Honda of America Race Team won the ST class in a .....................drum roll................

.....................Honda Accord V6 Coupe. What a race today, the Honda/Acura contingent kicked a$$ all day in ST class. Plumb and Plumb in their RSX lead most of the first half of the race even though a Cobalt and a BMW were constantly on their bumper.

For a while Tom Stewart (and Neal Sapp) lead the race in their TSX only to be passed by the HART entry at the very end. All in all, Hondas and Acura's dominated ST class. Everything from a TL, TSX, RSX, Type R (Morcoones) and the winning Accord.

In GS class my buddies from Nonnemaker lead 90% of the race and pulled it out in the end with Espenlaub driving the wheels off the car. It came down to the last few laps when Stanton was leading but had some problems. Auberlin was within inches at the finish line in his Turner M3.

Something like 88 cars took the green flag. Some ex-NASA (and Acura racers) where also in the race (Lepper & Lepper).

Great race today

 

Sounds like it was fun had by all.

 

Yeah, a great race. We work with the Nonnamakers and Charles is an old friend, so it was nice to see them team up for a win. Can't wait for tomorrow's big show. Guess I should go get some sleep, huh?

 

By the way, check out the front bumper of the winning car.

 

I wouldn't call the Leppers ex-NASA racers. They still race with us. Tom was with us @ the 25 Hour.

Word is they will still race with us when the GA schedule allows.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FLATOUTRACING &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Everything from a TL...</TD></TR></TABLE>

A TL? What team?

 

Jeremy,


Looking at the results I must have mistaken the Thornley racing TSX as a TL.

 

Wow what an Accord. That thing went by me like a GS car.

We however had third gears problems all weekend. We got it better going into qualifying; then it got bad again during the race.

 

Thanks for the updates Jon...

Still wishing I was at Daytona... next year for sure.

 

Bummer Tom! I was really rooting for you guys. I was watching the live scoring @ lunch. It seemed very un-Lepper like. Oh, well, I know you will be strong @ VIR.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by civicrr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh, well, I know you will be strong @ VIR. </TD></TR></TABLE>

When is this?

 

Cool car:

 

please excuse my ignorance, but what does ST class stand for?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HondaAccordTdR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">please excuse my ignorance, but what does ST class stand for?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Street Touring, I believe. Doesn't really mean anything.


I talked with Dave Roush and John Schmitt at Mid Ohio last year when they unveiled the Accord for the first time. The car was doing very, very well at that event until the engine let go. The thing is, it was quite underdeveloped at the time - it was just running some Koni's and a pretty stock engine. The only reason they built the car for Mid Ohio last year was basically to see how it would do and if it was worth it to try and solidly campaign it in '06 or not. I'm glad to see that they had success since I've known them for years and they're two of the best guys out there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by krbobcat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> just running some Koni's and a pretty stock engine. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Aren't they still "just" on Koni's (maybe Lee can pipe in) and a pretty stock engine is what Grand Am requires for ST.

Maybe Lee can share what they are "just" on. 2812? 2822?

BTW, a few years ago (until Honda purchased a majority share and brought subsidiary Showa in) BAR was "just" on a lightweight version of 2812s.

"Just" maybe there's some good stuff there.

 

You know what I meant - I wasn't trying to bring down Koni or anything, especially since they're all I use. Considering what most GAC teams run on though, I found it interesting that they were using "just" Koni's.

Also, there's a big difference between a stock, unopened engine and a built for GAC "stock" engine. But I know that you know that already.

 

Just making sure everyone else knows too.

Glad to see they finally got it shorted. The guys that work on that program put up huge personal sacrifice in time to do it. It's pretty unreal how much volunteer time some of them spend, certainly more than I could ever do.

I couldn't find anything on the TL reported above. I'm assuming that was mis-identified or something.

 

This is coming from a a spectator in the stands at the race Friday,

This car looked unbelieveably fast on the straights compared to even the BMW that finsihed 2nd. It seemed to give up some on the infield portion, but it didn't matter as it came home with the win. Last 1/4 of the race it seemed to just pull away. Looked like some pit strategy (pitted before any of the other leaders did) played a part in getting by a couple of the cars as well. You had a small section (3 of us) cheering you on. Hopefully you can continue the run and get some more stickers on the side of the car. Good luck in the future.


Oh, and they changed the name to "Street Tuner" this year.

 

Tom Stewart's Red Line Motors TSX (Red, Yellow and Black) had to be the fastest ST on the straights. Tom started next to last in the 88 car field and within the first hour was up to sixth place. He and Neal Sapp were eventually leading when one of the Turner cars rear ended them and the engine looked like it died for half a lap. Being in the stands I don't know who was on what pit stop strategy but if they were on the same strategy I think Tom would have beaten the Accord.

What was surprising was how slow the RX8's were. Tom went by the SpeedSource RX8 like it blew it's motor.

It was nice to see Honda/Acura domination after watching the Mustangs wipe to field last year.

 

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

When is this?</TD></TR></TABLE>

they race two times at VIR once in April ( 21-23), and then go back for the season ending race Oct 6-8.