"Measure twice, cut once" are words to live by in any kind of construction project. This is especially true when building a race car.
Random upgrades and modifications may get you a fast track car, but more often than not, the car will be illegal or uncompetitive for any kind of real circuit racing. If your goal is to one day race your car, you need to do your homework first. Andrew Horn's Honda Challenge car (seen here) is the perfect example of how to do things right. It started with a detailed plan and was finished with flawless execution. On paper the car looks almost too good to be true, so we took it to the track to see what it could really do.
The '96 Civic DX and its owner actually go back a long way. We'll pick up the story at the point where he purchased the car for the second time. There wasn't much left. There was no motor or transmission. Various components of the car that we normally take for granted were missing. It was basically just a rolling chassis with a Mugen seat and a gaudy unpainted carbon-fiber body kit. Most people looking to build a car wouldn't want anything to do with this Civic, but for Horn it was perfect.
As the warehouse manager at Password:JDM, Horn oversaw Civic Type-R clips being parted out on a weekly basis. He had access to the parts that would let him rebuild the car however he wanted. This time the car was to become a circuit car. But before getting started, he hit the books; more specifically NASA's Honda Challenge and CCR rulebooks.
The car was built to compete in the H1 hybrid class. In this class, each car is given a minimum weight based on what engine is used. A slight loophole in the rules makes no distinction between the B16A found in cars like the '99 Civic Si and the B16B from the Civic Type-R in Japan. Most serious competitors gave up on the B16A a long time ago since even at their low weight of 2,100 pounds the cars just couldn't hang with the K-swapped cars. The B16B is different though. The killer rod-to-stroke ratio gives it the ability to safely run at 10,000 rpm all day long. If the chassis could get light enough, it just might stand a chance.
The first step was to prepare the chassis. It needed to get as light as possible. The entire car was disassembled then brought to Steen Chassis for a custom rollcage. Steen designed and built a solid cage that reduced body flex and specifically satisfied the safety requirements of NASA. Next it went to Collision Works where the holes in the firewall were welded up and the entire chassis was given a fresh coat of paint. This included the front fenders and bumper that were updated to '99 spec as well as the hood, front lip and rear hatch, which were all replaced with carbon-fiber to save weight.
It just seemed wrong to leave the four lug hubs on a CTR-powered race car. The entire Type-R suspension and brake system was swapped from a donor chassis. Then to get everything to work on the racetrack, Zeal S6 coilovers were specially valved and sprung with a rear bias. Rulebook in hand, only the required wiring and other items were added back to the interior.
Aside from installing a Mugen baffled oil pan, the bottom end of the B16B remains untouched internally. The head was prepped to the limit of the H1 rules. This includes extensive headwork and some serious cams. The prototype Blox P1 cams have big primary lobes and even bigger secondaries. It took Shawn at Church Automotive Testing some time with the Hondata S300 just to get it to idle. Once everything settled down though, he brought the power numbers up quickly.