driving only maybe 8.5/10th... but it wasn't in my delly.

~300 hp, ~2500 lbs with passenger. Hoosier's. The car should be capable of high 1:30's atleast... Frankly I was shocked. I asked the owner Bill if I can take it for a spin, I was just getting a feel for it, after 2-3 laps, the passenger mumbles, you did 1:48. I was like, huh? Are you sure?? Hmm... drove few more laps... consistant 1:45-46. Didn't even feel that fast. There's a lot more corner speed and braking left. I was not used to the no-assist brakes and the pivot-from-the-floor pedal. Give me another session and low 1:40's is mine. I guess the car just cover the straights pretty darn fast. I dunno if my senses are screwed, but it feels like my delly corners and brakes much harder. Perhaps I just needed more seat time in the Porsche. It's not tail happy all despite being a older chassis (1972), I guess it's setup very well. To put things in perspective my delly could probably do a low 1:50's or so and that's pushing it 9.9/10th.

The reason Bill trusted me was because previously @ thunderhill I took him out for a session in my delly and he was impressed... Honda's are really good on braking and carrying corner speed, and now with our 200+ whp B motors, we got power too. Man I can NOT wait to finish my big bore b18c.

Oh yeah I drove a stock RSX-S for a few laps too. It feels pretty nice, engine freely revs in neutral making it easy to double clutch/rev match. Stock tires are pretty weak, as are the stock pads. A few hot laps you can feel it fading away quick. Mild understeer approching the limit, easy to adjust. Should be very fun with R tires and good pads even if otherwise stock.





[Modified by frank@b16a.com, 8:23 PM 4/20/2002]

 

I thought this was going to be a Gran Turismo 3 post...I'm gonna go play it now.

 

I see the lowering and the RSR flares/airdam and the Hoosiers. So what motor was in that beautiful machine?

Jon
who still says: "early 911 + big NA motor = giant killer"

 

We ran 1:49 in our old Taz Harvey SOHC 92 Civic on Toyo RA1s. Our current "green" car is probably capible of 1:47s but NASA never has any enduros at Laguna so we haven't been able to take it there.

Beautiful car there...I have an 01 996 and though its "light" by modern German car standards...it's a pig compared to race car standards.

Oh, BTW, those pics are from Thunderhill.


[Modified by NASA racer, 6:01 PM 4/21/2002]

 

Is that the one that was under water in the flood?

 

You wouldn't happen to be the NASA racer that used to be on Audiworld, would you? If so, you'd be a great asset to this message board.

 

Yep, I'm the same guy...we've been doing okay with the Civic up until running into some serious guys with the ITA CRXs and definitely need help from the Honda folks finding stuff for our D16 engine'd car.

I only raced the blue Civic once at Laguna...always loved that track, raced Karts and Formula Fords there (OLD track) but they never have NASA enduros there anymore.

I'd love to take our green car there...especially after we put a Quaife in it...we've been running with an open diff and I'm sick of it.

Course, I'd rather have a 911RS but my motorsports fund is wife-limited (but to be fair she's awefully good about tolerating the racing program we have and even supporting it).

 

The blue Civic was a car that Roger Foo and Taz Harvey ran back in the Escort enduro series and it was rotting in the back of Taz's shop and a buddy of mine got it back together and he and Taz were doing NASA races and my buddy called me as a 3rd driver but I didn't get to do the shorter races.

Taz wrote that car off in a 4-car pileup at Thunderhill (fortunately nobody was hurt) and we bought the racing stuff that was in the car (already owned the motors) and rebuilt it based on a new salvage title Civic CX. After that, Taz hasn't been involved but Roger races with us in the 12 hour and helps our buddies (and former crew) with their racing program.

We have alot of fun with that car but had a bad season last year after we lost an engine...just couldn't get the reliability back and we finished 2nd in the E2 championship.

 

wishes he could take his Teg out on Laguna Seca for real.

 

I have yet to drive a 996 but I got a very good session in a Boxter S today... it is not that fast in the straight but sure had a LOT of stick in the corner. It is stock with factory sports suspension with Kumho's and some Pagid Oranges. Very low 1:50's easily... the only thing is power is so so... and tall gearing.

I also got some laps in 993 C2S and also 994 C4S before, they are nice. But from what I can see 996's are a definete improvement over the 993's in every way, except maybe for looks. (turbo is another story, but Carrera's I still think 993 looks nicer).

996's on R tires seems to be able to do mid 1:40's... very impressive.

Speaking of German cars... yah they're getting heavy aren't they, especially for the BMW's. M3 Coupe's 3400 lbs, M3 Convertable 3800 lbs... Sheesh. But they still handle well. New M5 is excellent, you can still toss it into the turns despite 4000+ lbs. my only complain was the brakes... but LS is pretty hard on brakes.

1:49 in SOHC Civic... sweet! Gotta be carrying some crazy cornering speed... I'd have to hitch a ride in it sometimes. Few years ago I sat in Bob Stretch's 240sx (ITA car), it turn 1:48's with me as passenger @ LS. It had crazy cornering ability...

 

Yep, it's ALL on corner speed and under braking...the braking power on our Civic is phenomenal. We have Si rear disc brakes and the front Integra brakes and SS brake lines using Hawk Blues and being that the whole car weighs 2000lbs, its more limited by the adhesion of the tires than braking force, locking or fade.

We raced at Buttonwillow a couple of weeks ago and did some 2:04s on race 14 counter-clockwise and were only able to get 120mph just before the braking zone at the end of the longest straight so but for 100HP the car would really cook hehehehe.

We won our class and finished 4th overall behind a race E36M3, Porsche 944 and Renault Sports Racer.

And we use JC Whittney brake rotors and they last a good 14-15 hours of racing...amazing.

Anyway, I DO miss a good RWD race car and have a ton of fun in the twisties in the 996 despite it being set up with rather alot of understeer. Trailing-throttle oversteer is benign and completely controlable and the tail NEVER misbehaves.

 

yeah, lately I've driven a variety of cars, and I've come to realize Honda's are very blessed. - wear parts are pretty cheap - pretty easy to setup to be decently fast - pretty easy to drive - very good brakes. it a wonder why you don't see more honda race cars out there... i guess most people are ******* it being FWD.

how much are JC Whittney rotors? i'm using some autozone made in china rotors for $23 each right now, they are working just fine also.

 

Hey Pete! Do you think we would have finished higher if we stayed on the track more? Ha!

 

Ya know...you MIGHT just be on to something!