Honda Civic Race Car
Discussion
Hi, ever since I could remember I've wanted to be a racing car driver, well this is the year I make that happen! I decided life is too short for such regrets so I sold the Corvette Z06, gave up on plans for a Gallardo before 30 and went on the hunt for a race car!
A few of my friends compete in a local racing series out here in Group N Production Class racing and when I heard there was a good solid car up for grabs I took the leap and bought it...without even seeing a picture!....this has proved to be a bit of a gamble as, the car is currently in Dubai (I am based in Qatar) and we need to deal with all sorts of import / export issues before I can even be sure I can import it!
Needless to say I'm already balls deep into this car given I've taken it so with nothing more than assurances from friends that its a good-un and that they've done the import/export process before and that its possible.
I've also gone out and bought a shed load of racing gear and committed to my new project...pics to follow when they all arrive!
As I said the car is currently in Dubai so I flew out to where it being stored (and where it has sat for the last 9 months) for a quick look around and to see what I'd bought.
Anyway, here it is....
As part of the group N rules the car has to have stock bodywork (more or less), I can have a wing, (this one has a Mugen adjustable unit fitted) and I can change the front bumper, including drilling 1 100mm hole for each brake and fitting ducting to guide it.
I'm not especially keen on the air scoop the previous owner installed however, I think the logic behind it might have been that the air temps while racing here can hit low to mid 40C's so any airflow over the engine will help.
I plan on waiting until summer for a track day and then trying blocking it off to see if the car runs too hot, if it runs fine I'll replace the bonnet with a stock one as personally I don't like it.
Slightly out of focus but as you can see it has 4pot AP Racing brakes on floating calipers. The wheels it sits in are EVO Corse 17's that are supposed to weigh in at 7.7kg. The brakes are also completely unassisted, so learning how to use them could be alot of fun! The previous owner said that for racing, they're the only way to go in terms of braking feel!
My plans for the wheels are to have them sprayed neon green, there isn't any damage to the wheel as far as I could see, its just paint damage, probably from swapping tyres over, anyway, back to green, neon green like the ken block fiesta, given its a race car I thought I'd like to try something striking, worst case is if I don't like the look I can just grab a can of black spray paint and have at them! (I would have made a photoshop request to see how it would look but we all know how they end up!).
As you can see it has a full Safety devices roll cage and its welded in too so I should be extra safe! Ontop of that I have a racing fuel cell, well placed for weight distribution.
[url]
it also has a fully plumbed in fire suppression system and a racing battery (it has to come out unfortunately due to the group N rules that say the battery has to be a stock unit).
The seat was expired for racing so that went in the bin and a shiny new Sparco Evo2 seat is going in it as we speak, ontop of that the steering wheel was knackered so I got a nice matching Sparco one to go with it, again being fitted soon!
You might also see its got a Stack Dash which looks the balls and it has just been repainted inside and out before it went up for sale.
Here is the engine, its a fully stock JDM unit which puts out a bit more power than the UK market engines and it has a nice intake and exhaust manifold to go with it, as far as the rules go I can't modify the internals in any way and the max engine capacity is 2.0 but to the best of my knowledge there are not too many 2.0 engines out there that can match the K20A motor in this for power so I should have a good starting point to get me racing.
Oh and I almost forgot, it has a full Ohlins coilover setup in there that was just serviced and rebuilt by Ohlins themselves before it was put up for sale!
Here it is getting hauled away from storage to get a full fluid swap and to have the new seat installed (pics to follow later).
Anyway, as the weeks go on I plan to give you updates, hopefully it'll be of interest to a few of you.
I hope to have it racing for the 16th Feb when the next round of the Championship is, it would be even better if I could get it here for the 8th Feb as I can take it on track before racing it then to get used to it a bit.
If you get a moment, watch this video, its of some of the back markers in the series having a wrestle! The driver here is new and still learning to drive at race pace, but by god it looks fun!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OvvlMzJoKM&fe...
A few of my friends compete in a local racing series out here in Group N Production Class racing and when I heard there was a good solid car up for grabs I took the leap and bought it...without even seeing a picture!....this has proved to be a bit of a gamble as, the car is currently in Dubai (I am based in Qatar) and we need to deal with all sorts of import / export issues before I can even be sure I can import it!
Needless to say I'm already balls deep into this car given I've taken it so with nothing more than assurances from friends that its a good-un and that they've done the import/export process before and that its possible.
I've also gone out and bought a shed load of racing gear and committed to my new project...pics to follow when they all arrive!
As I said the car is currently in Dubai so I flew out to where it being stored (and where it has sat for the last 9 months) for a quick look around and to see what I'd bought.
Anyway, here it is....
As part of the group N rules the car has to have stock bodywork (more or less), I can have a wing, (this one has a Mugen adjustable unit fitted) and I can change the front bumper, including drilling 1 100mm hole for each brake and fitting ducting to guide it.
I'm not especially keen on the air scoop the previous owner installed however, I think the logic behind it might have been that the air temps while racing here can hit low to mid 40C's so any airflow over the engine will help.
I plan on waiting until summer for a track day and then trying blocking it off to see if the car runs too hot, if it runs fine I'll replace the bonnet with a stock one as personally I don't like it.
Slightly out of focus but as you can see it has 4pot AP Racing brakes on floating calipers. The wheels it sits in are EVO Corse 17's that are supposed to weigh in at 7.7kg. The brakes are also completely unassisted, so learning how to use them could be alot of fun! The previous owner said that for racing, they're the only way to go in terms of braking feel!
My plans for the wheels are to have them sprayed neon green, there isn't any damage to the wheel as far as I could see, its just paint damage, probably from swapping tyres over, anyway, back to green, neon green like the ken block fiesta, given its a race car I thought I'd like to try something striking, worst case is if I don't like the look I can just grab a can of black spray paint and have at them! (I would have made a photoshop request to see how it would look but we all know how they end up!).
As you can see it has a full Safety devices roll cage and its welded in too so I should be extra safe! Ontop of that I have a racing fuel cell, well placed for weight distribution.
[url]
it also has a fully plumbed in fire suppression system and a racing battery (it has to come out unfortunately due to the group N rules that say the battery has to be a stock unit).
The seat was expired for racing so that went in the bin and a shiny new Sparco Evo2 seat is going in it as we speak, ontop of that the steering wheel was knackered so I got a nice matching Sparco one to go with it, again being fitted soon!
You might also see its got a Stack Dash which looks the balls and it has just been repainted inside and out before it went up for sale.
Here is the engine, its a fully stock JDM unit which puts out a bit more power than the UK market engines and it has a nice intake and exhaust manifold to go with it, as far as the rules go I can't modify the internals in any way and the max engine capacity is 2.0 but to the best of my knowledge there are not too many 2.0 engines out there that can match the K20A motor in this for power so I should have a good starting point to get me racing.
Oh and I almost forgot, it has a full Ohlins coilover setup in there that was just serviced and rebuilt by Ohlins themselves before it was put up for sale!
Here it is getting hauled away from storage to get a full fluid swap and to have the new seat installed (pics to follow later).
Anyway, as the weeks go on I plan to give you updates, hopefully it'll be of interest to a few of you.
I hope to have it racing for the 16th Feb when the next round of the Championship is, it would be even better if I could get it here for the 8th Feb as I can take it on track before racing it then to get used to it a bit.
If you get a moment, watch this video, its of some of the back markers in the series having a wrestle! The driver here is new and still learning to drive at race pace, but by god it looks fun!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OvvlMzJoKM&fe...
Edited by TobyLaRohne on Monday 27th January 11:02
HoggyR32 said:
Looks like lots of fun to be had! What made you go for this instead of the ex BTCC car?
Purely the price, this was less than half the price of the btcc car and it's certainly not half the speed! Group N rules are also very tight and there is no way the btcc car would have qualified for it, which means id have been in the open catagory with things like supercharged racing elises.
IanUAE said:
Morning Mark, I am glad you are happy with your purchase and drop be a line if you have any more questions. Can you run a Gruppe intake system that takes air from the bottom of the windscreen? (the car original had one of those fitted). The Stack Dash is awesome.
Ahoy-hoy, the rules state this about intakes...."All bodywork panels must be in place, including splash panels and panels behind the bonnet covering windscreen wiper mechanisms."
and
"All bodywork must remain standard and may not be cut to facilitate non-standard components or the airflow to them."
I need to clarify with the Scrutineer if I'm allowed to cut a hole in the scuttle board for it, but I doubt it very much.
When I get used to the car I'm toying with the idea of getting a chap in a fabrication shop to make a flat bottom for it, more out of my interest in aerodynamics than to gain anything from it on track. Nowhere in the rules does it say you can't modify the underside of the car
deltashad said:
Here's my dodgy attempt to ruin your thread!
Aww thanks, you did it without any cocks or wheelchairs or anything! I'm aiming for a more flat green, but thats a good starter for 10. I deff think it looks better without the scoop on the bonnet!Edited by deltashad on Tuesday 28th January 10:30
Good luck chap.
I tried a similar experiance before I was 30, got a race car, got my MSA license, but the commitment from then onwards was unreal (testing, trailering, planning etc).
I got shot of my race car, with only a handful of outings, but now do track days which I find more managable in an Mx5.
Nothing beats the thrill of racing- and still have an itch which one day I might scratch!
Good luck,
Kam
I tried a similar experiance before I was 30, got a race car, got my MSA license, but the commitment from then onwards was unreal (testing, trailering, planning etc).
I got shot of my race car, with only a handful of outings, but now do track days which I find more managable in an Mx5.
Nothing beats the thrill of racing- and still have an itch which one day I might scratch!
Good luck,
Kam
where is the airbox entry? certainly that scoop appears to be doing f
k all. are you allowed to route in a cold air intake?
any history re: the engine - i.e. who built it? can't believe you declined the deal on the engine spares. also chucking the seat instead of offering it to us locals for track use?! tsk tsk!
anyway, time to get stuck in to this thread:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=102...
k all. are you allowed to route in a cold air intake?any history re: the engine - i.e. who built it? can't believe you declined the deal on the engine spares. also chucking the seat instead of offering it to us locals for track use?! tsk tsk!
anyway, time to get stuck in to this thread:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=102...
shirt said:
where is the airbox entry? certainly that scoop appears to be doing fk all. are you allowed to route in a cold air intake?
any history re: the engine - i.e. who built it? can't believe you declined the deal on the engine spares. also chucking the seat instead of offering it to us locals for track use?! tsk tsk!
anyway, time to get stuck in to this thread:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=102...
To answer your questions...I'm not allowed to route it to the air intake, its strictly prohibited infact.k all. are you allowed to route in a cold air intake?any history re: the engine - i.e. who built it? can't believe you declined the deal on the engine spares. also chucking the seat instead of offering it to us locals for track use?! tsk tsk!
anyway, time to get stuck in to this thread:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=102...
The entire car was rebuilt by NFS Dubai. I believe this includes the engine and gearbox by Julian over there.
You have to bare in mind that I'm on a budget here and I cant just pump a shed load of money into spares even though I'd like to.
With regards to the seat I actually offered it (and the harness) to the chap who was storing it and his son given they'd done alot for me in terms of taking time out to open up his storage place and lend me some tools and he helped me to get the car organised for moving...I just didnt want to go to the trouble of writing all that so I wrote it went "in the bin"
racing on a budget. good one!
i know what you mean. was toying with the idea of getting my licence last year. i could just about afford entry fees but tyre and repair budget is beyond my means. this series you're entering sounds more grassroots and is the direction that the uaetcc should have taken once grids fell.
i know what you mean. was toying with the idea of getting my licence last year. i could just about afford entry fees but tyre and repair budget is beyond my means. this series you're entering sounds more grassroots and is the direction that the uaetcc should have taken once grids fell.
shirt said:
racing on a budget. good one!
i know what you mean. was toying with the idea of getting my licence last year. i could just about afford entry fees but tyre and repair budget is beyond my means. this series you're entering sounds more grassroots and is the direction that the uaetcc should have taken once grids fell.
Believe it or not, most of the guys in group n here race on a budget of about 40kAED a year...all in.i know what you mean. was toying with the idea of getting my licence last year. i could just about afford entry fees but tyre and repair budget is beyond my means. this series you're entering sounds more grassroots and is the direction that the uaetcc should have taken once grids fell.
We've got sponsorship from TOYO for cheap R888's. Grassroots is where its at for me
shirt said:
bejaysus! that's well cheap! i'll check my sizes when i go down to play with my car later.
whilst the car is still in JA I could get your wheels blasted and powder coated for 200 chips a go?
I am afraid the car is now with Lap57 getting some bits and bobs done, otherwise I'd have jumped at the chance to get them done for that, they're stripping them and painting them for 500 a wheel! (I've not pulled the trigger on it yet though).whilst the car is still in JA I could get your wheels blasted and powder coated for 200 chips a go?
Even if I can place an order for you, there is no guarentee when they'll turn up or how you'd get them to Dubai from Qatar.
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