Vince's Stuff: Finally back on track with a reliable Civic!

Well, it didn't rain Saturday and I was able to head to the track. It was not the track I thought I would be going to, since Ste-Croix cancelled its track day. Fortunately, ICAR's cancelled Tuesday night lapping from last week was re-scheduled to Saturday morning. I got the car ready Friday night and was among the first cars at the track on Saturday morning. Apart from a check engine light, the car seemed to be running fine.

Among the first to arrive

I managed three sessions on track before the day ended at lunch time. In my first sesion, I took my time getting up to speed as the track was cold and there were still a few puddles from Friday's rain. I had the Accusump on and the oil pressure never waivered. Part way through the first session, the exhaust note suddenly got quite a bit louder. I figured that a crack had developed in the header, as had happened with my old race car. I decided to just keep driving as normal and ended the session with a best lap of 1:52.7. I hoped that with multiple sessions, I would be able to improve on my personal best time of 1:48.5. I was well off that time, but knew I could push quite a bit more. I looked for the crack in the header, but could not spot it.

In the second session, I had the Accusump off and could see only a slight oil pressure drop in left handers, to maybe 50 psi from 70. I guess the oil problem is solved, as it used to drop to 15-20 psi with the old (leaky) pan. I could see my lap times coming down and wanted to get in a lap under 1:50. It wasn't to be, as my best lap was a 1:50.00! I compared notes with a driver who had a very similar Civic to my own (210 whp B20-vtec, same suspension, R888 tires) and he had managed a mid-1:48. Despite his better tires, I thought I would be closer to his times, as he was relatively inexperienced. I looked under my car, and noticed that one of the two bolts holding the header to the exhaust line had lost its nuts. The header was not cracked! However, I had no spare nuts, so I would have to wait until I got home to fix it.

It looked like there would only be time for one more session. I strapped into the car, turned the key, and nothing happened. Nothing at all... I got out, opened the hood and looked at the starter. There was only one wire attached to it, and I thought there were supposed to be two... there was no time to fix it then, so I asked someone to give my car a push, and I bump-started it. I arrived just in time for the session.

I didn't know how much more I could push in the third session, but I was determined to improve my times. I passed a couple of cars, got passed by others. I very slightly improved my time to 1:49.86. I was satisfied.

I parked the car and left the engine running. Then I called Pat, to ask him where to find the missing wire to the alternator. You would think it would be obvious, but there are several unplugged wires under my hood, as several sensors have been disabled on my car. Coincidentally, Pat was very close by on his way to get some parts in Mirabel. We met at a gas station in Blainville and he showed me what had to be plugged back in. I told him about the check engine light and he pulled the code: vtec solenoid. He asked me if I haf a problem with vtec on track, and I told him all seemed OK. It had been hard to tell from the sound if vtec was engaging, as the exhaust note had changed when the the header became partially unbolted.

Now, with hindsight and data analysis, I can see that there was possibly an issue with the vtec... my top speeds in various sections were off by 5 to 10 km/h. Did I have vtec? Some of my top speeds were even lower than with last year's engine. I felt like I was driving well. If I was indeed down on power, maybe it will be easier than expected to beat my personal best lap time.

If all goes well and the weather holds up, I may get one last chance this year to improve my time, this coming Saturday. If this is to be my last session of the year, it was a decent one. ... to be continued?.