Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying
only1harry
Member Posts: 1,140
we lost our part #2 topic. There were almost 1,000 posts on that. Shifty said it went to LA LA land and they had trouble retrieving it so I started a new one.
What's everyone been doing the last couple of weeks? Racing is going real well for me. I think the Kumhos are sticking really good now with about 10 events on them but I don't think I can get another 10 out of them, maybe 5-6, we 'll see. Did anyone hear about the stock RSX that pulled a 14.34 in the 1/4 at 97mph?
What's everyone been doing the last couple of weeks? Racing is going real well for me. I think the Kumhos are sticking really good now with about 10 events on them but I don't think I can get another 10 out of them, maybe 5-6, we 'll see. Did anyone hear about the stock RSX that pulled a 14.34 in the 1/4 at 97mph?
'99 Integra GSR
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
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As for racing, I haven't been to an event since mid-July. I've got a local race in two weeks and the divisional event plus Evolution driving school the week after that EEEEE HAAAAWWWW!! Can't wait! I'm also hoping to have header and new exhaust system installed before then, too. Also planned are new brake pads for the rears (AEM) and bleeding the brake system with ATE Blue fluid.
Harry, I got my SCCA Solo I/II rulebook and when I have more time I'll share what I learned. BTW, you remembered about 95% on what's in there for the STS class. Nice job! Haven't seen you on H-T.com lately? Hope all is well with you.
Anyway, I didn't think you could do all the pulleys in STS! But you 're right about the VAFC. I don't know about 8-10hp but you certainly get a few extra ponnies without an ECU.
Yeah, the RSX looks promising so far.
Now I 'm going to go shop for a bigger sway bar for the Civic. It has a pathetic 12mm one (other models don't even have one!) and tons of body roll. Then I 'll get a front upper strut bar. I hope aftermarket stuff for the g7 Civics are out already..
Yeah I don't hang out at H-T that much anymore. I just go to the competition board once a week maybe but I don't post like I used to. I don't have the time anymore and the wife gets pissed when I get on the PC at night because I forget myself and can stay on there till midnight.. sometimes I fall asleep typing or on the keyboard! So I 've cut down a lot
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
How much does he sell the SS one?
The only thing I 've bought this year (besides wheels & tires back in April) was a new helmet. Should be arriving today. It is ultralight with a kevlar shell. I got a $25 discount from a guy I race with. He is an authorized HJC helmet dealer. Similar BELL kevlar helmets go for over $300.. I paid $105! One of the clubs I race at use all HJC helmets for loaners but the base models (He was selling those for $70!). This is like the 2nd or 3d one up and is Snell 2000 certified. My old Simpson which I had bought used from a Porsche Club member, was Snell-85 certified (was built in '85 too) and the SCCA clubs and others wouldn't let me race with it. What was I supposed to do? borrow a loaner helmet like a novice? :-) This helmet should be good for at least 10yrs before they tell me I gotta buy another one.. I can give you the guy's # if you want and he 'll ship it UPS to you. He 's in CT and shipped mine to NY for $5. It probably wouldn't be more than $10 to GA. These helmets are light! My Simpson was at least twice as heavy and semi-closed faced and I sweated like a pig with it in the car. The one I got is open faced and even realized some of our national champs were wearing them. I got a white one but the model I got comes in a dark red metallic and silver. Anyway, why spend hundreds of $$ on these helmets when chances are you 'll never need it in auto-x.. Track racing is different but as long as the helmet is Snell 2000 they 'll allow you to do track events with them.. but that's probably where I can see spending some bucks on a really good one I guess..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Harry, you'll appreciate this story. After nearly 15 years of no contact, I recently re-connected with an old friend of mine from California. This is the same guy who took me to my first autocross event -- a real die hard gear head who had major aspirations of going into professional racing. Lance and I used to do a lot of car-related things together. We even worked with each other at an auto accesories store. Before I headed off to graduate school in the summer of '85, I traveled with him to Laguna Seca and Sears Point for some sort of Honda race series where he competed in a stock-prepared CRX. Both of these events were a ton of fun, and I basically served as a pseudo pit crew member/gopher. Well, I went to school in Michigan, he moved to Florida, and we lost touch. I'd heard through mutual friends he was moving up the ranks in professional racing but that's about all I knew. Then, my wife and I moved to Atlanta, and I lost touch with the mutual friends, so I was really clueless about contacting him. Work, kids, and other things made a lot of time pass before I thought about contacting him again. On a whim I did a Yahoo search on his name and low and behold I found his name and email address on a racing website. I dropped him a line and he wrote back saying "holy $hit, where the hell have you been?" We've been doing a lot a catching up since then, and I've been amazed and impressed to learn how successful he's been in racing. And this is where it gets cool because he has mucho experience racing ITRs. In 1998, he nearly won the Speedvision World Challenge touring class driving a DC Sports-sponsored ITR. From there he went to the Motorola Cup driving another ITR and had good success. Then his team decided develop an Audi S4 for racing and they abandoned the ITR, and so that's what he's doing part time in the Grand Am Cup. I told him I was autocrossing my GSR and he immediately started asking me all these questions about what's allowed within the rules, etc. I'm like, "slow down, man! I'm new to this autocrossing stuff again and I don't have the same kind of budget you're used to in prepping race cars!!" Needless to say, we're having a good time getting caught up on lost time. I'll likely get to see him when he's competing in the Petit Le Mans this October in Road Atlanta. Nothing like having a good friend with the right connections to get some tickets and pit passes!!
The S4 your friend is driving must be a lot of fun especially when it's modded. Lots of power too!
Yeah Type-Rs had the monopoly on the Speedvision World Challenge Touring series & Motorolla series. They took the championship from '97 to '99. Then last year a lot of the rules changed giving the BMWs more advantage (also the weight requirement went up on the Type-R, you could only lighten it so much, etc..) so the 328s took both championships I believe last year. Usually it was the six REALTIME (name of the company that owns & races them) ITR's that kicked butt before.. It 'll be interesting this year, because Realtime is supposed to make a come back (with some new custom exhaust system they got, etc.), but so far they 've only been doing so and so, winning some, losing some but they look good, and when they lose (to Bimmers), they only lose by a hair.. We 'll see. I think it's still amazing that a $24K 1.8L car can beat a $40k 2.8L one. I wonder if the 330i was allowed to race in the Touring class with the ITRs this year, I doubt it.. It would be unfair.. My friend just got a 330is. Fast car! I saw a road test where it got 5.9s 0-60! BTW, the germans have a habit of lying about the real HP in their cars all the time.. I knew a guy that dyno'd his 328 and got close to 180hp (high 170's!) at the wheels. At a usual 15% loss at the wheels, means his 328 had about 205bhp and not 193 or whatever BMW advertised. The ITR only puts down 161-167whp, but they both are supposed to have the same HP at the flywheel? Don't think so..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
like them." I said, "Ohlins.. I've never heard of them. Probably a high-end shock. How much do they cost?" He said, "Oh, about 4 to 6 GRAND$$$ for the set!!!" I said, "Doh! Ouch! WTF!" He has also been advising me on alignment and setting the toe, in particular. He wants me to run 1/4-1/8" toe out up front, and at least zero toe in back, preferably set at a little toe out. His advice is consistent with others that toe out front and possibly rear helps the car rotate better in turns, along with trailing off throttle or trail braking. Right now I'm set at zero toe both front and rear. Besides, I'm not sure how to do that off throttle and trail braking stuff very well right now. Anyways, I'm not sure I want to run all that toe out he recommends because I don't want to wear out my new tires too fast. My car is, after all, my daily driver...
Stephen who used to be a regular seems to be missing from the scene??
Let me update you about the kind of "blessing disguise" I had... My 99 GSR sedan ( 19K miles) was stolen two weeks back and the Cops recovered the car the same day. The entire interior ( Leather seats, Center console, Glovebox, CD, Door Panels, Trunk lid were missing). Surprisingly they didn't touch the engine, airbags, wheels etc. Initially my insurance company decided to repair the car but the initail appraisal was nearly 10K!!!! Finally they figured out that the total repair cost would be more or less similar to the price of the car( You wouldn't beleive the prices quoted by the dealers for the new seats!!!). Now comes the interesting part. They decided to TOTAL the car and the price they came up with based on their Market Survey, Demand, Low mileage, sales tax etc was $20003 ...yes twenty thousand three dollars.
Now it gets more interesting, I started looking for Four door GSR's and none were available with dealers, news paper ads etc so I decided to buy back the salvaged car from the insurance. The price they offered was $5000 which I was not able to refuse. Meanwhile I had the car towed back to the Acura dealership to make sure that nothing else was missing/ damaged. So here I am with a stripped down 4 Door GSR ( Mainly Front and back seats, door panels, Trunk lid) looking around for used parts.
I am tempted to spend some money on recaros or atleast on Tenzos....not yet decided. Most probably I will go for a Decent set of used GSR seats on Ebay and will spend the monry on some other goodies. Let me know what you all think
Anyway, go to honda-tech.com and honda-acura.net.
That's where Stephen hangs out too. Explain the situation and what you need. They also both have a classified section where you can post what you 're looking to buy. I 'm sure you 'll find the parts you need there and you 'll get great prices. Don't tell them what the dealer wants for them! Many guys there have aftermarket seats and have the factory ones sitting in their garage. You can also go for aftermarket seats, but Recaros are way too expensive. Sparco racing seats are a little cheaper and look almost like recaros. Sparco is a big name in racing seats too. Even if you figure you spend about $5-6K on the interior you 'll still have plenty of money left over. I can't believe they didn't touch anything under the hood. They even left the battery? Side paneling and stuff I 'm sure you can find them at a junk yard. That's where I 'd look first for most of this stuff but I don't think you 'll be disappointed with h-t or h-a. BUT since you have 15 grand now, you might want to get something nice. Type-R seats are not bad either and hold you in much better than GSR leather seats. You might consider installing LoJak in the car. It is usually the best defense. Check to see if the cops use it in your area and what their response times and recovery successes are. The dealer can install it. If they stole the car once already, it may happen again. You might want to remove the VTEC/DOHC badge if the thieves didn't already. If they think it's an LS/GS, the chances of it getting stolen again are much less. Wait, but then again, it wasn't the VTEC motor they were after.. weird. I guess they can make as much money selling the seats, dashboard and stuff. The motor was probably too heavy for them to carry and a lot more work to take out, where the interior is easy to take apart and you don't have to jack up the car or anything. Good luck. Let us know how it goes and what goodies you put in the car.
PS. Just curious. Did you try and talk the insurance company down from $5K? I bet if you had offered them 4 or 4.5K they would 've taken it.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I did try both the HA boards. So far I was not able to get trunklid or the seats from those places. I did call couple of local junk yards/used parts stores for the trunk lid. seats i think I should be able to get decent ones from ebay.
If i was ten years younger and was without a family then I would have gone crazy thinking about the mods that can be done with the money...
I consider myself lucky that I was able to sell the idea at home about buying back the salvaged car. Even now there are preasures on me to sell this car and go for a Van/SUV or a BIG car!!!!!
(BTw tell me what is the best way to convince the "Finance Dept" about the positive aspects of having a Aftermarket seat??)
I don't want to spend too much on the cosmetic stuff right now as I can have this as a
weekend/track-toy kind of a car in future.
I did talk to insurance about the salvaged value of the car. The way it works is like this. Once decide to TOTAL the car, they get quotes from auction comapnies like www.copart.com for the salvaged car. The highest they got was $7600 for the salvaged car. I beleive the only reason they sold me for this price is that no GSR sedans were avaliable at the dealership or in the newspaper ads for me to buy a similar car. Now I have kept the car in the garage but needs to install a decent alarm. Let me know if you guys find anything that would be of help to me. Thanks
Harry, given that toe is the only adjustable part of alignment on our cars, what is yours set at? Most autocrossers and road racers will tell you that toe out for the front wheels is a good thing because it helps the car rotate in tight corners, and it helps compensate for how the front wheels tend to "turn in" under acceleration. The guy at the alignment shop convinced me to set my toe front and rear at zero. He just didn't want to see me scuff up my new Bridgestones (and I actually appreciate that!). My racing friend, Lance, suggests that I should even set the toe out in the rears as well. While on one hand I appreciate this is how to help the car go fast, it also sounds alittle crazy to do all of this on a daily driver. Your thoughts?
Anyway, the good thing is, that since that pothole, and the first couple of racing events this year, my suspension settled even more, so my camber is negative all around and the front camber for both wheels was exactly at borderline (-.15 deg. left & -.16 right I think it was), which helps handling and in auto-x. The rear camber was not as negative but still about 2/3 of the way towards the negative allowable range. Negative camber is good for auto-x. My car is now dropped about 1.25" and it's obvious that's where the cutoff line is for a camber kit, as discussed by many people who do or don't want to get a camber kit. My guess is that probably the 25 or so auto-x events I 've done since I upgraded the suspension last year, has caused extra wear & tear on all the bushings, springs, and I have to assume shocks (they settle a little too) and resulted in accelerated suspension settling. That's fine, I don't mind. As much as I 'd like to go with some LCA Polyurethane bushings, I don't think I want to deal with the squeaking and the harsher ride. If there's one thing I hate is rattles and squeaks, BUT the car isn't a daily driver (not since around Christams) anymore, so I should probably do it before the camber gets any worse and starts chewing up the tires. The abnormal caster doesn't help with even tire wear either and the car pulls to one side because of it. Despite all that, I 've managed 9 1st place wins and 1 2nd place so far this year. If only I 'd get my a*s kicked, so I can justify fixing all this and do some more mods :-)
Oh, and I messed up with Evolution school! I waited too long to mail my check so now both days this year are booked with no cancellations so far. My brother seems is going by himself this Sunday.. That's ok, my local club has an auto-x event 10 min. away this Sunday and I save my self $185. Hmm.. that's more than enough for ES bushings all around!
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
-Mark
As far as 0-60, I 've seen 2 old road tests for the sedan. One was 7.2 and the other 7.6. 2 different magazines. The Hatch is usually 7.1-2 but older GSRs '94&95 models were 6.9-7sec. '96+ hatches, 7.2s was the slowest I 've seen. Skidpad depends on the tires a LOT. Earlier GSRs (94-95) came with better tires and their skidpad was .84g. '96+ GSRs range between .80-.82g because of different Michelin tires they put on. With any average ZR rated (even Pirelli HR & VR rated ones like the P6000) tire the GSR is capable of .85-.86g easily with stock suspension. All the skidpad calculates, is when your tires loose grip or how many G's the car pulls before it starts skidding. Of course a good suspension helps increase these #s but TIRES also play a major role. The GSR comes with relatively small tires 195-55-15 for a sports coupe. With 205-50-15" tires the car handles much better and the speedometer is only off about 1-2% which is within the acceptable 3% range. 205-50s give the car a better look, they fit fine on the stock 15x6" wheels, and make the car more stable and a much better handler. 205-50-15" tires are widely available by almost all manufacturers in VR & ZR rating. The stock 195-55 size is very very rare and usually costs more than most 205-50 ones because of its limited availability. So if you want higher g's get better tires (first) and after that you can upgrade suspension components if you want which is not that expensive and transform the GSR into an awesome handler.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
It sounds really weird that you 're 4sec. behind the 1st place car in DSP. Have you been experimenting with the Koni settings? It took me about 5 events before I realized how to set them properly. Not only that. I now adjust them according to the course! You gotta learn how to do that, otherwise your car will never be at its max. capability. Shock settings can make a huge difference in auto-x. Believe me. If a course has a few and long sweepers I set them firmer all around. If the course has a lot of quick transitions I set them up really soft. About 2-3 lines in the front and 5 in the rear. It all depends on the course and sometimes I still adjust them in the middle of the day! You gotta learn and recognize how your car handles and set the Konis accordingly. You have to identify when the car pushes/understeers too much, when it drifts too much, when it oversteers, etc. Like I said on a course with too many sweepers you want a little bit of oversteer and firmness. On a coure with quick 90 deg. turns and left-right quick transitions and slaloms you want them soft so the car is more responsive. Did you lose by 4sec. to another GSR? Does he have coilovers or just a shock/spring combo like us? I understand you 're still a novice but it should be more like 2-3secs not over 4. I mean you 're all on street tires. 4 sec. is a lot. I 'm not trying to put you down or discourgage you. I just feel you don't have those Konis set up properly. My guess is you probably have them too stiff. It may give you the impression that the car handles good because you have very little or no body roll, etc. but in essense it doesn't. You need some leaning, and if the shocks are too firm the car is slow responding to steering inputs and the shock does not recover/rebound in time to take the next turn or transition and does not compress again for a longer time. Loosen up the car a bit (soften up the shocks) and try it. Alway keep a tiny bit of oversteer though (firmer settings in the rear by about 2 lines). If you feel the rear sliding out a little, just slam the gas. The rear shouldn't slide out at all unless you let go of the gas and you shouldn't do that on a turn anyway.. Let me know how you make out. Good luck.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
This guy shows up with a '95 GSR, Hoosier 225-50 tires sticking out of the fenders on 8" wide wheels, big exhaust, etc. The guy drove down all the way from Albany, about 90mi. As if the wider more expensive Hoosiers weren't good enough to beat anyone in my class, the guy turns out has some super stiff coilovers. I knew it right away because I assumed that there wasn't much suspension travel to cause any scraping on those tires that stuck out of the fenders about 3/4" with only about 1/2" of wheel well gap! First thing I asked him was what kind of spring rates did his coilovers have? The answer I got: 800lbs in the front, 475 in the rear! I look under the car and right away I knew that had to be at least a 25mm rear sway bar because it looked bigger than an ITR 22mm one and he had to offset the major difference of spring rates between front & rear. I was right. Inside was a complete 4 point roll cage bolted to the floor with no back seat. I embrassed my self for some major embarassement.
The first half of the day he was off course twice and got 1 good run about .5s faster than me. I thought wow this isn't too bad. Then on the 2nd half of the day he was a whole second ahead of me, all his runs were good and much faster! I drove the hek out of my car and just before my last run (we only got 5 all together because of there were too many cars..) I decided to mess around with the car. I softened up the rear shocks a little because it had a little too much oversteer that I could tell was slowing me down a bit.. I then increased the air pressure in the tires by about 3-4 psi because the tires were not getting as hot as I had hoped they would, since the course was mostly slaloms and quick transitions so the tires didn't get a beating and with no sweepers there, they were only getting maybe 1 deg. hotter than the cold temps.. Plus the outside temp only reached high 70's, only 8-10deg. hotter than when I got there in the morning.
I did .7s better than my fastest one, bringing my loss down to only 3/10's of a sec. behind him. The car responded better, felt more neutral, and I could feel the increased traction in the Chicago box and almost throughout the course.
I didn't feel too bad, .3sec was more respectable than a whole second or more but then I started wondering what would happen if I had done those changes earlier in the day and then just got naturally better as the day progressed after getting confident with the course, etc. Anyway, I felt I should 've gotten destroyed.. It goes to show you than even an average driver in a more modded car can do pretty well. His car had $2-3K more mods on it than mine (header, exhaust, suspension, roll cage, Hoosier tires, etc.) and there was no doubt in my mind that it was a better handling car. I think its driver just happened to be average. He races it at the track a lot and no doubt this car would litterally leave me in the dust out on a track. Afterall the suspension was more set up for a track than auto-x. I think this also goes to show you that too much spring rate does not mean you 'll do that much better in auto-x. I wish this guy comes back. I felt he made me push my self more to drive better. Maybe we 'll swap cars next time in the fun runs. I 'd really like to see what I can do in that car and wouldn't mind seeing what 800lb/in. springs feel like. They can't be all that bad if they guy drove 90mi. on them :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
And then came Saturday. The divisional event at Perry, GA was unbelievably cool. The course was very long both days, with times averaging in the high 60s to low 70 seconds for most cars. And parts of it were fast as hell! My driving performance on Saturday totally sucked, and it really bummed me out because I felt so good about how I did at the Evolution school the day before. I don't think I was prepared at all for the size, scope, and intensity of a divisional event. Consequently, I let myself get psyched out by everything, and it showed in my times. I was about 6 secs. off the fastest STS times on Sat. :-( I spent a long time Sat. p.m. analyzing the day and talking to my Atlanta buddy. And it really helped because I did MUCH better on Sunday. For my third and final run on Sun. I was going for broke because I was about 3 secs. behind the leaders and really wanted to get within 2 secs, but it didn't quite work out. I was on one of the fastest parts of the course, topping out in 2nd gear doing about 60mph, trying not to lift or brake through a staggered gate configuration and, well, I would have been better off braking than lifting because I ended up spinning the car. First time I've really found the high speed handling limits of my car, so I feel like I learned something valuable even though my time was awful. In retrospect, the divisional event might have been too much too soon for a rookie like me. Even still, I felt like a came home with valuable experience.
My brother said the same thing about the Evolution school. He said he was 2.5sec. better by the end of the day but he did do about 25 runs. I think you give anyone 25 runs and they 'll get faster by 2 secs. Hek, I sometimes do 2 secs better from my first run to my last and that's usually only after 5-6 runs. But seriously, you get a lot of good advice from those guys, and you get to watch how they drive your car and the line they take, which is most likely a little different than ours.
He also said that the instructors (all National Champs) all took 2 runs each in his Type-R, and he was able to beat all their times by the end of the day, but that's probably expected since they don't know your car too well and 2 runs is not enough to learn it.
I think you 're taking this sport a litle too seriously too soon and you 're experiencing some great disappointments. The Divisionals being one of them. It takes at least a couple of seasons, and more, before you know how to drive and really learn your car. About 3-4 seasons to excel in that same car. Also like I said, you have to adjust the Konis for the type of course you 're racing on, and it doesn't look like you 've been doing that. This is what I mean about "knowing your car". I know exactly how my car is going to behave with every 1/2 line movement on the Konis. The Integra is a FWD car and not the best car to auto-x in, even with a modded suspension. It takes time to build the skills needed to properly auto-x an Integra and to learn to recognize its weaknesses & strong points. Just the Konis alone, how they 're set up, can mean 1-2 seconds off your time, or added to your time. So just slow down and have fun. Don't get stressed out about this stuff.. You 'll get better over time and everything I 'm saying will make more sense with time.
How many cars were in STS at your Divisionals? What car came in first?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I was looking at the last 2 events, and my raw rank was 16th and 9th! I didn't realize my raw times were getting that good.. I 'm sure my PAX was probably a little higher though (they don't list them for every class) because of my class. This was out of only 70-80 participants. At the other clubs where there are 130-150 drivers, I come in between 20-30th. I had never hoped to be in the single digits though this year. I was surprised.. but if you look at the total # of drivers I 'm within the normal (top) 15-20%. I think when I 'm consistenly in the top 10-15%, or at least below 15% all the time, then I 'll be ready for the divisionals (hopefully next year). It's going to be tough though. There are many awesome drivers around here and as I properly mentioned in the past, there are always 3 National champs almost everywhere I go, plus a whole bunch that came in the top 5 in their class at the Nationals or are divisional (or ex-) champs.
This weekend it's the M-club. A fast & long course meant for BMW's & Porsches. I don't like racing at this club often because the lot they use (at Giants Stadium), plus the high speeds & long sweepers chew up your tires very fast! I 've often hit 70mph in 3d gear in this course! Of course you 're standing on your brakes right after you shift.. Long & fast 55-60sec. courses are hard to master (with only 6 runs), especially the M-Club's because they don't put too many cones out so you don't have a good "line" to follow. You have to make your own line and hope it's the fastest.. The best thing I like about this club though, is that they let everyone take 1-2 test drives around the course at low speed. They won't let you walk the course! You learn the course much better that way.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
The other one is Ken Frey. He took last's year champtionship in CS with his MR2. He is also at every event I go to. Ken has been auto-xing since 1979! (he is in his early 50's). Ken has spent about $4K just on the Koni shocks alone which of course are custom valved according to the each corner's weight, double adjustable, etc. He has a cat-back exhaust and custom camber settings - all allowable in a Stock class. That non-turbo MR2 looks so darn fast when he 's driving it, I could swear he has other mods :-) BUT most national level drivers do look much faster than everyone else even in mostly stock cars..
A couple of months ago, I was on the competition forum at H-T and a bunch of GSR guys in DSP were talking about how they 're going to a PRO (solo II) championship event in St. Petersburg (North Carolina or Virginia I think). Well they were all talking about Mark Daddio and were saying how none of them stood a chance.. they were pretty good sports about it though, since many of them were driving 100's of miles to get there from NY, NJ & PA. I think it's nearly impossible to beat a modded Street Prepared Neon ACR with a GSR prepared the same way or the maximum allowable mods in DSP. The Neon is 150lbs lighter than the GSR. Even if you take out the stuff you 're allowed to, to make the GSR lighter, like the back seat (for the roll cage) and the trunk liners and stuff, the Neon guy can do the same and make it even lighter. Did you know that the Neon ACR came with Koni Yellows from the factory?
Yep. I think it's a little unfair to have the ACR in DSP with the Integras. The Neon ACR is normally in D Stock when not modified, and the GSR is in G Stock which is a slower class. But when street prepared, they put them together in DSP. I think a modded ACR would be a better match for the MR2s, CRX's & older Miatas in CSP. Mark Daddio beat all the CSP times in his DSP Neon the last time he was in one of my events. I don't know, it's probably his natianal level driving skills, but the CRX Si's there were well modded and pulling some admirable times. I don't think an Integra can ever beat a Neon ACR, unless that Teg has a LOT more money invested in it, and the Neon is not as modded or doesn't have the best of parts.
I just have never seen a DSP GSR or any other Integra do 2 sec. better than me (which is what Daddio beat me by) in the 5 clubs I 've raced at. 1/2 sec. maybe, and CSP Type-R's (which are not in DSP) about 1-1.5 sec. better than me. Well you can't lose hope :-) The GSR's day may still come.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
In SS, Erik Strelnieks is picked to win, followed by John Ames, Stacey Molleker, Dave Schotz, and Roger Johnson. All these guys are driving Z06s. Rob Falkner (Boxster S) is also said to be strong contender, as is Mark Sipe (Z06).
In DSP, it's Hoelscher (X1/9) followed by Mark Daddio (Neon). Brian Flanagan (BMW 325is), Mike Neary (Integra GS-R) and Arie Villasol (Capri) are also mentioned.
In CS, Andy Hollis (Miata) is the predicted winner. Also mentioned are Jonathan Roberts (MR2), Randy Chase, Jim Daniels, Barry Ott, Clemens Burger, and defending champ, Ken Frey (all driving MR2s).
Sure would be cool to go and watch, but spending a whole week at a Solo II event would be hard to justify to the other adult in this house ;-). Oh well, there's always retirement time to look forward to...
Hope you're having a Happy Labor Day weekend.
1) Comptech rear sway/rear tie package ($369)
2) Suspension Techniques rear/front sway ($220)
3) ITR rear sway with Si endlinks and other mounting hardware (around $200)
Will a front sway induce more understeer? Would a camber kit on the rear help dial in more oversteer by making it more neutral in the rear tires? Thanks guys
I 'm sure you have a few extra ponnies now and where you feel it the most is on the high end and at high speeds. The loud noise is what 's been keeping me from getting a header & exhaust, plus I like the sleeper look (not that my car is a speed demon, but the handling usually surprises everyone especially with R tires on. I can leave anyone in the dust on the twisties, even Vettes, Boxters, and almost ALL cars on street tires - thank god for R tires!). If there's one thing I hate is lound and noisy exhausts on a long trip or just driving around. ON the track, they 're fun and I enjoy listening to other Integra's exhausts & header sounds but I have been in them and I know I wouldn't like driving in those cars for more than 10-15min. The humming on the hway would drive me crazy I think. That's too bad because I wouldn't mind spending the money on a decent exhaust system and getting a few extra hp & torque.
I 've been too busy at work & home where I 'm doing some renovations to the house, painting, etc. I haven't raced in a couple of weeks and my next race is not till the end of the month (1 club I used to go to lost its site..got kicked out, don't know details).
Coincidently I 'm going to Philly on business in October for 4 days. I 'm glad you 're getting used to the new system. Let me know what you got so I don't get the same one :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I finally sold sold my old Borbet Type-F 15x7" wheels for $200. I got them in '97 and had them on my Civic DX for about 6mos. They were too heavy (18lbs!) but the Civic handled great with 205-50's ZR Dunlop tires on them.. So I got some more spending money for the GSR now :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I told you to go with Comptech 4-5 mos ago. I have seen g6 Civics with the Comptech set swaybar/tie bar and it looked really good. The owners also said good things about it so that's why I stressed Comptech as your first choice. To use anything else you have to do other mods like control arms, bushings, reinforcement plates, etc. BTW, my Acura dealer has the sway bar for $230. Actually their regular Comptech prices are all 15% discounted all the time. That's not bad. I paid $189 for my Neuspeed 19mm on a really big groupbuy 1.5yrs ago but was never able to see that price advertised ever again. Neuspeed now goes for a lot more and it's not even 22mm. I really wanted the Comptech bar but was trying to save a few bucks. I kind of regreted not getting a 22mm one.
Hey at least you have some choices. Noone makes a sway bar for g7 Civic yet!
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
All I can say is that the phase I Evolution driving school is worth every penny and made a HUGE difference in how well I did within STS. Before the school, I used to be about 3-4 secs. behind the STS leaders, and usually in the bottom quartile of the final standings. On Sat., I shaved that margin to about 1.5 secs. My best of 42.1xx was good enough for a 4th place finish, less than .2 secs. out of 3rd place and a trophy spot Not too bad for a rookie in the fifth event of his first season... As all the good drivers say, seat time makes such a big difference...
I raced on Sunday and I think my raw time was in the top 10. For the first time we had 2 new carts in B Modified & A Mod! The 2 fastest classes in Solo-II! Both looked like Formula 1 and the AM had a modified Porsche 914 2.0L motor in it. It was bored out 2.4L! It was a screamer and the fastest "vehicle" I ever seen auto-xing. The BM cart was pretty fast too but 2-3 secs behind the AM one. They were scary and took turns faster than a rollercoaster and probably averaged at least 1.5g! To give you an example, the fastest car was 33.2sec. (I was 34.9x). The BM cart got 30.0x and the AM got low 27's! That's 6 secs. faster than the fastest car which was CP (C Prepared) Mustang SVO turbo with 9" rims and hoosiers sticking out of the fenders by 4", plus 650lb coilovers. Usually the C & D-Mod carts are only about 1sec. faster than the fastest cars. These A & B Mods were monsters. I spoke to both their owners who said they won't compete Nationally for a while because they wouldn't be competitive! Anyway, if it weren't for those 2 carts I would 've been 1.7sec. behind FTD which I 'm happy about. There were only 67 cars so it's not that good either.. My goal is to come in like 10th out of 90-100 cars or top 10% which I don't think is going to happen this year. I have managed to come in the top 15% several times this season but the top 10% seems really hard to do, as all of the top 10-15% drivers are national & divisional champs/ex-champs. So it looks like the GSR needs a makeover to accomplish this task :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)