I never thought I'd see the day, but it looks like I'll be going to the circle track this weekend... Last night, about 30 minutes after a busted windshield put me over budget this month, I found out that the local NASCAR track is having some "circle drags" and awarding prize money. Only rules are that the car has to be driven to the track (no trailer queens).

I've been on road courses for the last 3 years, but have never driven a circle track before. I'm told that the track is banked over 30 degrees and is 3/4 mile long. A guy in a Pontiac Sunfire claims to have hit 90 on the straights, so if that's true, I should be going pretty damn fast.

So, does anyone have any tips for setting up a 3rd gen Integra for a circle track? Any driving tips? I'm currently at 2400lbs dry weight, 425F/450R springs, OTS Neuspeed Koni Yellows, 24mm F / 22mm R sway bars, -2.5F/-1.5R camber, zero toe, and Cobalt Spec-B front pads. Tires will be half-dead Azenis. It's turbocharged and my conservative tune for road racing puts me at about 300 hp at the crank, with almost as much torque, but this will be short and cool enough that I can definately get away with turning up the boost. I have the ability to adjust toe, camber, ride height, and shock stiffness.

Maybe I'll enter the drift contest too, lol... If there's prize money for blowing corners and throwing away my rear traction, I'm there!


Edit: track is asphalt


Modified by Weston at 11:57 AM 10/6/2005

 

Drifting a fwd? Hmm *** dragging is more correct.

Do they allow different size tires?

 

I'll confess to not having given this much serious thought...but it seems to me that large amounts of rear toe out would be useful in drifting with front wheel drive.

It's a given that that would be a Thrilling setup on a Nascar Oval.

Scott, who's only real circle track experience consists of minibikes in a parking lot 25 years ago....it was GREAT!

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=257522

tires will be your biggest issue... bald/thin thread tires will leave you sitting still. get some good all seasons.

stand on the gas and hold on... the turns are not as bad is they seem. it feels like you are driving on slushy snow but they traction is still there once you make an adjustment.

i had no trouble at all getting the rear end to come out and holding it (banking?) for a little bit.

carry your speed into and tru the corner.... your first lap or 2 will be 'exciting'.

it will be a rough ride.... hold on and enjoy.

 

I was sort of kidding about the drifting thing. I don't need to trash my wheel bearings before my next real race... But I am serious about the circle track "drags".

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Willard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=257522

tires will be your biggest issue... bald/thin thread tires will leave you sitting still. get some good all seasons.

stand on the gas and hold on... the turns are not as bad is they seem. it feels like you are driving on slushy snow but they traction is still there once you make an adjustment.

i had no trouble at all getting the rear end to come out and holding it (banking?) for a little bit.

carry your speed into and tru the corner.... your first lap or 2 will be 'exciting'.

it will be a rough ride.... hold on and enjoy. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Oops... I should have mentioned that this track is asphalt. How much of that still applies?

 

right side konis at full stiff? put 16s on the right and 14s on the left

&lt;---- i really dont know!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Weston &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oops... I should have mentioned that this track is asphalt. How much of that still applies?</TD></TR></TABLE>
nothing.

you are on your own for that high friction, bituminous surface.

 

Full - camber in right front, full positive in left front, full caster in right front...

put smaller tires on the back..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Weston &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I never thought I'd see the day, but it looks like I'll be going to the circle track this weekend... </TD></TR></TABLE>
That sounds SOOOoooooooo bitchen. We want TONS of pictures and a race report that reads like a novel.

You owe it to us...

 

Lots and lots of preload. Zero out your droop. Remove front swaybar.

 

So how did it go Weston?

 

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I ended up running out of time (partially due to having to replace a bad fuel injector), so I was only able to set the shocks and tire pressures. I also wasn't able to rotate my tires and my fronts were corded by the end of the day. It turns out that the track was only 3/8 mile long, so the claims of a Sunfire hitting 90 were greatly exaggerated.

I ran in the highest class and finished in 3rd place. My first race was some highly modified Jeep that was quick and got a hell of a launch on me, but I caught him the first first and passed him on the following straight. My second race was a turbocharged 180sx that was quick, but he was there primarily for the drift contest, so obviously it wasn't a problem (none of the drifters who attempted the circle drags did too well). My third race was against the track owner's son driving a turbo CRX that was pretty evenly matched with me in acceleration and had a basic adjustable suspension (KYB AGX shocks, not sure what springs). He got me a little off the line, but I got a little ahead of him in the first set of turns. We were pretty close going down the back straight, me on the inside, him on the outside. But as I went into the last set of turns, I hit the brakes too hard, got the rear end loose, and lost a lot of speed. I also didn't downshift into 3rd, so I ended up doing that in the middle of the turn, much too late. The CRX is now a little ahead of me on the outside, but I was catching him. Unfortunately, he still had a few inches on me as we crossed the finish. Another driver who was in the stands said the crowd went wild. It's ironic that was so much excitment for a Honda vs Honda race at a NASCAR track. My ChaseCam was pointed a little to the left, so it didn't catch that finish or even show the other car until I got off the throttle and he got a few car lengths ahead. A modified yellow Evo 8 ended up in 1st, but I didn't even get a shot at him; the turbo CRX was only about a car length behind him though.

Here are the videos: http://www.apexracingmedia.net/videos/2005-10-08/

 

Nice trophy

No way that crx was gonna make up for the huge jump the evo got!