Wrapping Up the Season Nov 10, 2003
The Civic ran the last Martin Sports Car Club points event for 2003, returning to Gainesville Raceway's road course on Nov. 1. This weekend's layout was a little longer than the one used the previous week, as the big 180-degree turn was run clockwise, giving it an increasing radius rather than a decreasing one. As such, less drivers were caught off-guard and sent towards the wet grass.
Since we knew than an off could be bad--the track is pretty much lined with swamplands--we again ran somewhat safe tire pressures of 40 psi front and 36 psi rear. Hindsight being 20/20, that may have been a little too conservative, as the car pushed a bit in the tight 90-degree turns. A little more pressure out back should have helped the car rotate through the turns.
Still, the event was a blast, as this configuration was a nice mix of high-speed turns and technical bits. The event was also a warm-up of sorts for the Florida State Championships to be held the following day, so some fast drivers from outside of the area were present.
Solo II National Champion David Schnoerr joined us in the G Prepared class, and he proved tough to beat, taking the win by nearly 3 seconds in his VW GTI 337. (Never mind the talent, it's hard to beat 245mm Hoosiers on 225mm street tires.) Still, the GRM Civic finished second in the eight-car class.
Despite the second-place finish, by our count we have taken the class title for the year. The club's year-end banquet will be held on Dec. 13 in Orlando.
Trophy Dec 18, 2003
The Martin Sports Car Club held their annual awards banquet this past Saturday, and we came home with two trophies: G Prepared Champion and the Overall Prepared Champion. We knew we had the class title sewn up, but the other trophy came as a major surprise to us. We almost scored the Rookie of the Year trophy as well. (The award is given to the club's top overall rookie; previous autocross experience with other clubs doesn't count.)
We'd like to thank those that made this season possible, with extra thanks going to Sage at American Honda, Christian and Oscar at BFGoodrich Tires, and Jay at Ground Control. We're still finalizing our plans for next year, but the Civic will probably take off a year.
In its place, we'll be running another Honda product. We don't want to spill the beans, but we'll give you a hint: It's a rear-driver.
On the Scales Mar 5, 2005
Here's a breakdown of the components that we've pulled out of the car so far; most are self explanatory. Since Honda-Challenge requires using the stock battery location, we pulled the battery relocation kit from the car. And as the Civic is now the towee instead of the tow-er, we removed the tow hitch. There's more to be removed, as the car still has air conditioning and who knows what else living under the hood.
If you're going to yoink the HTML and copy this table somewhere else, please remember to include a link to GRM. Thanks!
<table>
<caption>Project 2002 Civic Si Track Car Weight Reduction</caption>
<tr>
<th>Item Removed</th>
<th>Weight (lbs.)</th>
</tr><tr>
<td>spare tire & tools</td>
<td>28.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>removable upper decklid</td>
<td>4.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>passenger seat</td>
<td>45</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>rear seat back (small)</td>
<td>14.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>rear seat back (large)</td>
<td>28</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>rear seat bottom</td>
<td>10.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>rear carpet & deck</td>
<td>6.75</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>stereo (head, spkrs)</td>
<td>6.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>drivers door panel</td>
<td>8.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>pass door panel</td>
<td>9</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>glovebox</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>center console</td>
<td>5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>interior side plastic (L)</td>
<td>7</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>interior side plastic (r)</td>
<td>6.75</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>remaining interior plastic</td>
<td>24.25</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>cabin carpet</td>
<td>13</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>headliner</td>
<td>6.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>moonroof assembly</td>
<td>31</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>sun visors (2)</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>chassis braces & plates</td>
<td>12.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>driver airbag</td>
<td>3</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>passenger airbag</td>
<td>6.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>airbag computer</td>
<td>1.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>seatbelt hardware</td>
<td>14.25</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>nuts and bolts</td>
<td>4</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>grey footwell foam (what was reachable)</td>
<td>8.5</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>battery relocate box & cable</td>
<td>10</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>trailer hitch</td>
<td>24</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>assorted sealing plastic and goo</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr><tr>
<td><b>TOTAL SO FAR</b></td>
<td>346.5</td>
</tr></table>
Getting rid of the vinyl Mar 7, 2005
Our 2002 Civic Si project car last appeared in the Nov. 2003 GRM where we pitted it against the then-reigning Solo 2 National Champion 1988 Civic in STS (the Street Touring Street Tire class for which we built the 2002 Si to compete). The comparison showed that the heavier 2002 Civic is simply outgunned by the lighter, earlier model in National level Solo 2 competition. Still, we were proud of what we accomplished on a local level with the car in autocross competition.rnAs the car is a preproduction model, it was on extended loan to us from Honda, and we've been waiting for the day that they would want it back; from there it would likely be crushed. Even after its editorial usefulness had waned, we'd drive the eager, reliable Civic from time to time, taking it to lunch, just out for a spin or attending events with our support booth (which fits in the large hatch without need of a trailer).rnIt amassed a variety of nicknames: The Bread Wagon, Shuttle Pod, and even Penalty Box on long trips where the exhaust would tend to boom. Regardless of the look or sound, anyone who drove the Si hard down the off-ramp or around a tight corner usually got out of it saying, "you know, this thing is a heck of a lot of fun."rnWe were going to be sad to see it go to the crusher.rnWe must have scored some karma points somewhere along the line this year, because it turns out that Honda is going to let us keep the Si, although it can no longer be driven on the street. This suits us fine: It started life as a show car, cut its teeth between the cones, and will now become a full-on track car.rnOur plan is to build the car to run and compete in as many different track events as we can, from NASA's HPDE program and Honda Challenge H3 class to SCCA PDE's and Club Races.rnBefore we can get to the fun stuff, there's the matter of preparing the car. While we've loved the BFGoodrich g-Force tires for street and autocross, we're going to be using some R-compound rubber for the track, so it's time to remove the decals that have been with the car since it had just 300 miles on the clock.
Clean and Prep Mar 29, 2005
It's taken liberal use of lacquer thinner, rags, soap and a clay bar, but we've finally degunked and revitalized the majority of panels on our Civic Si. Only the roof and rear hatch remain to be cleaned. For whatever reason, when we removed the vinyl on those panels all the glue stayed on the paint. The decals on the roof were so brittle that peeling was useless, and they had to be removed entirely by razor blade. The car is also sporting a staggered wheel setup; we're going to use the lightweight and strong forged Volk TE-37s for our race tires, and the blingtastic chrome monsters as our trailer/intimidation wheels.