I was hoping to open the morning newspaper (Honda-Tech) to read about the 25 hr, but there is nothing here.

 

 

...and how did the 1 driver for 25hrs do from GRM? Did he actually make it all 25hrs?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 577HondaPrelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...and how did the 1 driver for 25hrs do from GRM? Did he actually make it all 25hrs? </TD></TR></TABLE>

The Honda R&D team had other co drivers, I doubt anyone is crazy enough to do it on their own.

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1453484

https://honda-tech.com/zerothre...94011

all i have found so far...

 

I read though the "real time" race reports on GRM message boards, and here are some cliff notes:

1) High school girls kept the team up all night at the hotel the night before practice/qualifying. (not in a good way).

2) During practice any sort of trail braking, even just a tap of the brake would cause rear lock up and a snap spin. More than 1 driver had this problem in the car. They found out is was a bad ABS computer, and fixed it.

3) One of the drivers hit a wall during practice and busted the front radiator supports. They welded in some new supports only to find out that the radiator had a small hole and needed replaced.

4) with fixing the abs and the radiator one of the grm drivers didn't get any real practice laps and had never been to this track, so he was going out the next day for a race on a track he had never been on.

5) They got the car ready for the race and started near the back of a 50+ field. They moved up several position in the 1st several hrs of racing. 1:08 and 1:09's was their pace per lap. The track "noob" figured out the track with no incidents

6) quote: "Unfortunately that pace is not keeping up with the class. There's M3s and Factory Fives in our class, so keeping up in a Honda, Type-R power or not, is tough. " Looks like at this point they had to just hope for the best, have fun, and wait for others to mess up.

7) as it started to get dark their car was getting more and more "darty" under braking and twitchy during turn in. Quick look overs during driver changes reviled everything still in place and not broke or bent so they went back out.

8) the rear end problem was getting much worse so they looked it over again and found the lower LCA inner bushing was melted away by the exhaust... doh! the drivers then said "See!! told ya something was wrong back there"

9) They put in a new rear LCA then got back out there... they lost a few positions during the down time.

10) Taking advantage of the bad luck of some other folks they move back up to 28th.

11) They get a black flag for being too noisy. They then put the stock muffler back on and go back out.

12) Some how one of the drivers broke an upper control arm. they stuck a new one in to fix it.

13) car is running good, not too noisy, no weird darty or twitchy handling problems then....

14) 3:00 am, their engine blowed up
They called it quits and went to bed.


Sorry about all your bad luck, but I'm sure it was still a good time. Good luck next year if team R&D and GRM team up again!!

 

what car was this in? The EP right?

 

Yeah, JG (our art director) was driving the EP hatch. Thanks for the quickie summary. I think you got the high points. I spoke to him yesterday, and he was on his way to Reno to make himeself feel better.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Casey@Burns &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what car was this in? The EP right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea, poor guys had to work on the thing nonstop.

edit: beaten to it

 

We were in the pits next to them (ok two pit's over). I saw the car come back paddock a lot.. I felt bad for them, but they did have a lot of people that seemed to know what the were doing!

 

I found this this morning:
http://www.caranddriver.com/ar...ber=1

 

Anyone know of a link to the results? I haven't found it posted but need to see where a few teams ran.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Anyone know of a link to the results? I haven't found it posted but need to see where a few teams ran.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

from mylaps http://www.mylaps.com/results/...55372

 

Did the diesel truck run?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BrianZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

from mylaps http://www.mylaps.com/results/...55372</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow- someone was running 1:48's in ESR. Negotiating traffic must have been fun.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did the diesel truck run?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No.. I believe they were there for testing, but decided not to run..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BrianZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We were in the pits next to them (ok two pit's over). I saw the car come back paddock a lot.. I felt bad for them, but they did have a lot of people that seemed to know what the were doing! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, when JG saw who was on the Honda R&D crew, he realized he wouldn't need to bring any tools or anything. Despite the setbacks, he said they were an awesome team.

 

Guys, Just back tonight from Cali. I'll get some supplemental info to JG's reports tomorrow after work but for now I need some sleep!! The short version is that an EP3 without ABS is the root of all evil. All of our issues until the motor died were from one spin on Friday.

Congrats to Mike Quan and crew. They did an awesome job.

Also props have to go out the new 06 Civic Si's. Despite being 30-40hp less and a couple hundred pounds heavier they were faster than the EP3 TypeR! That just goes to show you how good that new car is. Have you put down your deposit yet?

 

Part 1:
After successfully testing at Buttonwillow the weekend before we thought everything was sorted in the car. However following the Buttonwillow test, work was done to wire in some additional switches to the dash, for the extra driving lights and the ABS was inadvertantly turned off. Why is there even a switch (you ask)? Sometimes the EP3 chassis will turn off the ABS completely when an airbone rear wheel locks and then comes back in contact with the ground, with the switch the driver can recycle the system without having to turn off the car.

At Friday practice, we were a little too eager to get the "new to Thunderhill" drivers in the car and sent one of them out first. In retrospect someone more familiar with the car should have gone out first. In this ABS off condition is extremely easy to spin; I know, I did it too later in the day on just a recon lap with about 1/2 pedal pressure which is right before we figured out that problem. Unforturnately that first trip out ended quickly in a spin which sent the car off road at an unluckly location that had a bit a depression in the dirt which was just enough to catch the bottom of the radiator support and the aluminum radiator with it. The radiator was bent but was not visibily leaking so we fixed the rad support and got it all warmed up again to check the rad which actually did end up having a leak. Unfortunately with no spare aluminum radiator we were forced to rig up the stock one (which fits differently) for an attempt at some more familiarization laps and night time qaulifying. Make a note to add some safety wire to your spares box, we had to borrow some. Meanwhile some phone work by Lawrence Hwang got a replacement aluminum radiator (thanks, Koyo!) on the way up to us with a crew member than had not left LA yet.

(edit: spelling)


Modified by jlucas at 10:45 PM 12/6/2005

 

Part 2:
Saturday AM, newly delivered spare radiator is going into the car while some electrical work is being finished off to add a powered lead to the radio and double checking the night driving light switches. While the bumper cover was off for the radiator, it was modified for the brake ducts we didn't have time to install them previously. Also we had to re-secure the back of the exhuast as it had been slightly bent in the Friday off road excursion. (edit: this all got done with just minutes to spare to make the grid)

The start of the race went off without a hitch, despite our lack of qualifying the car and everything went like clockwork for the first couple of driving stints. During JG's stint he noticed the car was getting a little darty, but not having any laps at speed prior to his stint it was hard for him to say if it was an issue or not. Sam was in next and noticed the problem was getting worse (he had driven the car at Buttonwillow). He brought it in early over concern for it's handling, so we filled up and I jumped in. As I'm rolling down towards the pit out, the crew chief tells me something is up with the rear control arm and to circulate until a replacement can be removed from the parts car. (The parts car happens to be Lawrence's daily driver.) First straight away, I instantly can feel the problem the car will not track straight at all, in the corner it's fine but any type of staight away or mild pavement transition (like at the kink) and the car is shifting 10ft left or right. I'm sure a lot of other drivers thought I was crazy, driving in the middle the road and darting side to side. After a few minutes, I actually start to get used to it and get the lap times down despite the problem. I get the radio call to bring it in and they swap the arm. Turns out that exhaust "re-alignment" directed part of the flow at the arm and completely cooked the inboard bushing. It was completely gone by the time it was swapped!

Refueled and with the new arm, the following stint was pretty jewel and the trouble free. The car was feeling great.

 

keep typing....I am waiting for part 3!

 

Part 3:
I handed the car over to Larry. About 10 laps later Larry is back in with smoke pouring out of the LF. Into the paddock we go. The pads are gone and the caliper piston is pushed out and leaking brake fluid is catching fire. New caliper and pads --&gt; back on track.

A few laps later, back in again!!! Exhaust canister has inexplicably come off and the car is very loud (98 db night limit).

We search for a proper down turn but come up empty so we rig one up and the car goes back out.

Car is very loud. We get black flagged for pegging 111 dB. I didn't even know what was possible. We park it while we look for a muffler, the stock muffler won't fit with the big a$$ rear sway bar on the car. Finally we beg one off the Spoon guys' now parked RL. After some extensive modification and liberal use of safety wire we are back on track for a half dozen laps until we get an advisory that we are at 100 dB and will be black flagged if we don't bring it in (this proved to be a very generous advisory); seems there is still too much leakage between our exhaust and the Spoon pipe diameter. So a couple of soup cans land band clamps later the gap is bridged. Back out. This solution however did not last long before it worked it's way loose and we were over sound again!! 2nd black flag. One more and we are permenantly out. With no other solution possible, the entire stock exhaust (header, cat, & pre-chamber minus the muffler) is removed from the parts donor and installed. It's quiet once again!! However it's also down on power from being choked by the small stock pipe diameter but we are running again!

edit: I forgot that somewhere in the middle of all this. Larry comes in with a broken aftermarket rear suspension camber control arm (a part that has been on the car for 3 years!!!). Clearly the weld has very poor penetration, it's amazing it's never failed before. A spare arm (this time from SPC, not the maker of the failed arm) goes on.


Modified by jlucas at 10:33 PM 12/6/2005

 

Part 4:
JG does a full stint in the now quiet but bushing complete car. A few times in T2 the car stumbles a bit but it's not really clear why. Probably due to fatigue and the fact that everyone is glad the car is just running, no one really takes note of JG's comments about the occasional stumble. I manage to grab an hour of sleep while JG turns in some consistent laps. After a 5 minute warning wake up call, I'm in the car still yawning. It's amazing how quick you wake up when you go right to pulling out on track!! 3 turns in, I'm wide awake.

Car is noticeably restricted by the exhaust and it doesn't like to rev the last 1000 rpm with the small tubing, so I short shift most of the time. The T2 stumble is getting worse. To me, it feels like VTEC cut, which potentially means oil to me; or some type of electrical spark breakup. I call in about it and am told that it will be checked at the next stop. Within 15 minutes the problem is happens 3 times in one lap. Next lap it's happening again, I'm going to bring it in. Going into T7 or T8 (the left after the blind hill), when I get on the brakes the car shuts off. I coast off the inside and try to get out of the way. Hitting the starter does nothing, so I'm thinking it's definately electrical. Try switching the fuel relay, while flashing the corner workers for a tow, still nothing. Finally a flat tow arrives and they pull me across the infield into the pit. Into the paddock we go.

(edit: sp)


Modified by jlucas at 6:15 AM 12/7/2005

 

wow.. I saw you guys working on the car a lot... did not relized you had that many problems..

 

Part 5:
The crew starts by looking at the electrical; looking for a chaffed cable, trying a different battery, starter relay.... it won't turn over. Hmmm... this is not looking good. Switching gears, we go for manually turning over the engine. Won't budge. Really not good. Pull plugs and one is really stuck in there. When we get it out it's clearly damaged. #3 cylinder is seized. It's ~3:30 AM. Immediately, the guys start to prep for pulling the motor and I go get out of my DesSpeed driving suit.

I run down to Yokohama to let them know what's going on, so they can take a break for a while. Up until now they've been providing great tire support with Advan 048s, shaving our fronts on site and getting our tires mounted ASAP which allowed us to less wheels to the event.

The motor swap is looking like a bigger deal than first thought. All the pieces are there but it's by no means a drop in deal; some assembly will be required plus the oil & water are mixed so the accusump is contaminated too. This is going to take a while, probably several hours. A couple of clearer heads call a meeting in the RV to discuss. The crew has not slept due to the aforementioned issues, everyone is pretty beat. After much discussion, majority vote decides that discression is the better part of valor and to not blow up the spare motor too due to a fatigue induced mistake; plus there's the whole safety issue of having to drive 9 hours back home in the morning with no sleep if we proceed with the motor swap; some of the guys came up solo so that would be a really bad situation. It was a tough decision and not one that we came too lightly. If this had happened a little earlier or if it had been going a little smoother up until this point, I have no doubt that we would have proceeded with the swap. It's hard to not feel a little down about not finishing but spirits are surprisingly good and we set about packing, so that some sleep can be gotten before driving back home.


Modified by jlucas at 6:02 AM 12/7/2005