L.A.’s Super Street racers open their doors (and engines) to the public

They’re fast, they’re furious and … they’re legal.

It’s called “Super Street” racing, a community of car enthusiasts with a need for speed, who race only on sanctioned tracks and roads in Southern California — all in cars they’ve built and modified themselves. Now, they’ll be racing into the spotlight.

On Saturday, Sept. 7th, MotorTrend will host its first-ever “Super Street After Dark” event
at Kaiser Kars in Compton.

The event is open to the public and will feature 250 of the fastest, most unique Super Street cars around.

The sport itself started in Los Angeles in the 1990s. Car enthusiasts realized several lower-priced Japanese import cars could be easily modified to be louder and faster, all while looking cool in the process.

“They were making these amazing sounds, expressing all this horsepower and lowering their
suspensions to create a real culture around these cars,” says MotorTrend Editor Miguel Cortina. “That culture has become a mix of sport, and art, as Super Street racers and engineers design
cars to fit their personalities, inside and out. ‘It’s not just about who can go the fastest and
whose engine sounds the loudest. It’s also about what kind of art you’re bringing into the car.”

Most Super Street vehicles start out looking like something found at a local used car lot
before they are modified and turned into next-gen race cars.

“I have an Acura NSX that’s pretty extreme and would be a $300,000 car to build,” says Super Street racer and engineer Amir Bentatou. “But if you just want to go to the track, for about 10 or 15 grand, you can have a race-ready car.”

Those cars will slow down long enough for anyone to check out at MotorTrend’s “Super Street
After Dark,” event on Sept. 7.

Tickets can be purchased at motortrend.com/superstreetafterdark.

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