Well, I’ve done 4 race weekends with the car, so about 6 hours of track time.
We’ve had to replace:
1 set of axles (they were on their way out when I got the car, and totally blew up after a day on the track)
1 set of rims (I used them on my CRX, so they were 3.5 seasons old. They developed hairline cracks when I ran them on the Integra)
1 engine (the engine should have lasted several seasons before we had to rebuild it, it was my fault for letting it run low on oil)
1 transmission (first time I’ve had anything go wrong inside a Honda gearbox)
2-3 clutches (ACT 4-puck solid clutch lost all friction material on one puck after 3 weekends, we swapped in an OEM clutch and it lost all its friction material in 1 day. Couldn’t find a new clutch for the next day so we swapped in the one that came with the car when I bought it. The transmission broke the next day, so I’m not sure if the old clutch is any good still.).
2 igniter coils (replaced it, still have problems with misfires and the tach jumping around, am putting in a new one and a new distributor to be sure)
Distributor
This amount of parts failure isn’t normal for a race car that’s this close to stock, so I’m chalking it up to buying a car that was a beater to start with combined with learning the weaknesses of a new (to me) car.
On my CRX, the engine has lasted almost 3 seasons since I rebuilt it, and it’s still going strong. No transmission problems either.
There are some other items that get regular replacement on a race car, like:
Brake pads. At the rate they’ve been wearing I expect to get around 4-5 weekends out of a set (on the front, rear brakes last much longer). When we replace pads we replace rotors too. This is better than the CRX I’ve raced for the last 3 years, which went through a set of front pads every race weekend!
I haven’t had to replace the tires yet, but on the CRX we went through roughly a set for every 6-7 weekends on the track. We use a relatively hard compound tire, when I tried a grippier compound they lasted 2 weekends.
Hubs/wheel bearings are usually good for 10-15 race weekends.
well… if you end up feeling like the integra isnt for you and you wanna just stick with the crx then couldnt you just turn it back into a normal street car and sell it?
It’s got holes in the floor where I bolt the ballast in for some races, plus it has a roll cage that I’d have to cut out, then I’d have to buy a complete new interior. Most of the wiring harnesses have had unneeded (for a race car) wires stripped out to save weight, the dash was cut up to fit the cage in, etc. etc. etc.
I’d spend several times as much money on it to make it sellable as I would get by actually selling it. A good rule of thumb with a race car is that if you sell it as a race car you might get 1/4 to 1/3 what you put into it back.
Despite my whining, the car is well on its way to being what I want it to be. We’re working the bugs out so it shouldn’t cost nearly as much to keep running from now on, it’s as fast as my CRX was with potential to be faster still, and, well, money spent is money spent.
But yes, racing really is all about who can burn the most money the fastest!
Just a reminder that this weekend is the Children’s Charities Grand Prix at Mission Raceway. If you’re in the Vancouver area, drop in and get a ride in a fast car on the racetrack! Last year it was $20 bucks for 2 laps around the track. All money goes to the BC Children’s Hospital and Children’s Wish Foundation. Cars that will be there:
Acura NSX
Porsche Carrera GT
Ford GT
Ferrari 430
Porsche 911 Turbo
BMW 335i
Corvette Z06
Dodge Viper
And maybe others that I don’t know of yet. Don’t miss this chance!
Up until now I’ve been struggling to get lap times in the 1:20.5 range. This weekend I was consistently lapping in the 1:19s, and managed a best of 1:19.000, which is almost a second and a half better than my best lap before this weekend. I was blown away by the improvement in the car from fixing the transmission and replacing the distributor (no more misfire and jumping tach now :)). I’ve also figured out how to keep my lap times consistently fast over the course of a race - until this weekend, I was having issues with the front tires overheating and the car slowing down after the first few laps of the race. No issues there now!
I’m so happy and relieved that the Integra is starting to show the potential that I knew it had. This year has been a tough one, but we’re starting to see good results from all our work.
My race results were very good too. On Saturday I started 4th in my class and finished 2nd in my class, 5th overall. On Sunday I started 2nd in class and overall and finished 2nd in class, 3rd overall.
The hot laps in exotic cars also turned out great. More on that later.
We had tons of fun doing this and the weather was perfect for both days too. I don’t know how much money was raised, but at $20+ for each ride and about 80 rides each day, we easily cleared $3000.
Personally I was pumped to be able to drive one of my dream cars (the NSX) on a race track, with the added bonus of being able to give my wife a ride. Despite the fact that I’ve been racing for close to 4 years now, I hadn’t had an opportunity to do that until last weekend. As it turns out, what impressed/scared her the most was how close we came to the concrete barriers on the track. And I thought I was taking it easy and safe…
I was a little nervous about driving the NSX at first. I’ve only raced front wheel drive cars with far less horsepower and was concerned that the high torque (for a Honda!) mid-engine, rear wheel drive car would teach me about snap oversteer the hard way!
As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. The handling was actually biased towards understeer compared to my race car, and the car was very predictable and easy to drive. My biggest problem was the traction control, which would kick in (in my opinion) far too early. I had to drive very smoothly and get on the throttle much later than I’m used to, or else the traction control would cut the power for a few seconds, killing my corner exit speed.
Overall, I really liked the car. I can see why Gordon Murray used it as an example of a “usable supercar” when designing the McLaren F1. It really does feel like a car that I could live with every day. It’s quiet, refined, comfortable and has a trunk that you can fit a surprisingly large amount of stuff in. When you get on the gas, it accelerates so smoothly that you don’t feel like you’re going very fast - until you look at the speedometer!
Overall, it was an awesome weekend. My only regret was that I had to give the car back at the end!
Last weekend was the last racing weekend for this year. I won my first “real” race with the Integra! (I won a race earlier this year, but since I was the only car in my class, that doesn’t really count IMO).
I also took some pictures, I’ll post them up in a bit.
This weekend was some of the hardest racing I’ve done. I grabbed 1st place on the first lap, then got black flagged because I scrubbed my tires on our warm-up lap. I had to work my way all the way back through the field after that!
On the downside, in the process of getting into 1st place I took a guy out and bent some of the bodywork on my car too. I’m not thrilled about that one and feel like a total jerk, since the contact was my fault. I apologized and the other guy was really nice about it. He managed to win the series championship even though I spun him in this race, so I think that had something to do with him not being too upset.
I do have plans for improving my car for next year, and I’ll keep you guys up to date on what happens with it. Mostly I’m going to be refining what I already have, but there might be a couple surprises!
Good job. I hate being stuck behind a car that’s faster in the straights, but slower in the corners. Was that pass at the end legal? Sounds like it was since you got the win.
-nino
Very cool video… Makes me want to get into something like that. I don’t know that there is anything like that in my area though. Was your check engine light on during that whole race?
Yeah, the check engine light turns on after about 15 minutes of hard driving. I haven’t had the time to check out what it is, but it’s on my list of things to do in the off season. Can’t be too important because oil pressure and coolant temperature are fine, and the engine still runs great.
ive been looking for a rough GSR to do the same thing.
sucks that the G2 chassis is so capable but only so few were GSRs, making it impossible to be competitive with the OEM motor, esp in sanctions that field you higher if you mod the motor.
I think a non GSR is an even better platform. Not sure about SCCA or NASA, but in Honda-Challenge, the GSR is in a faster class than the RS/LS/GS and you end up against G3 GSRs which are faster to begin with. With the RS/LS/GS, the biggest rival is a CRX Si. Don’t get me wrong, I think that racing a DB2 is great and jdi has shown that it can win. I just think a non GSR model would be a better/cheaper car to race. I’ve been thinking about getting into road racing for a while, and if I did, my starting platform would be a 92-93 RS. Check out some of Edik’s videos at http://www.edomoto.com/
-nino
With SCCA and NASA I would agree that the RS/LS/GS is a better starting point. Here in western Canada, our rules are slightly different and they favor the GS-R.
I built the car for CACC Improved Production rules, which work like this:
Same car prep rules as SCCA Improved Touring.
Cars with engine size greater than 2.75 liters or a turbo/supercharger race in IP1.
Cars with engine size between 1.75 and 2.75 liters race in IP2.
All other cars race in IP3.
Race weight for all cars is curb weight minus 100 lbs, with driver.
As you can see, under our rules the GS-R actually races in a lower class than the RS/LS/GS. That’s why I chose it.
hey jordy so how much mods could you add to stay in your current class?
im still thinking of running my gsr as well or i may just build the motor with CTR pistons and other mods to get 230whp
If you are planning on racing at Mission, don’t touch the engine for your first year. Focus on getting the required safety equipment in the car and get some good tires and brake pads. That’s it. Race the car in the IP3 class and at the end of the year, you’ll have a much better idea of what you want to do with it.
If you do pistons (or any major engine mods including cams, headwork, engine swaps, etc.) you’ll end up in the GTU class. You’ll have to put in a fuel cell, fire system and window clips on top of the roll cage, kill switch, fire extinguisher and racing seat with 6 point harness that you’ll have to put in anyway. In the end you’ll be spending far more on the car and be racing against cars that you won’t have a chance against. Not fun, in my opinion.
