A Honda Civic in a sea of Porsches!!!!! video inside.....

[fasthonda]

hi fellas!

wow!!!  what a weekend!!!!  i LOVE LOVE LOVE the Glen!!!  

hands down my favorite track!

i really enjoyed the entire weekend;  beautiful weather, perfect track, nice folks to hang out with, and a great student to teach!   i was sorting out the Honda Civic a little bit, and it got better with every session out (i'd say it's about 80% of the way there, now).....

here is a link to a video of sunday's 3rd red-black session;  i'm starting out gridded behind Larry Herman:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...6520&hl=en

the vid is a tiny bit jumpy;  my miniDV doesn't seem to like the curbs much!  ha!

i'm babying the engine a bit;  shifting at 8k instead of 8600;  we've got a real conservative tune on it;  a bit rich, and there exist some holes in the fuel tables;  we'll work on fixing those on the dyno in the next month!!!

i planned on bringing my good wheels and tires, but due to an unfortunate mishap at VIR last friday, i only have three good, unsmashed wheels and tires!          that meant that i was running this weekend on my towing/dyno/practice set of rubber (you can hear them SCREEEEECHING in protest on the vid!   ha ha ha!).  this is their 3rd year and 11th track weekend.  they are done in!   after about 5 laps or so, those poor old tires would really pack it in and get greasy/slimy (thats why i came in early).  i think i would have been alot better on a fresh set, and they would have lasted longer into the session, too.

if you liked this vid clip, i have two others, both from saturday, which came out pretty nice.....  both are about the same length;  one i start out behind Bob T.;  the other behind Ed K./Fred B.   here they are:

1st red session on saturday starting behind Ed K. and Fred B.:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...3359&hl=en

2nd red session on saturday starting behind Bob T.:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...9717&hl=en


between the three clips, you get to see a good many of the red-black cars in their element -- running hard on the track!!!!!!!!  

i am very upset that the camera didn't start for the 1st red session on sunday;  where i was chasing larry around for several laps in heavy traffic until i started to run out of freaking gas!!!!  that would have been some neat footage to put up!!!!!

thanks again for a wonderful weekend!!

todd

PS  thanks a TON, Larry, for taking me out for a ride in your C car;  it was super AWESOME!!!!!  my aim is to someday make my Civic brake and stick like your RSA!  (and maybe have some of that wonderful top end, too)

[Tony356993]

Nice vids Todd. One of those shots of my "new" car was just prior to the throttle getting stuck in the floored position at the top of the esses. - good fun.

[Darren]

Tony356993 wrote:

Nice vids Todd. One of those shots of my "new" car was just prior to the throttle getting stuck in the floored position at the top of the esses. - good fun.

How would you know it was stuck at the top? You lift there?

[Mark Fox]

Todd, I just caught this. Nice video. I am curious what the car weighs and what power it is geting to the wheels? We were at a NASA event at Summit 10/05 and there were some civics putting down 275 WHP in a very light weight package.

How were those lap times?

[fasthonda]

hi mark!

we are still working on tuning it up;  its a stock k20a2 rsx-s 2 liter motor, with a small greddy turbo (6 psi boost).  on a dynojet dyno, the week before, it made 246 whp at 8200 rpm.  my weight is right around 2200, with me in it, at the end of a race.

the car feels really good, up thru 5th gear.  when i shift to 6th (around 120 mph), it definitely feels like it falls off.  you can see how larry herman starts to walk away at those higher speeds, but at the lower speeds, especially under 100, i can keep up pretty well with him....

the top hondas at the NASA races, racing in H1 (the class i raced the honda in for 5 years), are making 210 whp to 245 whp, depending on their displacement (from 1.8 liters to 2.4 liters).  they range in weight, with driver, from 2250 lbs to 2450 lbs. (also dependent on displacement and engine family).  those are all fwd civics, integras, and preludes.  the S2000 rwd sportscars also race in H1, and they weigh 2650 lbs, and make about 220 whp.

the lap record at summit for H1 stands  at 1:22.6;  that was a very fast lap;  'normal' fast laps are in the mid 1:23s to low 24s (my best as an H1 car is a 1:24.0x).

i'd hope that my car can do 1:22s now, with its additional grunt.  that would be an all out qualifying lap, leaving nothing on the table (and using fresh rubber;  i was on very old, used up tires at the glen -- my 'towing/dyno/de tires').   most usually, if i do an 'all out lap' with RTR, especially at summit, i get called in early (black flag, lol!) for 'over aggressive driving'!!!!!        i try not to do that much anymore;  i don't like having to talk to the 'guy in charge'!!!!

todd

PS  typically, my honda is kinda a 'rat' at the NASA races;  it's not as well prepped, and is built out of more junkyard parts than most!  Kevin Helm's Hondaworks Civic is super clean and well built;  so is Chris Drabouski's Password JDM Civic.  Scott Burner's S2000 is a beautiful racecar, too!

 

[Mark Fox]

A 1:22 at Summit is smoking, must be at 11/10.  By the way kudos on your tight line in the WGI video.  You really gained on the cars in front of you who were a bit wide.