street car gone road race

Haha. The Mazda’s not going anywhere. Next up will be to get the motor over to the shop and to get started. I plan to compete all of 2022 with the Mazda so we’ll see something that’s for sure!

 

been a little bit since i updated anything here...not that anyone cares LOL.

This season was rough for mazdas in ontario. Many locals lost motors, or just hit the wall of "i cant go any faster".

there are 3 locals who have been tracking their gen2's for as long as i have, if not longer. They are not serious competitors and i still hold the overall ms3 record but talking with these guys at my last track day...theyre all calling it a day with the speeds. there is nothing worse then heading onto track with a 300whp car only to get absolutely murdered by a sub 200whp car.

These guys have been able to see it...and that definitely pushed me.

I think ive decided to demote the mazda back to a street car and go full race on the civic. It only makes sense from a cost perspective and a straight up winning perspective. The civic is the better race car and the mazda is the better street car. Try and argue that with me. you dont know.

Just ordered a set of Fortune auto 510's for the civic as well...which may have lead me to the following.

At this point i am thinking to drop my stock long block back in with my stock manifolds. I will part out my manifolds and BBK, and just go back to stock block, stock brakes, and just enjoy the ewg gt30. I might part out the GT30 and go back to a ko4 as well but we'll see on that one.

I would sell my built head, and replace my oil pump and probably just sell off the built short block.

The money i would make from parting out these few pieces i wouldnt even need to dump all of it into the civic for that car to be faster then the mazda. Its sad but its true. Theres a reason "cheater" cars are a thing. Look at any grid and youll see a pattern.

Being different and building something uncommon for the track was my goal, it was awesome and i learned a ton but when it comes to my driver development and competing...the civic is not even close to the mazda. It not only lands in a better class but its actually the faster car chassis wise. Its just better.

The mazda isnt going anywhere but i dont think i will be so willing to dump money into it going forward. Its a clean car, never seen a single winter in its life(ok maybe 2 from 2011-2013). The stock long block has 140k kms(87,000 miles) so itll probably be just fine until i either sell the car or who knows.

Im almost sad but not really. Ill still have the mazda...it just wont be the primary race car.

 

Don't go all the way back to a ko4 it's just too slow

 

I’ll probably keep the gt30 I love that thing. Suspension will remain. I’ll still run aggressive pads and 200tw tires. The car will probably still see some light track days. Just not going to be the “race car” anymore.

 

Happy for ya man. It is rare to see a 4dr fwd chassis be truly competitive in its class, and while not impossible, just like you mentioned, the question becomes - do you want to be fast or spend a lot of money and be just as fast. Glad you found a platform you think will help you improve, is faster, and not break the bank. Looking forward to more track day stories!

 

Thanks for understanding it really is nothing against this platform only that I’ve found a better platform for what I’m looking to do. it’s hard to justify dumping the money into a car which has a lowish ceiling while the civic on the other hand has basically no ceiling. I’ll definitely share my track stories here…regardless of which red car I’m tracking lol. Will be plenty more to come.

 

Do you feel that it's something about the civic that's better from the factory, the better aftermarket support or is it classed lower than it really should be?

I know that looking at scca classing for the ms3 it's penalized in that our first mods for making the car any better ie hpfp and turbo jump a class immediately whereas other cars benefit from a cam change which isn't as big of a bump.

It's been a while but I seem to remember that you could get a ms3 to unlimited and still be slow

 

The big eye opener for me was seeing turbo cars, with WAY more power, suspension, brakes, and tires then me STRUGGLING to either catch me or run from me. That right there was enough.

The civic chassis is superior as well I feel. It’s a smaller 400lbs lighter car.
the car is on stock suspension and it’s been brought to my attention most of the track…I’m on 3 wheels most corners. This things fucking stock on skinny ass 225 wide tires with no power no fancy brake kit and it’s just a weapon. I can drive it in a way you can’t with the Mazda.

The Mazda gets hit hard because turbo car. They know a tune and a Downpipe and you’re making however much over stock. The other issue with the Mazda is the second you say “turbo upgrade” they move you into a ridiculous class. They don’t care that the stock rods are weak as fuck and they don’t care the stock DI fuel system is a piece of shit as well in terms of power output. This automatically moves the car into a “fuck you” class full of v8’s and Porsches.

civic type R, brz, s2000, Miata. All cheater cars. All way way too fast given how “slow” they are on paper. On the street my civic will lose to a stock 1.6T Hyundai but on the race track it’s a different car.

the way the steering feels, how direct and heavy it is, the way the gear box shift action feels, the pedal placement for heel toe…the entire cabin was well thought out for performance driving. The way the tach and speedo are setup you don’t even need to look at it to see it. It’s just there for the driver.

honda built the civic as an econobox for sure but the SI got some magic touches for certain.

we haven’t even begun to discuss this k20. That alone makes this an unfair comparison for price to whp. Sure you can bolt on turbos and shit and max out the stock DI. With the civic that same money spent is like 500whp without having to be fucking scared and paranoid.

to me it seems the civic was built with track days in mind. The Mazda was not.

 

Don't feel bad about the Speed vs the Civic. My friend has a 04 WRX and he feels slightly the same way about my Miata. He has said that he has to pretty much gut his WRX to get it to even handle as close to the Miata does. Last time we went to the track, I was running my 1.6 turbo setup and he was on a stock block EJ20 with a 20G and I wasn't far behind him in time. Considering his car put down around 350 wheel horsepower and my Miata maybe 200.

Don't put your speed back to a lesser configuration. You'll find interest in driving it go down if it doesn't perform how it does now, even on the street. The BBK will help in case of accidents and the power output will be nice for random roll races if people feel froggy.

Is the Civic a K series?

 

Thanks for the input. I get what you’re saying for sure. The only reason I want to go back to stock block stock manifolds is money savings. I have a good stock motor so no need to rebuild the forged motor. It can be solid for some decent cash. The manifolds are worth a ton and won’t offer a huge benefit on stock block with stock rev limiter(not trying to blow the stock block lol).

The bbk is hard to justify on the street. It works amazing but on the street stock calipers with good pads and rotors will be ok I think. They did me well for sometime.


As for the civic yea. It’s a K series. K20z3. At 10psi these motors make low 400’s wheel and high 200’s wheel torque. It’s ridiculous.

 

With the K series I know they make power but if you're trying to stay within a certain class and have longevity out of the car as a track toy did you consider ITB's and a full NA build? If you can pull 300 wheel out of a K series NA then you won't have to worry about the added stress of a turbo setup or the high heat issues of a track.

 

Oh this car isn’t seeing boost. Not anytime soon. NA I can make more power then a ko4 car and it will literally outlive me. The plan is to just track the car as is. I have cams and a throttle body to install. That’ll get me maybe 210-215whp. More then enough.

 

Nice. Are you going to do a thread for just the Civic and it's progress?

 

I’d love to. Just don’t know if I should be doing that here lol. Not sure if that’s allowed or what

 

It will be allowed if you keep the Speed3, LOL!

 

Haha I am keeping the speed. It’s not going anywhere!

 

I'm not a mod bit I'm going to go ahead and say it's allowed. I'll penis sword fight @Raider to death if I have to

 

Dibs on winner

 

to the death*

 

We have a non Mazda section. And I'll have to dig out the tweezers for the sword fight