John/Convette SEMA/Optima Ultimate Street Car challenge, 2013 this Saturday 9 th Nov

[OptimaJim]

GNon345s is right about many of the other cars in our field. While it makes it easier to chalk up someone else's success to deep pockets, the fact is many of the cars in our field were built on tight budgets in home garages. We also have very high dollar builds as well, but our event isn't about bang for the buck, it's about finding the ultimate street car. We can't do that if we don't invite what would be considered “the ultimate” street cars, including new exotics that may be lightly-modified by comparison. We're still searching for a Ferrari owner who is willing to step up, but having high dollar builds in our event only reinforces the great job done by those who started with far less.

 

John's car was awarded 72 points in the Design competition. Only the top-20 finishers receive overall event points, which means more than half of the cars in the field don't receive any overall points in that category. Frankly, getting points in the Design competition isn't hard in a field full of SEMA show cars- 20 did it. The hard hat trick to get is scoring any points in all three of the timed events- only 13 cars in the field did that and John's Conquest was one of them.

 

I know not everyone reading this thread was at our event or SEMA and didn't get a chance to really look over the rest of the field, but I would still be interested in hearing the top-10 from anyone who was there. Even if John's car is at the top of your list, there is a good chance your next nine cars will be different than everyone else's. If enough folks give us their top-10, we're likely to get every car in the field on someone's list. That's what helps to make this such a cool event. The question is, now that John has blazed the trail and we are running a ten-event series next year (televising it on MavTV), will we see more SQs at our upcoming events? No invitations are needed for these events, just sign up, show up and you're in.

 

Jim McIlvaine

eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries

www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

[19cturbo]

thank you for explaining the design part of it.. it was just curiosity on most of our parts.. i agree, if everyone picked a top 10 every list would be different.. This was not our event, we were not the judges.. I really wanted to come out and support this but it just wasnt in the funding.. Im glad you all gave john the chance to compete. I couldnt give you a top 10 because i was not there.

[SOTTY]

I'll pm you my top ten Jim which includes the Green filter Focus ST / 1965 Indy 500 winning #82 tribute Lotus/Ford driven by the late and great Jim Clark , those guys did one hell of a job taking that modern Focus and turning it into a superbly detailed "take" on the 60's Clark/Chapman formula 1 Lotus their car is based on right down to the period Halibrand style wheels it rides on and i'd like to share my own personal Optima challenge story why this car is in my top ten.

As a small child back in the 60's at the Daily Express building in Glasgow, Scotland i sat in and was photographed by my father in the very Formula 1 Lotus that my childhood hero and fellow Scotsman Jim Clark drove to victory in 1965 that the Green filter/Focus is based on.

When i first saw the Green filter Focus i knew from the first second the car that it was based on and mentioned it to one of the crew who was rather surprised at my knowledge being something of a walking "historian" on all thing's Jim Clark/Colin Chapman and team Lotus from the 1960's .

Anyhoo cutting a long story short after the Optima event was over the same young crew member tracked me down and invited me over to the Green filter pits where i met with Mr Marks and the rest of the team and answered some historical questions and filled in some blanks for them on the car and the people behind the story their Focus is based on.

These guys made me feel something of a "guest of honor", insisting i sat in the Focus and get my picture taken letting me do my own "tribute" to the car i had sat in 46 years earlier as a youngster.

Before i left, team Green Filter presented me with one of thier " #82" team shirts and a photo of the Focus ,what a fantastic bunch of guys who really made a very special day even more so , thought i'd share my story .

[SOTTY]

As for bringing a Conquest out to play , i could do that Jim , getting tired doing car shows ,maybe it's time for me to beat on one of mine and break something .

[natedog_37]

Once mine is rebuild you will see it out there if you come to Michigan, or Ohio.

 

Jim thanks for coming to this board and clearing things up.

[Convette]

I feel like I should chime in here. I knew what I was up against, I held my own, and am very happy to have done as well as I did. The top guys in this event are legends in the car building world, none of which are to be taken lightly. Yes, I'm poor, my car was built in shi- and I bent my interior over my fence in my yard...lol all are true. But this event isnt about who did what where and with how much money. Its run what you brung, and thats the beauty of it. I learned a great amount from this event, and put me in perspective of where I want to be some day. I will have a better car next year, all around, with no dents, scratches or rust holes...

[Burton]

My previous post was not meant to dog Optima, SEMA, or anybody really. We're just all gonna be biased here because we love the SQs. If the competition was that beast of a 'Vette against a bone stock SQ with busted airdam,we'd still want to see the SQ on top, wether it deserved to be there or not.

 

I'm sure plenty of the competitors put time and passion into their rides, even if they paid a shop for all their mods or started with a high dollar car. There were probably other people who were budget minded like John too, and had to really sacrifice and work hard to build the car they have today. We just love the SQs and everything that John has done to get notoriety for our obscure cars, so in our eyes, there's nothing out there better.

 

I'm sure the same thing is happeneing in other forums too. For instance... I saw a Lambo there. Not sure if that's one of the cars John beat, but can you imagine the posts on the Lambo forums if he did? "How ddi our six figure supercar get beat by some 80's Chrysler import?!?!"

 

I know deep in my mind, that the cars that beat John probably deserved to, but I think we all wanted to see that car in the number one spot. Our love for the cars make anything less, hard to swallow.

[OptimaJim]

SOTTY, I'd love to hear your top-10 and I'm glad you liked the Focus. While I love the Gulf livery, it's getting to be a bit like the General Lee, where people are putting it on everything. I was glad to see both the Focus and Porsche choose somewhat-unique schemes for their cars.

 

I'm glad you guys are biased toward your cars, because bias equals passion in the car world and our brand and our event don't exist on indifference. I hope to see more SQs at our upcoming events (and not just for moral support for someone else).

 

I think the guys with the really high dollar cars, like the Lamborghini, are probably the gutsiest of the bunch. As incredible as the Mach 40 is, you actually have to explain that car to make folks understand why it is so awesome. “Lamborghini” or “Porsche” has instant name recognition, so those are often the cars people point to as measuring sticks for their own success. Those guys have the biggest targets on their backs, because everyone will be quick to talk about how they were faster than a Lamborghini, but slow to mention that a four-door Mitsubishi was far quicker than both cars.

 

Jim McIlvaine

eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc

www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

[GNon345s]

Of all the cars at SEMA, I happen to take a cell phone pic of the cars Sotty and OptimaJim are talking about...http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z429/GNon18s/semafocus.pnghttp://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z429/GNon18s/gulffocus.jpg

[GNon345s]

Yep snapped a pic of this thing too.http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z429/GNon18s/conquestsema.png

[GNon345s]

I didn't take this one, but for those that don't know, this is the car that won the event.http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z429/GNon18s/ousci13.jpg

[GNon345s]

Sorry to post three red cars in a row, but this is a car that did NOT get invited to Optimas event. Im still trying to figure out how this car got passed over. ..900hp and 2,700lbs. would have been cool to see this car out there. Maybe they figured they had enough red cars with flarehttp://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z429/GNon18s/semamustang.pngd fenders already, Lol

[CaliConquestAlex]

Found this SEMA 2013 interview on the fox body. I would've loved to see that run.

 

Edited November 22, 2013 by CaliConquestAlex

[OptimaJim]

I'm not an OUSCI Race Director, so I would only be speculating like you guys as to why that car wasn't invited. That definitely looks like a very cool car, although it sounds a lot more like a race car with license plates, than a street car. I don't know if you've seen what's left of the interior, but I'd be interested in your take on it as it relates to how you define a street car. This is what the interior of Mark Stielow's 800+ horsepower Camaro looks like-

 

http://ls1tech.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IMG_00092.jpg

 

 

Getting a golden ticket invitation is the hardest way to get into the OUSCI, because they only pick ten cars out of the 2000+ that are at SEMA. The rest of the field is comprised almost entirely (with a few exceptions, like John's car) of cars that ran in our qualifying events during the year. Maybe we'll see that Mustang at one of our events next year?

 

Jim McIlvaine

eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.

www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries

[sdrt]

Searching around on the interweb and found this.

 

http://blogs.hotrod.com/31-cars-of-the-optima-ultimate-street-car-invitational-at-sema-2013-91411.html/sema-2013-optima-ultimate-street-car-invitational-challenge-cars-pro-touring-044/#axzz2njzMJLgG