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Our Season Isn’t Over Nov 5, 2002
The Solo II Nats have come and gone, but that doesn't mean we're done playing with our Civic. This past Friday, we ran the car at a test and tune session at Central Florida's Orlando Speed World, our local drag strip. The weather was cool, but definitely on the humid side. (Welcome to Florida.)
Our first run proved to be the quickest, the car covering the quarter mile in 16.151 seconds at 86.53 mph. A 15-second run is out there; now we just need to find it. Even though the car wears a Honda badge, it felt nothing like the CRX Si and Integra Type R we have previously run. More torque, a short red line and lots of negative camber made things a little tricky.
Here are our time slips:
run 1: first real run in the car
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reaction time: .707
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60' time: 2.375
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330' time: 6.805
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1/8 time: 10.465
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mph: 68.08
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1000' time: 13.540
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1/4 time: 16.151
- mph: 86.53
run 2: wheel hop top of first gear
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reaction time: .564
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60' time: 2.543
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330' time: 7.245
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1/8 time: 10.969
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mph: 67.05
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1000' time: 14.087
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1/4 time: 16.730
- mph: 85.47
run 3: felt quickest, but wasn't
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reaction time: .647
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60' time: 2.437
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330' time: 6.903
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1/8 time: 10.567
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mph: 67.98
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1000' time: 13.650
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1/4 time: 16.274
- mph: 86.05
We redid the Civic's suspension for the fifth time today. After Nationals, the constant pounding of 550/900 lb./in. springs have taken their toll on the GRM staff members, and the car isn't being used as much as it should be.
So, we moved the 550 lb./in. springs to the rear, ditching the coal-cart springs and replaced the fronts with 425 lb./in. springs. The result is a much more behaved, yet still firm car on the street. Less hop, pitch and convulsions over weird pavement features and concrete joints. We've only noticed a slight increase in body roll...but not as bad as it was before the switch to Ground-Control coil-overs.
We'll be at the Florida State Championships in Ft. Myers, Fla this weekend to see if the revision has dulled the Civic's handling any. After that event, we are mulling over different venues for our mini-minivan, where it might be more competitive than it is currently in STS autocross action.
Plenty of Action Dec 9, 2002
The season may be over for many parts of the country, but our Civic is still seeing plenty of action. We ran with the Martin Sports Car Club this past Sunday, where the car fits into their G Prepared class. This 40-year-old autocross club's rules are similar yet still different from those used by the SCCA.
G Prepared is close to the SCCA's F Street Prepared class, allowing open exhaust systems, some intake modifications and sticky R-compound tires. Larger wheels can be used, although the rules limit how much they can be upsized from the stock pieces. Still, we think we finished second in class, although we're waiting for the official results to be posted.
The current suspension setup was extremely easy to drive, although the slick pavement required an easy right foot; too much throttle on corner exit would lead to wheelspin. The course featured plenty of sweepers, and while not our Civic's strong suit, the other cars in the class--Ford SVT Focus and a V6-powered Camaro--faired no better.
The course also featured a very tight four-cone slalom that pushed our power steering assembly to the limit. We lost assist during one run, but it wasn't so bad. The Martin Sports Car Club holds monthly autocross events in the Central Florida area, and 50-second courses are not unusual with them.
Much like the SCCA, their events attract a wide variety of cars, from hybrid Hondas and modified Saturns to vintage MGs and ground-pounding Corvettes. Complete details can be found online at http://www.martinsportscarclub.com.
We also (sorta) used the Civic for something special: getting new people involved. A friend of ours has been asking about autocross for some time, and this weekend he made his big debut, as "Super Dave" Erecitano ran his 1999 Civic Si for the first time. Dave is a longtime BMX racer, so he knows the proper line through a corner--although he usually has traffic to contend with. We think he's hooked, and after the timed runs, we took him for a lap in our Civic.Unfortunately, the fun runs ended when a Corvette punted the timing lights.
We didn't run the car last week, although we did take a second-place finish on November 24 at a local Central Florida Region SCCA event.
Where’d all that plastic go, anyways? Feb 7, 2003
We're not exactly sure how it happened, but a couple of months ago, our Civic somehow lost both plastic front fender inner liners plus the lower apron. A friend at Honda questioned if local hoodlums could have swiped the parts, but we think something was knocked loose and allowed to drag.
Well, the missing items have been replaced along with all-new hardware. Does it make the car any faster? No, but it looks a bit better (and makes the car STS legal again).
One of the benefits of living in Florida would have to be our year-round autocross scene. It's only the middle of January, and we have already run three points events for 2003. (Two of these events were held in November, but technically they were for the 2003 points season.)
We did okay this past weekend, finishing third out of seven entries in the Martin Sports Car Club's G Prepared class. Even though the class does allow R-compound tires, nearly everyone was running true street tires, keeping things even.
Sweet redemption Feb 10, 2003
Our editor redeemed both himself and the Civic this past weekend, taking the G Prepared class win at the Martin Sports Car Club's February event in Palm Bay, Fla. Okay, maybe the threat of rain kept a few of the really fast guys at home, but our times would have put us near the top of the C Race class, the place the Martin Sports Car Club puts the really fast Civics, including those running engine swaps.
The course was a bit on the fast side, as we ran out of second gear twice on each run. (Gotta raise that rev limiter.) Even though the pavement remained dry, the air temperatures were on the cool side, probably in the 50s at best. We ran 40 psi of air pressure up front along with 44 psi out back, and the car seemed pretty happy, as the back end would rotate as expected.
The Palm Bay site (same one used for the $1500, $2001 and $2002 Challenges) features a center "slick" section, and this weekend's course didn't make things any easier for competitors, placing two critical turns on the slippery asphalt. While a lot of front-wheel-drive cars were seen plowing through the slick track, our Civic hooked nicely, never missing a beat.
While the Civic didn't bring home the gold at the SCCA's Tire Rack Solo II National Championships, the car is shaping up as a pretty good local autocrosser. With a less-than-perfect driver behind the wheel, the car has done well in five events run since last fall's Nationals:
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Nov. 17, SCCA in Orlando: 3rd out of 7 (or so) in STS.
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Nov. 24, SCCA in Palm Bay: 2nd out of 7 in STS.
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Dec. 8, Martin in Palm Bay: 2nd out of 4 in G Prepared.
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Jan. 11, Martin in Palm Bay: 3rd out of 7 in G Prepared.
- Feb. 8, Martin in Palm Bay: 1st out of 3 in G Prepared.
An experiment Feb 27, 2003
We performed an experiment of sorts during this past weekend's Central Florida Region SCCA autocross: How does a lack of sleep, increased levels of stress due to an impending deadline combined with wearing the wrong contact lenses impact on-track performance? The verdict: Somewhat, as we initially ran third out of eight cars before falling one spot halfway through the event.
Not our best showing, but we were beaten by a pair of tough drivers: Todd Smith (Acura Integra GS-R) and Bryce Merideth (BMW 328is). Todd ran a fast second-gen Honda CRX Si in CSP back in the day--landing on the cover of GRM in the process--while Bryce is the 19-year-old son of Gary Merideth, a frequent nationals contender (and all-around nice guy). In other words, some really good guys beat us this past weekend, but that just means we need to repay the favor.
Since we were happy with the car during our last event, we ran the same tire pressures (40 psi front, 44 psi rear).
In other local STS news, the 1991 Nissan NX2000 of brothers Bill and Elliott Harvey called all the shots at the weekend's Ft. Myers National Tour event. Elliott took the win with a combined time of 104.380 seconds, while Bill ran a 106.166. Third-fastest was Matthew Cragin in a 1996 Nissan Maxima with a 109.910, while the rest of the seven-car field couldn't break 110 seconds.