Nowadays,
it’s easy to watch people bask in the glory of their
accomplishments without seeing the hardships they encountered along
the way. Social media connects us to thousands of people so easily,
and with a wider lens always comes less detail.
Figure
1: Ken and I Repairing my Civic at 2:00 AM After I Hit a Gigantic Pothole on the Way to
the Glen for a Track day
In this fast-pace, modern culture, we praise people who can “stay out of the weeds”-- quickly assessing situations and solving problems efficiently. But sometimes, we gain a better perspective on not just racing, but life, when we dive in head first and learn the back story behind the success.
Figure 2: Getting Focused Before my First Ever Race
My
story begins in 2016 after I graduated college with a humble 1993
Honda Civic. I named her, “Chelsea the Civic.”
Figure 3: My 1993 Honda Civic
I
bought Chelsea because I wanted a second car so I could start taking
track days more seriously. I wanted something that I could push to
the limits, not worrying about the cost of damaging my daily driver,
while improving my driving technique at the same time.
Figure 4: Autocrossing Chelsea the Civic with the Philly SCCA on Hoosier
Slick Tires and Stock Suspension
The
car possessed several little-known performance benefits to the
general public.
From
1989 to 2001, Honda Civics were designed with optimal suspension
geometries, similar to those seen in sports cars. With a double
wishbone suspension up front and a rear trailing arm suspension in
the rear, the 92-95 Honda Civic is a great track car platform to
start with.
Figure 5: Front Double-Wishbone Suspension Typical of 1989-2001 Honda Civic
Figure 6: Rear Trailing Arm Assembly Typical of 1989-2001 Honda Civic
Additionally,
the 92-95 Honda Civic, colloquially named the “EG” for its
Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) counterpart and American Si hatchback,
shared the same basic chassis design with the 94-01 Acura Integra,
resulting in a vast level of aftermarket support and interchangeable
parts.
For
example, one can easily swap an Integra Type-R motor into a 92-95
Honda Civic-- a motor with >100 HP per liter and a redline of
8,400 RPM.
Figure 7: EG Civic with a Type-R Swap Belonging to 2016 NASA East Coast
Honda Challenge H2 Champ, Spencer
Chelsea
the Civic started out as a street car before I turned her into a
Honda Challenge H4 race car, and the journey has been wild. I drove
the car hundreds of miles to and from events for two years, doing
over 50 track days during that time.
I
only did basic maintenance and ran a relatively simple setup with the
stock D15B7 engine, producing a whopping 102 BHP from
the factory. And only recently, I made the jump into
wheel-to-wheel racing-- swapping a new motor into the car and caging
it.
Figure 8: Damien and I Entering Turn 1 at Lime Rock Park
This
EJ2 Track Rat Blog Series will document the build progress of Chelsea
the Civic over the years and my progression from autocrosser to track
day enthusiast to race car driver. Similar to other posts on EJ2
Track rat, my goal will be to show readers how easy it is to develop
as a driver and get on track. But also, I hope readers will learn
that racing is not a much larger expenditure than track days-- if
done right.
Thanks for checking in.
--Dillon
