I spent the weekend out at the local road course watching the vintage
and modern road racers going at it. One thing a friend of mine and I
noticed was that the fastest GT3 Civics were turning in about a 0.20
seconds faster lap times than a very well driven Ford GT40 (1:32 lap
times). There was a Chevron B19(1:29/lap) and a Lola(1:27/lap) that both
had 1970's state of the art Cosworth 2.0L 4 cylinder engines that put
out 250 hp. Honda/Acura have cars you can buy off the show room floor
with that put out that kind of horse power from a 4 cyl.
For some more perspective a GT1 C5 Corvette 1:28 lap times, a friend of
mine with a 65 E-type that makes 350 rear wheel horse power turns 1:35-6
lap times, Sunbeam Tigers run about the same as the E-type. MGBs, MGAs,
and TR3s run about 1:41-3 lap times. But there was a very well sorted
mid 60s Mini( GT-4) running mid pack with the the GT3 Civics.
I guess my point in all this is a Honda S2000 has an equivalent engine
in it to the Cosworth motor used in the Chevron B19, and Lola (540?) I
guess it takes 25-30 years for F-1 level technology to make it all the
way down to your Honda show room.
By the way how much hp did the Honda S600 make in the 1960s less than a
Herald I'd bet?
Oh and for the record the WCMA has a different class structure than the
SCCA.
Doug Hamilton
>Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 06:56:31 -0700
>From: "Randall Young" <Ryoung@navcomtech.com>
>Subject: RE: check out this honda site. really.
>
>
>
>>> Some of us middle aged people actually modify the Hondas into
>>> fairly worthy
>>> competitors. My 1990 Civic Si has been graced with a non-US 135
>>> HP DOHC engine,
>>> tuned SS exhaust and new suspension components.
>>>
>>> At the risk of drawing substantial abuse, I will state the following:
>>>
>>> My Si will out-accelerate, out-corner, out-run and generally
>>> out-perform any
>>> Triumph car ever built. This is not a brag, simply an engineering
>>> certainty.
>>
>>
>
>How much are you willing to bet ????
>
>I should probably point out that your car is modified ... and I would wager
>that (just for example) Tim Suddard's Ro-Spit will make it look like ... a
>Honda !
>
>More powerful engine ? But a non-US TR5 had 150 bhp, as it came from the
>factory ... with the potential for substantially more.
>
>And even with my lowly TR3A, I've yet to meet a Honda on the street that I
>can't out-corner. I don't have the raw power (my current engine is nearly
>stock), but I do have this bad habit of passing people with tricked-out
>Hondas on freeway entrance ramps.
>
>Randall
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