be the most popular for converting classic cars to electric too.
The truck classes were popular again this year. I must admit, I really like the square bodied era of pick up trucks from the late 1970s to early 1990s. Seeing them modified to be fast is really cool!
I really like seeing the unusual stuff at events like this. Oddball stuff that people have built. For example this Ford Probe. In the U.K the Probe was meant to be the successor to the Capri. It never really caught on. When I was a very small child in the late 1990s my neighbour had one and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world!
It’s super rare to see one in the U.K so to see one out in Vegas was a treat!
A little Fiat with a big V8 crammed into it. I love the wide body and all the aero.
I think this is a Chevrolet Corsa sedan based on the Vauxhall/Opel Corsa C. Apparently they were sold in South America.
In the U.K we got a sedan/saloon version of the Vauxhall Nova (Opel Corsa A) but the Vauxhall Corsa B and C were only sold as hatchbacks here. Corsas don’t do it for me at all, but I do think it would be fun to import a saloon just purely because it’s different.
Thanks for reading!
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By Richard Francis
