My Civic EP3 track car project (Canada)
Discussion
Ever since my family situation had forced me to sell my 2000 Honda Civic Si coupe in 2014, I was pining for a return to the track. My wife finally gave me the green light to look for a new track toy in the winter of 2016, so I contacted a couple of sellers of cars I had been keeping an eye on (just in case!). I was considering buying a 2006-2011 Civic coupe, as these came with a 197 hp version of the K20 and a 6-speed lsd transmission. However, with my budget of 6000$CAD (about 3700 GBP) to get the car bought and track-worthy, I could not find a decent one. We never got the Type R version of the 2001-2005 Civic hatch in North America. We got a slightly different version called the Civic SiR: it had the same suspension and interior as the CTR, but a lower-revving K20 making only 160 hp and a 5-speed transmission. The brakes were also smaller than the CTR's, as were the wheels, at 15x6 inches. The SiR also came fully loaded, with a glass sun roof, so it was heavier than the CTR. The car is relatively rare here, so the re-sale value of these cars had been quite high for a long time. However, prices really seemed to drop last year, probably as most of the cars are now starting to rust. We use a lot of salt on the roads here in winter, and many Hondas do not have great rust resistance.
Anyway, I found a couple of EP3's for sale in the neighbouring province of Ontario. The first one was already extensively modified with many mugen parts and a Quaife diff, and the seller wanted 5000$. It looked as if it would only need wider wheels to be track-ready. I had an appointment to go see the car, which was 200 km from home, but the seller called me the night before to say the car was sold. I was a bit disappointed, but it was not the end of the world. We were still in February, and the track season only begins at the end of April here.
In the meantime, an acquaintance was selling his E36 BMW 328 track car for really cheap, and it came with 16 wheels and tires. It needed some repairs to the floor/rocker panels, but I was very interested. Unfortunately, the seller backed out as his wife did not approve of the purchase of a used Porsche Cayman to replace his E36.
This led me to call up the seller of another EP3 I had spotted online. It was 700 km away, but the ad was encouraging: it had a 2.4 liter engine swap (from the Acura TSX, similar to the Euro Accord) with 205 hp, a Hondata ECU, headers and an aftermarket exhaust. Most importantly, however, it had never been driven in winter. I received photos and videos of the car by email and a deal was done via text message for 4000$CAD. This would leave me with 2000$ to make the car track-ready. I sent a deposit and was to go pick up the car over Easter weekend.
The suspension on the car would need addressing. With all my previous Hondas, I had gone the route of Ground Control adjustable springs (you can order any spring rate you like) and Koni adjustable shocks. However, when I did some research, I found that this was not an optimal choice for these cars. I did not really know what to buy, when a friend told me he had a set of Dynamics coilovers from the 2004-2005 Honda Michelin race series (a Canadian series for Civic coupes). I went online to do some research as to the value of a used set. I found out that new, they were 2500$, and that the spring rates were 350F and 800R. I came across a classified ad from December 2014 of a guy selling a similar set of coilovers, but new in the box. I contacted him, and he still had them. Better yet, he lowered his asking price, and let me have them for 1000$. He was located 500 km away, but on my way home from picking up the car.
I headed to Ontario with my wife, 2 small kids and my mother in her Honda Fit to visit some family members and pick up the car. The car was as promised, and I bought it on the spot. The seller was a real enthusiast, and had a 300 hp turbo CRX in his garage. The car did not feel blisteringly fast on my test drive, but all was in order. The car was a colour called Euro Yellow, available only in 2002. It was not my favourite, but at the price I was paying for such a clean car, I was not going to complain too much. On the way home, I stopped off to buy the suspension. The seller had a nice collection of Honda's too, including a mint condition NSX. He also sold me two sets of track brake pads for 100$ (a discontinued Cobalt product, the Spec VR).
This is what the car looked like the day I bought it:
This is the suspension:
Because the car had never been registered in the province of Quebec, I had to get an inspection done at an approved garage. At the garage, I had a nice long chat with the owner of aMitsubishi Evo MR. He was sent to inspection by the police due to his tinted windows. There was also a Porsche Speedster replica waiting for his own inspection. It seemed to be really well-built. The whole inspection aspect worked out really well, as I was able to register the car in my name on the same day as the seller's temporary registration was expiring. I could finally drive the car!
I tried to install the coilovers myself at home, but the rear suspension bolts would not budge with the tools I had. I paid a visit to my friend/mechanic who has a lift at home, and we installed them together without any trouble.
I took the car to the alignment shop and also asked that the mechanic also install the new tires I had bought: some Bridgestone RE71R in 205-50-15.
Everything went really well until I got home and realized that the car now had 1/16 of an inch of toe out instead of the toe in I had asked for. It was my own fault, as I had handed the mechanic a paper with numbers on it and I had forgotten to place a "minus" symbol in front of the toe number. I took another appointment and went back to the shop. The guy adjusted the toe again. He did not even charge me and would not take any money either.
I hadn't been able to enjoy the engine, suspension or tires much on the city streets, which were full of terrible drivers and incredible spring potholes. I could not wait to try the car on the track... my first opportunity would be in late April at a local track, Autodrome St-Eustache, where I would be instructing at a race licensing school.
This is how the car looked, ready for its first track event:
Anyway, I found a couple of EP3's for sale in the neighbouring province of Ontario. The first one was already extensively modified with many mugen parts and a Quaife diff, and the seller wanted 5000$. It looked as if it would only need wider wheels to be track-ready. I had an appointment to go see the car, which was 200 km from home, but the seller called me the night before to say the car was sold. I was a bit disappointed, but it was not the end of the world. We were still in February, and the track season only begins at the end of April here.
In the meantime, an acquaintance was selling his E36 BMW 328 track car for really cheap, and it came with 16 wheels and tires. It needed some repairs to the floor/rocker panels, but I was very interested. Unfortunately, the seller backed out as his wife did not approve of the purchase of a used Porsche Cayman to replace his E36.
This led me to call up the seller of another EP3 I had spotted online. It was 700 km away, but the ad was encouraging: it had a 2.4 liter engine swap (from the Acura TSX, similar to the Euro Accord) with 205 hp, a Hondata ECU, headers and an aftermarket exhaust. Most importantly, however, it had never been driven in winter. I received photos and videos of the car by email and a deal was done via text message for 4000$CAD. This would leave me with 2000$ to make the car track-ready. I sent a deposit and was to go pick up the car over Easter weekend.
The suspension on the car would need addressing. With all my previous Hondas, I had gone the route of Ground Control adjustable springs (you can order any spring rate you like) and Koni adjustable shocks. However, when I did some research, I found that this was not an optimal choice for these cars. I did not really know what to buy, when a friend told me he had a set of Dynamics coilovers from the 2004-2005 Honda Michelin race series (a Canadian series for Civic coupes). I went online to do some research as to the value of a used set. I found out that new, they were 2500$, and that the spring rates were 350F and 800R. I came across a classified ad from December 2014 of a guy selling a similar set of coilovers, but new in the box. I contacted him, and he still had them. Better yet, he lowered his asking price, and let me have them for 1000$. He was located 500 km away, but on my way home from picking up the car.
I headed to Ontario with my wife, 2 small kids and my mother in her Honda Fit to visit some family members and pick up the car. The car was as promised, and I bought it on the spot. The seller was a real enthusiast, and had a 300 hp turbo CRX in his garage. The car did not feel blisteringly fast on my test drive, but all was in order. The car was a colour called Euro Yellow, available only in 2002. It was not my favourite, but at the price I was paying for such a clean car, I was not going to complain too much. On the way home, I stopped off to buy the suspension. The seller had a nice collection of Honda's too, including a mint condition NSX. He also sold me two sets of track brake pads for 100$ (a discontinued Cobalt product, the Spec VR).
This is what the car looked like the day I bought it:
This is the suspension:
Because the car had never been registered in the province of Quebec, I had to get an inspection done at an approved garage. At the garage, I had a nice long chat with the owner of aMitsubishi Evo MR. He was sent to inspection by the police due to his tinted windows. There was also a Porsche Speedster replica waiting for his own inspection. It seemed to be really well-built. The whole inspection aspect worked out really well, as I was able to register the car in my name on the same day as the seller's temporary registration was expiring. I could finally drive the car!
I tried to install the coilovers myself at home, but the rear suspension bolts would not budge with the tools I had. I paid a visit to my friend/mechanic who has a lift at home, and we installed them together without any trouble.
I took the car to the alignment shop and also asked that the mechanic also install the new tires I had bought: some Bridgestone RE71R in 205-50-15.
Everything went really well until I got home and realized that the car now had 1/16 of an inch of toe out instead of the toe in I had asked for. It was my own fault, as I had handed the mechanic a paper with numbers on it and I had forgotten to place a "minus" symbol in front of the toe number. I took another appointment and went back to the shop. The guy adjusted the toe again. He did not even charge me and would not take any money either.
I hadn't been able to enjoy the engine, suspension or tires much on the city streets, which were full of terrible drivers and incredible spring potholes. I could not wait to try the car on the track... my first opportunity would be in late April at a local track, Autodrome St-Eustache, where I would be instructing at a race licensing school.
This is how the car looked, ready for its first track event:
I finally got to try the Civic on the track for the first time in mid-April at the race school at St-Eustache. As an instructor, I had access to one lunchtime session on each day, so I had to make them count. Before the event, I hadn't taken the time to change the brake pads and bleed the brakes, as I figured the brake temperatures would not be that highwith only one session per day. I set the tires at 32 psi all around, taped my cheap camera to the bumper and put my phone with the Race Chrono app in my phone holder and off I went.
The first things I noticed when heading out on track was that the car seemed really tall in comparison to my last Civic (it is, of course, much taller). After a few laps, I got used to this, however, and did not feel as if the car were going to tip over any more. As for the tires, I was hoping they would have awesome grip... that wasn't the case. They were OK, but I guess I had been expecting more from the most aggressive street tires out there. I think this was due to having run too high a pressure and just expecting too much from a 205 width tire on a 2700-pound car. The brakes began to fade after only a few laps, but, with help from the ABS, I didn't mind continuing my braking into the beginning of the corners located after the heavy braking zones. As far as lap times, I had sort of predicted the car would lap in the 1:02 to 1:03 range at St-Eustache with good tires (my old Civic, which had about 230 hp and weighed 2350 pounds, lapped in 1:00) and hoped to achieve a 1:04 or 1:03 in my first weekend on track. The Race Chrono lap timer app on my phone was working from the start, and there is a rectangle at the bottom which is red or green, to tell you if you are in the plus or minus in comparison to your best lap of the session. Pretty neat. You don't even have to look right at the phone, as you can see the colour of the rectangle out of the corner of your eye. My first lap was a depressing 1:08, but I settled into the 1:05's after a while. True to myself, I achieved my best lap, in the 1:04's, while chasing another instructor's car (a Miata). Here is a video of that session, filmed from my front bumper:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na0HFPfzoIQ
Here are some of the things I noticed: the gearing of the car was near perfect for St-Eustache, as it was clear that 2nd gear was the one needed for the slower corners, and I could rev out 3rd in two of the high speed sections. It helped that I raised the redline from 7100 rpm to 7500 the night before the event (using the Hondata K-Pro). The power of the car is its best feature. What I really missed was my race seat and harness. Even though the seats in the Civic are excellent, they do not really hold you in place like a race bucket and you find yourself bracing yourself a lot. I was very happy with the pedal position and was managing to heel-toe with no problem. The first session was therefore uneventful and I was satisfied with the car so far.
Before the Sunday session, another instructor, Alex, helped me change the front pads to the track pads I had bought and at least bleed the front brakes. I also lowered the tire pressures in front (to 26 psi on the front right, 28 on the front left). I went out and the car felt better, mainly due to being able to really lean on the brakes. The ABS barely came on. I was hitting the 1:04's more regularly. The car felt very stable, and the limiting factor seemed to be front end grip. I saw fellow instructor Karl up ahead on the track of me in a bone-stock 2014 Civic Si sedan, and slowly chased him down. The 2014 Si also has a K24, but it's a heavier car. It does, however, have a better 6-speed transmission and a limited-slip differential. It was a fun session, and I clocked a best lap of 1:04.0. I hadn't achieved my goal of a 1:03, but I wasn't too far off. With a few laps under my belt, I could now set my goal for the season: without any further modifications, I would like to see a high 1:02. How could I shave off more than a second without any further modifications? Tire pressures and driving: I think that I still had not found the optimal front tire pressures (front right still rose to 45 psi hot) and that I could also improve my driving when I get a better feel for the car.
My second event would be at a bigger track, Calabogie, where I would be instructing at our second school. It was 300 km away, and I was glad to have a car with a full interior, cruise control, and a radio, three things lacking in my previous Civics. On the first morning of the school, I prepared the Civic for the track (basically, checked the oil and reduced the front tire pressures) so that I could head out on track at lunch time. My group of students was the usual mix of modified or race compact cars and powerful sports cars. I had a good bunch and all ended up with a race license by the end of the weekend.
I was one of the first instructor cars out at lunch time and really enjoyed my session on track. I was mostly alone out there. Sadly, my video camera stopped working and did not record the session. I was not pushing the car that hard and managed a lap time of 1:28. I was on pace for a 1:27 on one of my last laps, but I lifted for a long while to let another instructor through in his Integra (only to realize that he didn't really want to pass me at that time). By comparison, Jérémi, one of the other instructors, who laps in under one minute at St-Eustache, has a best lap of 1:24, so I figure I was doing well enough. Another instructor, Sajan, was flying in my old Civic and was hitting the 1:20 mark. I hoped to improve on my time if it didn't rain on Sunday, but it wasn't to be: it rained almost from the beginning of the day. I still went out on track at lunch time with a student for a passenger and kept Jérémi behind me for the whole session (even Sajan took a couple of laps to pass me). My best lap in the wet was 1:39, and I was taking it quite easy. The car performed very well in both sessions and I think I set the tire pressures just right (28 front, 32 rear). My time on track was all too short, and I really want to get back out on track as soon as possible.
My next chance to drive on track would be at St-Eustache again, as there are public sessions every Monday evening all summer. On my first Monday evening appearance, I headed out in the advanced/instructor session and it wasn't long before I beat my best lap time from two weeks earlier. My new record was 1:03.63. I felt pretty good about the lap, until I got home and looked at the data... I was extremely slow in the two slow corners (like almost 15 km/h slower than I had been two weeks earlier) on my fastest lap, and there is definitely room for improvement in the driving department. After my friend Mazen's first session in my car, which he was "renting", I took him as a passenger in another advanced session. Apparently, the driver of the Lotus Exige in line behind me complained that my Civic seemed to be in the wrong group. I guess he was worried that I would hold him up. Well, it took him a couple of laps to even catch me, and though he had been filling my mirrors at the end of the back straight, I left him in the dust in the esses. He passed me on the following lap, but I easily stuck with him through the esses after that. Don't judge a book by its cover dude! Even though my best lap of that short session was only a 1:04.63, I had much better speed through the bus-stop and hairpin. It seems I am only able to do my best in some corners when there is some external source of motivation, like another car. I wasconfident that if I could get in the right mindset, I could get into the high 1:02's with my current setup.
The first things I noticed when heading out on track was that the car seemed really tall in comparison to my last Civic (it is, of course, much taller). After a few laps, I got used to this, however, and did not feel as if the car were going to tip over any more. As for the tires, I was hoping they would have awesome grip... that wasn't the case. They were OK, but I guess I had been expecting more from the most aggressive street tires out there. I think this was due to having run too high a pressure and just expecting too much from a 205 width tire on a 2700-pound car. The brakes began to fade after only a few laps, but, with help from the ABS, I didn't mind continuing my braking into the beginning of the corners located after the heavy braking zones. As far as lap times, I had sort of predicted the car would lap in the 1:02 to 1:03 range at St-Eustache with good tires (my old Civic, which had about 230 hp and weighed 2350 pounds, lapped in 1:00) and hoped to achieve a 1:04 or 1:03 in my first weekend on track. The Race Chrono lap timer app on my phone was working from the start, and there is a rectangle at the bottom which is red or green, to tell you if you are in the plus or minus in comparison to your best lap of the session. Pretty neat. You don't even have to look right at the phone, as you can see the colour of the rectangle out of the corner of your eye. My first lap was a depressing 1:08, but I settled into the 1:05's after a while. True to myself, I achieved my best lap, in the 1:04's, while chasing another instructor's car (a Miata). Here is a video of that session, filmed from my front bumper:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na0HFPfzoIQ
Here are some of the things I noticed: the gearing of the car was near perfect for St-Eustache, as it was clear that 2nd gear was the one needed for the slower corners, and I could rev out 3rd in two of the high speed sections. It helped that I raised the redline from 7100 rpm to 7500 the night before the event (using the Hondata K-Pro). The power of the car is its best feature. What I really missed was my race seat and harness. Even though the seats in the Civic are excellent, they do not really hold you in place like a race bucket and you find yourself bracing yourself a lot. I was very happy with the pedal position and was managing to heel-toe with no problem. The first session was therefore uneventful and I was satisfied with the car so far.
Before the Sunday session, another instructor, Alex, helped me change the front pads to the track pads I had bought and at least bleed the front brakes. I also lowered the tire pressures in front (to 26 psi on the front right, 28 on the front left). I went out and the car felt better, mainly due to being able to really lean on the brakes. The ABS barely came on. I was hitting the 1:04's more regularly. The car felt very stable, and the limiting factor seemed to be front end grip. I saw fellow instructor Karl up ahead on the track of me in a bone-stock 2014 Civic Si sedan, and slowly chased him down. The 2014 Si also has a K24, but it's a heavier car. It does, however, have a better 6-speed transmission and a limited-slip differential. It was a fun session, and I clocked a best lap of 1:04.0. I hadn't achieved my goal of a 1:03, but I wasn't too far off. With a few laps under my belt, I could now set my goal for the season: without any further modifications, I would like to see a high 1:02. How could I shave off more than a second without any further modifications? Tire pressures and driving: I think that I still had not found the optimal front tire pressures (front right still rose to 45 psi hot) and that I could also improve my driving when I get a better feel for the car.
My second event would be at a bigger track, Calabogie, where I would be instructing at our second school. It was 300 km away, and I was glad to have a car with a full interior, cruise control, and a radio, three things lacking in my previous Civics. On the first morning of the school, I prepared the Civic for the track (basically, checked the oil and reduced the front tire pressures) so that I could head out on track at lunch time. My group of students was the usual mix of modified or race compact cars and powerful sports cars. I had a good bunch and all ended up with a race license by the end of the weekend.
I was one of the first instructor cars out at lunch time and really enjoyed my session on track. I was mostly alone out there. Sadly, my video camera stopped working and did not record the session. I was not pushing the car that hard and managed a lap time of 1:28. I was on pace for a 1:27 on one of my last laps, but I lifted for a long while to let another instructor through in his Integra (only to realize that he didn't really want to pass me at that time). By comparison, Jérémi, one of the other instructors, who laps in under one minute at St-Eustache, has a best lap of 1:24, so I figure I was doing well enough. Another instructor, Sajan, was flying in my old Civic and was hitting the 1:20 mark. I hoped to improve on my time if it didn't rain on Sunday, but it wasn't to be: it rained almost from the beginning of the day. I still went out on track at lunch time with a student for a passenger and kept Jérémi behind me for the whole session (even Sajan took a couple of laps to pass me). My best lap in the wet was 1:39, and I was taking it quite easy. The car performed very well in both sessions and I think I set the tire pressures just right (28 front, 32 rear). My time on track was all too short, and I really want to get back out on track as soon as possible.
My next chance to drive on track would be at St-Eustache again, as there are public sessions every Monday evening all summer. On my first Monday evening appearance, I headed out in the advanced/instructor session and it wasn't long before I beat my best lap time from two weeks earlier. My new record was 1:03.63. I felt pretty good about the lap, until I got home and looked at the data... I was extremely slow in the two slow corners (like almost 15 km/h slower than I had been two weeks earlier) on my fastest lap, and there is definitely room for improvement in the driving department. After my friend Mazen's first session in my car, which he was "renting", I took him as a passenger in another advanced session. Apparently, the driver of the Lotus Exige in line behind me complained that my Civic seemed to be in the wrong group. I guess he was worried that I would hold him up. Well, it took him a couple of laps to even catch me, and though he had been filling my mirrors at the end of the back straight, I left him in the dust in the esses. He passed me on the following lap, but I easily stuck with him through the esses after that. Don't judge a book by its cover dude! Even though my best lap of that short session was only a 1:04.63, I had much better speed through the bus-stop and hairpin. It seems I am only able to do my best in some corners when there is some external source of motivation, like another car. I wasconfident that if I could get in the right mindset, I could get into the high 1:02's with my current setup.
For my next track event, I joined the BMW Club at Tremblant this on May 16th to instruct at their high performance driver education event. The forecast called for snow, which seemed hard to believe for mid-May, but sure enough, on my way up to Tremblant, I saw many cars headed south with snow on their roofs. Eventually, I came to areas where there was a dusting of snow on the ground as well. There was even a bit of slush on the road at places and I saw a car that had rolled over into the ditch as well... not what one expects to see on the way to a track day.
As usual, there were many interesting cars on hand, many of them non-BMW's and most of them belonging to the instructors. My old Civic was usually one of the faster cars on track, even in the instructor group. After a couple of sessions on track, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the new Civic, although about 5 seconds slower per lap (2:03.4 according to my phone), is still in the mid pack. I always get a bit of an ego boost when people come up to me after a session and say "Was that you in the Civic? You were quick out there!". At St-Eustache, there are a bunch of really quick Honda's, most quicker than mine. However, at these BMW events, there are usually only a couple of Honda's, so I think many attendees are a bit surprised when they get passed on track by a Civic, especially one that looks as unmodified as mine.
I was not comfortable pushing too hard because of the cold conditions, but the car felt really planted. The back end stepped out a bit once (first time ever with this car!) at the transition point between corners 4 and 5, which was a surprise, but generally, the car gripped. When it understeered a couple of times in a row during a session where it was snowing, I decided to pull into the pits. Constantly changing conditions are tricky, and I didn't feel like risking anything just to try to go that little bit faster. My car's top speed on the back straight was 182 km/h, which is as fast as I've ever gone on this track.
I took a video with my phone in a 99-cent Ebay phone holder, and the result was shockingly good. Here it is. It was not my fastest session of the day, but rather the only one I filmed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DMnWHQVpns&t=97s
I am pretty sure that in nice conditions, I will be able to go quite a bit faster, maybe even under the 2-minute mark. My minimum speeds in most corners are 85% of what they were in the race car when it was running in the 1:58 range, and my top speeds are pretty close. The new Civic was clearly making good power on such a cold day. The car felt really good: good acceleration good gear ratios, adequate brakes, good grip, predictable handling. I looked forward to future events with the car at Tremblant.
As usual, there were many interesting cars on hand, many of them non-BMW's and most of them belonging to the instructors. My old Civic was usually one of the faster cars on track, even in the instructor group. After a couple of sessions on track, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the new Civic, although about 5 seconds slower per lap (2:03.4 according to my phone), is still in the mid pack. I always get a bit of an ego boost when people come up to me after a session and say "Was that you in the Civic? You were quick out there!". At St-Eustache, there are a bunch of really quick Honda's, most quicker than mine. However, at these BMW events, there are usually only a couple of Honda's, so I think many attendees are a bit surprised when they get passed on track by a Civic, especially one that looks as unmodified as mine.
I was not comfortable pushing too hard because of the cold conditions, but the car felt really planted. The back end stepped out a bit once (first time ever with this car!) at the transition point between corners 4 and 5, which was a surprise, but generally, the car gripped. When it understeered a couple of times in a row during a session where it was snowing, I decided to pull into the pits. Constantly changing conditions are tricky, and I didn't feel like risking anything just to try to go that little bit faster. My car's top speed on the back straight was 182 km/h, which is as fast as I've ever gone on this track.
I took a video with my phone in a 99-cent Ebay phone holder, and the result was shockingly good. Here it is. It was not my fastest session of the day, but rather the only one I filmed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DMnWHQVpns&t=97s
I am pretty sure that in nice conditions, I will be able to go quite a bit faster, maybe even under the 2-minute mark. My minimum speeds in most corners are 85% of what they were in the race car when it was running in the 1:58 range, and my top speeds are pretty close. The new Civic was clearly making good power on such a cold day. The car felt really good: good acceleration good gear ratios, adequate brakes, good grip, predictable handling. I looked forward to future events with the car at Tremblant.
I continued to attend Monday evening sessions at St-Eustache and again improved my best lap, to 1:02.32. I managed a pretty similar lap of 1:02.4 in the following session too. This was better than I had ever hoped to achieve without further modifications. Over all, the car was going well, although it was going through brakes pretty quickly. I paid some professionals to roll the fenders to that, even when I installed wider wheels and tires, they would not rub.
One small issue showed up, when changing the tires from front to rear, I noted some excessive camber wear on the fronts. I had used an infrared thermometer to measure inside-middle-outside temperatures on the tires and could see that they were getting much hotter on the inside sections. I took an appointment at the alignment and reduced the static camber from 3 degrees to about 2 degrees.
People told me I would feel the lack of a limited-slip differential or be disappointed with the gear ratios on the 5-speed, but this hadn't been the case. The one thing that I thought would make a significant improvement was some extra front-end bite, and I thought that with some aggressive offset 15x8 wheels, I could make the front end wider and run a 225-width tire, which would solve the issue. Even so, I was pretty happy with the way the car is running as-is, considering how easy and comfortable wat is to drive on the street and how little I had spent on the car so far. I never thought I would be able to lap St-Eustache in the 1:02's, but now I thought that even 1:01's will be possible with wider rubber.
Here is a video chasing a Porsche 996 at St-Eustache:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE6iLcMdAfo
My season was interrupted by a family trip to Greece, during which I decided to order some 15x8 wheels. The Bridgestone tires were almost finished, so I would install some 225-45-15 Hankook RS3’s in front and keep the 205 Bridgestone’s for the rear.
Soon after I got home from my vacation, the wheels arrived. They were very green:
These were by far the least expensive 15x8 wheels on eBay, at 295$US. Each wheel was more than 5 pounds lighter than the original Honda wheels, so the car was now 20 pounds lighter. It looked like there would be no rubbing, but I would only know for sure after trying out the setup on track.
Back at St-Eustache, I continued to try to improve my lap times. On a Monday in August, I tried unsuccessfully to keep up with some of the quick Hondas, and managed my best lap of the night, a 1:02.21. I had noticed that with the Hankook's, you have 3 or 4 laps to get in a good time, after which they fell off by about half a second per lap. If you take a cool down lap in the middle of the session, you can get a couple more decent laps out of them, but still not as quick as at the beginning of the session.
I hoped that with some cooler weather, I will be able to dip into the 1:01 range. I didn't know if there was any way to go under 1:01 without any other modifications, but I was going to do my best.
On August 22nd, with slightly cooler weather, I finally managed a lap in the 1:01’s, while playing with a Scion FRS (Toyota GT86) and Miata on the track. Here is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxBVUrFYnr8&t=253s
I matched the lap time later in the season, while chasing a fellow instructor in an E46 M3.
I made another video during that session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL9mEnuO01E
The season was coming to an end, and I never managed to go faster than 1:01.8. There was one big event left though: our club’s annual trip to Mosport, a very fast track where I had last driven in 2011.
One small issue showed up, when changing the tires from front to rear, I noted some excessive camber wear on the fronts. I had used an infrared thermometer to measure inside-middle-outside temperatures on the tires and could see that they were getting much hotter on the inside sections. I took an appointment at the alignment and reduced the static camber from 3 degrees to about 2 degrees.
People told me I would feel the lack of a limited-slip differential or be disappointed with the gear ratios on the 5-speed, but this hadn't been the case. The one thing that I thought would make a significant improvement was some extra front-end bite, and I thought that with some aggressive offset 15x8 wheels, I could make the front end wider and run a 225-width tire, which would solve the issue. Even so, I was pretty happy with the way the car is running as-is, considering how easy and comfortable wat is to drive on the street and how little I had spent on the car so far. I never thought I would be able to lap St-Eustache in the 1:02's, but now I thought that even 1:01's will be possible with wider rubber.
Here is a video chasing a Porsche 996 at St-Eustache:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE6iLcMdAfo
My season was interrupted by a family trip to Greece, during which I decided to order some 15x8 wheels. The Bridgestone tires were almost finished, so I would install some 225-45-15 Hankook RS3’s in front and keep the 205 Bridgestone’s for the rear.
Soon after I got home from my vacation, the wheels arrived. They were very green:
These were by far the least expensive 15x8 wheels on eBay, at 295$US. Each wheel was more than 5 pounds lighter than the original Honda wheels, so the car was now 20 pounds lighter. It looked like there would be no rubbing, but I would only know for sure after trying out the setup on track.
Back at St-Eustache, I continued to try to improve my lap times. On a Monday in August, I tried unsuccessfully to keep up with some of the quick Hondas, and managed my best lap of the night, a 1:02.21. I had noticed that with the Hankook's, you have 3 or 4 laps to get in a good time, after which they fell off by about half a second per lap. If you take a cool down lap in the middle of the session, you can get a couple more decent laps out of them, but still not as quick as at the beginning of the session.
I hoped that with some cooler weather, I will be able to dip into the 1:01 range. I didn't know if there was any way to go under 1:01 without any other modifications, but I was going to do my best.
On August 22nd, with slightly cooler weather, I finally managed a lap in the 1:01’s, while playing with a Scion FRS (Toyota GT86) and Miata on the track. Here is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxBVUrFYnr8&t=253s
I matched the lap time later in the season, while chasing a fellow instructor in an E46 M3.
I made another video during that session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL9mEnuO01E
The season was coming to an end, and I never managed to go faster than 1:01.8. There was one big event left though: our club’s annual trip to Mosport, a very fast track where I had last driven in 2011.
When I discussed my track season with my wife Alex in the spring, I told her I wanted to do a few full day events and as many Monday nights as possible at St-Eustache. Everything worked out: I got to attend a full day of lapping at Tremblant, a bunch of Monday nights, the Club Civic Quebec track day at St-Eustache and a track day at a new (to me) track, Autodrome Montmagny. However, there was one event that would involve me spending the night away from home, without the family, which I absolutely did not want to miss: the Thanksgiving day ASE Lapping Club track day at Mosport. The last time I attended one of these days, or even turned a lap was in 2011.
The plan was to leave in the late afternoon on Sunday with Rob, who would be attending with his super clean E36 M3. The track is about 500 km from home. Rob and I hadn't had the chance to attend any events together this year, so I was looking forward to that aspect of the trip as well. Generally, I am a bit quicker in the Civic than he is in the M3, probably because I am more comfortable pushing the car hard than he is. I was not sure if this would hold true at Mosport, as power and top speed play an important role compared to St-Eustache.
To save time and money, Rob and I decided we would each sleep in our own car. Neither of us felt like setting up a tent at 10:00 pm in the cold October weather. I had tested out a layout using a Rubbermaid bin on the floor and the rear seat folded down and sure enough, I could lay almost flat in the car. I brought a thin camping mattress and my good sleeping bag, and hoped I would get a good night's sleep.
The drive to the track was uneventful. We arrived before 10:00 pm and it was barely above zero degrees. I went to hang out with the gang, who had built a fire. Rob decided to set up his EZ-up tent... I don't know why, these tents are usually only useful to protect you from sun and rain, and it was going to be dry and 3 degrees on Monday morning... in other words, a driver should want all the sun he or she can get! Anyway, Rob's plan was to park under the tent and lower it down to the level of the car's roof, to retain heat I guess. We went to bed early and I slept pretty well. When I awoke a bit before 7:00 am to help with registration, the car was covered in a thick layer of frost. It was a cold morning.
We had access to seven 30-minute sessions in the day, which is a lot. Mosport is not a terribly relaxing track to drive on, with average speeds over 140 km/h. It requires serious concentration. As a result, I doubted many people, including myself, would drive in every available session.
With the track so cold, Carl, the event organizer and boss, wanted us to make sure that the drivers in the first group were having a trouble-free session before we headed out. This was fine with me. I was not going to try to break any lap records in the first and coldest session of the day. What kind if lap times was I hoping for? The best lap I had ever achieved with the old Civic was 1:41, with a 1.6 liter engine. I had never been to Mosport with the 2.3 I installed later. At Tremblant, I managed to get within a second of my best time with the 1.6, si I hoped I could do it again a Mosport. I hoped to get into the 1:42's at some point in the day. I also hoped to be quicker than Rob!
There were many cool cars on hand, including race cars, modern Corvettes, M3's and Porsche's. There was also a wild Triumph TR8 racer (which we had seen at our events before). The best towing rig setup has to go to a guy who was towing his Lotus Exige with his new Focus RS! Each saw track time at some point.
In the first session, I was mostly looking around at the track. In the five years since my last visit, they paved over some new areas, most notably the area outside of turn 2, which used to be grass. If you screwed up turn 2 in the old configuration, you were almost surely going to be trying to regain control of your car on the grass, at very high speed.
As I was unused to losing the back end of this Civic, I was taking it really easy in turn 2. I tried the 2-apex line and the single apex. I preferred the single apex, as the 2 apex required a tightening of the line mid-corner, which required steering imput at a time when I just want the car to stay settled. I think this line is better suited to cars for which the rear tends to step out a bit, naturally tightening your line. After one session, I was in the 1:47's, but I wasn't worried, as there were many places I could safely push harder.
Throughout the morning, I shaved off a couple of seconds and was lapping in the 1:44's. I realized that 1:42 would be tough, as I was only willing to push so hard in a car with no harness or rollover protection. Still, I knew I would not be satisfied with my driving if I didn't at least break into the 1:43's. Satisfaction would come in my second session after lunch. I managed to hook up with fellow instructor Nick, who was driving a Honda S2000 with the same Hankook RS3 tires that I was using. I was able to keep up with him, as I was faster on the straights and he was faster in several corners. I managed my best lap of the day: a 1:43.04 (see video below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YAvsw3YFG8&t=1s
The session after that I only managed a 1:44. I wasn't adjusting anything on the car, but I noted when looking at the date that having the driver window down cost about 4 km/h at the end of the straight versus windows up. In the sixth session, there was oil in the last couple of corners and the car just didn't feel as stable. After a moment in turn 2 where I aborted my approach and drove off the line onto the paved runoff area, I decided that there was no point in continuing, as I would not beat my best lap time. Rob was also done after six sessions, so we packed up and headed home. As it was the end of Thanksgiving weekend, we hit some nasty bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 401 and lost a couple of hours. We were still home at a reasonable hour, as we had left an hour earlier than planned. It was a fun little trip, even though it was exhausting. Rob and I had don't get to see each other that often, so I was glad we got to attend such a memorable event together. It was also our last event of the year, so I'm glad we made it count.
The plan was to leave in the late afternoon on Sunday with Rob, who would be attending with his super clean E36 M3. The track is about 500 km from home. Rob and I hadn't had the chance to attend any events together this year, so I was looking forward to that aspect of the trip as well. Generally, I am a bit quicker in the Civic than he is in the M3, probably because I am more comfortable pushing the car hard than he is. I was not sure if this would hold true at Mosport, as power and top speed play an important role compared to St-Eustache.
To save time and money, Rob and I decided we would each sleep in our own car. Neither of us felt like setting up a tent at 10:00 pm in the cold October weather. I had tested out a layout using a Rubbermaid bin on the floor and the rear seat folded down and sure enough, I could lay almost flat in the car. I brought a thin camping mattress and my good sleeping bag, and hoped I would get a good night's sleep.
The drive to the track was uneventful. We arrived before 10:00 pm and it was barely above zero degrees. I went to hang out with the gang, who had built a fire. Rob decided to set up his EZ-up tent... I don't know why, these tents are usually only useful to protect you from sun and rain, and it was going to be dry and 3 degrees on Monday morning... in other words, a driver should want all the sun he or she can get! Anyway, Rob's plan was to park under the tent and lower it down to the level of the car's roof, to retain heat I guess. We went to bed early and I slept pretty well. When I awoke a bit before 7:00 am to help with registration, the car was covered in a thick layer of frost. It was a cold morning.
We had access to seven 30-minute sessions in the day, which is a lot. Mosport is not a terribly relaxing track to drive on, with average speeds over 140 km/h. It requires serious concentration. As a result, I doubted many people, including myself, would drive in every available session.
With the track so cold, Carl, the event organizer and boss, wanted us to make sure that the drivers in the first group were having a trouble-free session before we headed out. This was fine with me. I was not going to try to break any lap records in the first and coldest session of the day. What kind if lap times was I hoping for? The best lap I had ever achieved with the old Civic was 1:41, with a 1.6 liter engine. I had never been to Mosport with the 2.3 I installed later. At Tremblant, I managed to get within a second of my best time with the 1.6, si I hoped I could do it again a Mosport. I hoped to get into the 1:42's at some point in the day. I also hoped to be quicker than Rob!
There were many cool cars on hand, including race cars, modern Corvettes, M3's and Porsche's. There was also a wild Triumph TR8 racer (which we had seen at our events before). The best towing rig setup has to go to a guy who was towing his Lotus Exige with his new Focus RS! Each saw track time at some point.
In the first session, I was mostly looking around at the track. In the five years since my last visit, they paved over some new areas, most notably the area outside of turn 2, which used to be grass. If you screwed up turn 2 in the old configuration, you were almost surely going to be trying to regain control of your car on the grass, at very high speed.
As I was unused to losing the back end of this Civic, I was taking it really easy in turn 2. I tried the 2-apex line and the single apex. I preferred the single apex, as the 2 apex required a tightening of the line mid-corner, which required steering imput at a time when I just want the car to stay settled. I think this line is better suited to cars for which the rear tends to step out a bit, naturally tightening your line. After one session, I was in the 1:47's, but I wasn't worried, as there were many places I could safely push harder.
Throughout the morning, I shaved off a couple of seconds and was lapping in the 1:44's. I realized that 1:42 would be tough, as I was only willing to push so hard in a car with no harness or rollover protection. Still, I knew I would not be satisfied with my driving if I didn't at least break into the 1:43's. Satisfaction would come in my second session after lunch. I managed to hook up with fellow instructor Nick, who was driving a Honda S2000 with the same Hankook RS3 tires that I was using. I was able to keep up with him, as I was faster on the straights and he was faster in several corners. I managed my best lap of the day: a 1:43.04 (see video below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YAvsw3YFG8&t=1s
The session after that I only managed a 1:44. I wasn't adjusting anything on the car, but I noted when looking at the date that having the driver window down cost about 4 km/h at the end of the straight versus windows up. In the sixth session, there was oil in the last couple of corners and the car just didn't feel as stable. After a moment in turn 2 where I aborted my approach and drove off the line onto the paved runoff area, I decided that there was no point in continuing, as I would not beat my best lap time. Rob was also done after six sessions, so we packed up and headed home. As it was the end of Thanksgiving weekend, we hit some nasty bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 401 and lost a couple of hours. We were still home at a reasonable hour, as we had left an hour earlier than planned. It was a fun little trip, even though it was exhausting. Rob and I had don't get to see each other that often, so I was glad we got to attend such a memorable event together. It was also our last event of the year, so I'm glad we made it count.
The 2016 track day season is long over. What can I say about the Civic after its first season? The car did not disappoint… it has been reliable, pretty quick, and fun to drive. I chose this car because I wanted all these qualities on a very low budget. After one season, it looks like I made the right call. Here are my thoughts on various aspects of the car:
How fun is it to drive on track? 8/10
Just from driving on the street, I could tell that this Civic was not slow. The car is fast enough in a straight line that you can’t really enjoy all its power on the street without greatly exceeding the speed limit, except maybe when getting onto the highway. From the first laps I drove the car on the track, I could see that power was not going to be an issue. In the corners, the car felt very tall in comparison with Civics I have owned in the past (it really is much taller). However, as it had no tendency towards oversteer, I was able to drive it with confidence from the very first day despite the fact that the whole car felt less stable than my previous, lower-slung cars. As with my previous Civic, achieving a good lap time came down to getting the front end to grip in corners so you can carry good speed. How fun is this? Managing understeer in a FWD car is not the most fun thing in the world, which explains why the car does not get a higher score in the “fun” department. However, having a car that tends toward understeer, for me, makes me less afraid to push the car harder on tracks where I am less comfortable than St-Eustache (like Mosport or Tremblant), which is quite fun. How challenging is the car to drive? On a track like St-Eustache, I don’t think the challenge is that great. I think I have gone about as fast as I could with the current setup, and that I achieved this level after maybe 4-5 events at St-Eustache. If the car were set up with a tendency to oversteer, it might be more fun and more challenging on tracks I know well, but at the same time, it would be less confidence-inspiring and I would hesitate before pushing the car hard.
Lap times: 8/10
Before turning a single lap with the car at St-Eustache, I tried to predict what lap times I could achieve with my setup. Taking into account that the best lap time I had achieved with my old Civic was 1 minute flat , which was at least as powerful and 350 pounds lighter, I was thinking I should be able to hit 1:03 to 1:04 for the new car. In the end, I managed to get down to 1:01.8, on two separate days, on (very aggressive) street tires, so I can’t say I’m disappointed. However, I am competitive by nature, and my fellow ASE Lapping Club instructors are almost all faster than I am. Most of them are in the 59-second range, and some are in the 56's, and even those with relatively modest Civic builds are faster than I am. I guess I hadn’t thought too much about what it would mean to bring a 2700-pound Civic to the track. The car is much more comfortable and quiet on the street than any Civic I have ever owned, but it is really much heavier. I started out the season on very good 205/50/15 tires on 6-inch-wide wheels and I could tell that the car would benefit from something wider. Later in the season, I switched to 8-inch wheels and 225-width tires, and the improvement was minimal (which may be due to the compound of the Hankook tires, which is less aggressive than the Bridgestones). Running a 205 or 225 tire had always been enough in the past, but with a heavy car like this, I think I need something wider, or much stickier, at least in the front. I have checked out the sizes being run by heavier Hondas, like mine or S2000’s, and people seem to be running 245 or 255 width. It looks like there are a couple of new tire choices in 245-40-15 this year, from Hankook or BFGoodrich. I will try to borrow a set of 245’s or 225 real race tires on 9-inch rims for a session or two to see what difference it makes as far as lap times.
I had been using RaceChrono all season to gather date on the track, and when I analyze my lap times and cornering speeds at St-Eustache, it’s hard to see where I am losing time to the faster guys, specifically. I think that what I need is more front end mechanical grip, and more traction accelerating out of the slower corners. The latter issue can be helped with a limited-slip differential. I have already purchased a whole 2011 Civic Si transmission and it will be installed before the first track event in April.
Affordability: 9.5/10
The only reason I am not giving the car a perfect score is that its tendency to eat front tires meant that I could not make it through the season on a single new set of tires as I had planned to do. This added about 750$ to my season expenses, which is a lot, considering how low the other running costs have been. The brake pads don’t last very long either, but I bought 4 sets of pads for 200$ from the same guy who sold me the suspension. I ended up using 2 of those sets. Other than that, not a single item has broken or failed on the car, I have never been left stranded and have not had to carry out a single repair on the car at the track. All I do is occasionally add oil and put in gas, while rotating tires to even out their wear. Driving the car on track is really very simple: I get to the track, empty out my stuff, remove the spare tire and check the oil level and tire pressures. I did not adjust the shocks once all season. I can literally be on track within minutes of arriving at the track, and I am rarely the slowest car out there. Could I have bought a faster car with the money I spent on this Civic? Probably (it would probably be some lighter Civic or a stripped out Miata), but I don’t think the car would have been as reliable. My old Civic was clearly not as reliable and left the track on a tow truck more than once. I have limited time to attend track events now that I have kids, as well as limited time to work on the car myself or travel to and from my mechanics. So the fantastic reliability of the car has really served me well and any items that I modify in the future have to maintain this reliability. I can think of a few things that fit this bill...
Weaknesses
As I mentioned above, the weight of the car causes excessive wear on the brakes and front tires. The limited-slip differential may help with tire wear. I can’t really reduce the weight much, or at all, without compromising the usability of the car. Eventually, I plan to upgrade the brakes with brakes from a different Honda. There are bolt-on 11-inch and 12-inch front disc options to replace my 10.2-inch discs. The 12-inch option involves changing wheels to a 5-bolt pattern, which I hope to avoid.
Goals for 2017
I really, really want to somehow achieve a sub-one-minute lap time at St-Eustache. That would be a first for me, in any car. While anybody can throw money at a car to make it faster, I would like to achieve my goal with as little extra expense as possible... and I think I can do it with only a few changes. I need to shave about 2 seconds off my lap time of 1:01.8. The 6-speed LSD transmission should help at St-Eustache, where there are two slow 50 km/h corners that require strong acceleration on exit. The installation of this tranny is surely worth a few tenths, maybe more if the better gear ratios help acceleration. I also plan on getting the car tuned on the dyno once my new Ebay exhaust line is installed. This should net a few hp and maybe some torque. Hopefully these changes, combined, should shave a second off my lap time. How can I shave off yet another second? I think I can do so by temporarily reducing the car's weight by about 50 pounds (I could lose 5 to 7 pounds myself too), by removing the passenger and rear seats, then installing some 225-45-15 Hoosier race tires in the front (someone I know must have a set lying around), on some borrowed 15x9-inch wheels if possible. On a cool day, this should be enough… shouldn’t it? Regardless of what I achieve in 2017, I am already very happy with the way this project has worked out. Just having a track car (and the opportunity to use it thanks to my understanding wife) brings me more happiness than any other material possession I can imagine.
How fun is it to drive on track? 8/10
Just from driving on the street, I could tell that this Civic was not slow. The car is fast enough in a straight line that you can’t really enjoy all its power on the street without greatly exceeding the speed limit, except maybe when getting onto the highway. From the first laps I drove the car on the track, I could see that power was not going to be an issue. In the corners, the car felt very tall in comparison with Civics I have owned in the past (it really is much taller). However, as it had no tendency towards oversteer, I was able to drive it with confidence from the very first day despite the fact that the whole car felt less stable than my previous, lower-slung cars. As with my previous Civic, achieving a good lap time came down to getting the front end to grip in corners so you can carry good speed. How fun is this? Managing understeer in a FWD car is not the most fun thing in the world, which explains why the car does not get a higher score in the “fun” department. However, having a car that tends toward understeer, for me, makes me less afraid to push the car harder on tracks where I am less comfortable than St-Eustache (like Mosport or Tremblant), which is quite fun. How challenging is the car to drive? On a track like St-Eustache, I don’t think the challenge is that great. I think I have gone about as fast as I could with the current setup, and that I achieved this level after maybe 4-5 events at St-Eustache. If the car were set up with a tendency to oversteer, it might be more fun and more challenging on tracks I know well, but at the same time, it would be less confidence-inspiring and I would hesitate before pushing the car hard.
Lap times: 8/10
Before turning a single lap with the car at St-Eustache, I tried to predict what lap times I could achieve with my setup. Taking into account that the best lap time I had achieved with my old Civic was 1 minute flat , which was at least as powerful and 350 pounds lighter, I was thinking I should be able to hit 1:03 to 1:04 for the new car. In the end, I managed to get down to 1:01.8, on two separate days, on (very aggressive) street tires, so I can’t say I’m disappointed. However, I am competitive by nature, and my fellow ASE Lapping Club instructors are almost all faster than I am. Most of them are in the 59-second range, and some are in the 56's, and even those with relatively modest Civic builds are faster than I am. I guess I hadn’t thought too much about what it would mean to bring a 2700-pound Civic to the track. The car is much more comfortable and quiet on the street than any Civic I have ever owned, but it is really much heavier. I started out the season on very good 205/50/15 tires on 6-inch-wide wheels and I could tell that the car would benefit from something wider. Later in the season, I switched to 8-inch wheels and 225-width tires, and the improvement was minimal (which may be due to the compound of the Hankook tires, which is less aggressive than the Bridgestones). Running a 205 or 225 tire had always been enough in the past, but with a heavy car like this, I think I need something wider, or much stickier, at least in the front. I have checked out the sizes being run by heavier Hondas, like mine or S2000’s, and people seem to be running 245 or 255 width. It looks like there are a couple of new tire choices in 245-40-15 this year, from Hankook or BFGoodrich. I will try to borrow a set of 245’s or 225 real race tires on 9-inch rims for a session or two to see what difference it makes as far as lap times.
I had been using RaceChrono all season to gather date on the track, and when I analyze my lap times and cornering speeds at St-Eustache, it’s hard to see where I am losing time to the faster guys, specifically. I think that what I need is more front end mechanical grip, and more traction accelerating out of the slower corners. The latter issue can be helped with a limited-slip differential. I have already purchased a whole 2011 Civic Si transmission and it will be installed before the first track event in April.
Affordability: 9.5/10
The only reason I am not giving the car a perfect score is that its tendency to eat front tires meant that I could not make it through the season on a single new set of tires as I had planned to do. This added about 750$ to my season expenses, which is a lot, considering how low the other running costs have been. The brake pads don’t last very long either, but I bought 4 sets of pads for 200$ from the same guy who sold me the suspension. I ended up using 2 of those sets. Other than that, not a single item has broken or failed on the car, I have never been left stranded and have not had to carry out a single repair on the car at the track. All I do is occasionally add oil and put in gas, while rotating tires to even out their wear. Driving the car on track is really very simple: I get to the track, empty out my stuff, remove the spare tire and check the oil level and tire pressures. I did not adjust the shocks once all season. I can literally be on track within minutes of arriving at the track, and I am rarely the slowest car out there. Could I have bought a faster car with the money I spent on this Civic? Probably (it would probably be some lighter Civic or a stripped out Miata), but I don’t think the car would have been as reliable. My old Civic was clearly not as reliable and left the track on a tow truck more than once. I have limited time to attend track events now that I have kids, as well as limited time to work on the car myself or travel to and from my mechanics. So the fantastic reliability of the car has really served me well and any items that I modify in the future have to maintain this reliability. I can think of a few things that fit this bill...
Weaknesses
As I mentioned above, the weight of the car causes excessive wear on the brakes and front tires. The limited-slip differential may help with tire wear. I can’t really reduce the weight much, or at all, without compromising the usability of the car. Eventually, I plan to upgrade the brakes with brakes from a different Honda. There are bolt-on 11-inch and 12-inch front disc options to replace my 10.2-inch discs. The 12-inch option involves changing wheels to a 5-bolt pattern, which I hope to avoid.
Goals for 2017
I really, really want to somehow achieve a sub-one-minute lap time at St-Eustache. That would be a first for me, in any car. While anybody can throw money at a car to make it faster, I would like to achieve my goal with as little extra expense as possible... and I think I can do it with only a few changes. I need to shave about 2 seconds off my lap time of 1:01.8. The 6-speed LSD transmission should help at St-Eustache, where there are two slow 50 km/h corners that require strong acceleration on exit. The installation of this tranny is surely worth a few tenths, maybe more if the better gear ratios help acceleration. I also plan on getting the car tuned on the dyno once my new Ebay exhaust line is installed. This should net a few hp and maybe some torque. Hopefully these changes, combined, should shave a second off my lap time. How can I shave off yet another second? I think I can do so by temporarily reducing the car's weight by about 50 pounds (I could lose 5 to 7 pounds myself too), by removing the passenger and rear seats, then installing some 225-45-15 Hoosier race tires in the front (someone I know must have a set lying around), on some borrowed 15x9-inch wheels if possible. On a cool day, this should be enough… shouldn’t it? Regardless of what I achieve in 2017, I am already very happy with the way this project has worked out. Just having a track car (and the opportunity to use it thanks to my understanding wife) brings me more happiness than any other material possession I can imagine.
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