The Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational pits vehicles of all sorts against each other to determine who has the fastest ride. The weekend of November 7 and 8 held the invitational at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After a busy week at SEMA 2015, the racing action was still coming for the competitors of this years Optima Challenge.
Danny Popp is no stranger to the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge, winning the event in 2011, 2014, and now in 2015, he is the only three-time champion the series has seen. Driving his 2003 Z06 Corvette, Popp competed rolling on Forgeline GA3R wheels. The GA3R is a forged, three-piece wheel milled from a block of 6061-T6 aluminum. With a max load rating of 2100 pounds these wheels were able to easily support the loads Popp’s Corvette would show them throughout the 2015 Invitational competition.
Competitors are evaluated on a number of criteria before a winner is named. Autocrosses, stopping challenges, road rallies, and craftsmanship evaluation are all parts of the invitational and competitors collect points along the way.
While the Corvette struggled to beat out Mitsubishi EVOs in the autocross, the ‘Vette was able to stretch out the points on the road course. Improving upon his previous benchmark time of 1:41.349 around the 2.4-mile road course, Popp ran 1:39.731.
Alonside the overall winner Popp, five out of the top ten competitors utilized Forgeline Wheels; a Nissan GT-R, 2015 Porsche 911, Mitsubishi EVO, and a 1LE Chevrolet Camaro. The variety of vehicles and competition makes the Optima Search For The Ultimate Street Car a fun event to watch, rather than spec vehicles and clinical racing, spectators and competitors can make real-world conclusions about their vehicles.