It keeps raining on Tuesdays and I'm not getting many opportunities to drive the Civic. In the meantime, I ordered and received a new (inexpensive) front lip. The fitment is not perfect but it is nice and close to the ground. I hope it will provide an air dam effect and I'm thinking of installing the rear wing I bought a while back and never installed... I didn't want to have an aero device in the rear after removing the only small aero device I had in the front, the old cracked front lip. Anyway, aero effect or not, I think it looks pretty cool!
The boys on the Main
Super low AMG
Clean E39
Not my favourite model but in decent condition
Cool very dark green
You don't see many of these S4's anymore
Genesis reminds me of 90's ultra-luxury Japanese cars
Cool Westfalia near the office
Still looks futuristic to me
30 years apart
Clean 996 on nice OEM wheels
2CV you can rent?
Nice wheels for an STi
Amazing wheels for this old S-class
A rare Charger Hellcat
Nice stock-looking Evo 10
Clean 944 on the Plateau
F8 in Outremont
Sleeper M5
Neat old Peugeot
Nice spec for this Bronco
I love the 964
... and this plate
New Civic Si is nice, I don't love this colour
Small lip spoiler
Rapide has not aged that well
This has aged well!
Boring looking electric BMW SUV
When the stock Civic Type R is not flashy enough for you...
I headed back to ICAR last Tuesday for the evening lapping sessions. It had rained in the morning and early afternoon, but it was supposed to stay clear in the evening. I left home a little after 5:00 p.m. and there were still a few sprinkles of rain but, to my great surprise, there was absolutely no traffic... I mean none. I couldn't believe my good fortune. As I arrived at the track, everything was pretty dry, but it wasn't raining. There were only a handful of cars and it wasn't too warm. I fugured these would be good conditions to set some better lap times than at my last visit. There were some ominous-looking clouds not too far away so I decided to run in the upcoming yellow group in case it rained soon. I could then go out immediately afterwards in the green session and the tires would already be warmed up.
I headed out and after a few laps, I was passed by a beige 92-95 Civic Coupe that was flying (I wonder what the specifications are!) and a C8 Corvette. The track was almost completely dry (there was a small puddle a the apex of turn one). I could not keep up with the Civic but I kept the Corvette in view for a while. Soon after, I was caught by another Civic EK (hatch) and an RX8. I waved them by but the RX8 elected to stay behind me. I was able to follow the Civic for the last couple of laps of the session and in doing so, I clocked my best ever lap at ICAR, a 1:46.83 (2/100ths faster than my previous best!). I immediately headed out in the green session with nice warm tires, but I wasn't able to beat the lap time. Maybe it was the fact that there was no one to follow or catch? I did manage a 1:47.09, so pretty close to the same time. I had stupidly decided to go out without my gloves and after the first session, I was sweating quite a bit, even though it was not that hot out. I also went over track limits on the right of the back straight on one lap when I didn't time my steering imputs corectly. A 15-minute session at ICAR is pretty short, but 30 minutes in my car feels pretty long (no power steering, no a/c, etc.).
I was chatting with the RX8 owner after the session and I was extremely sweaty. I was ready to head home and I wanted to make sure my lap data had captured the double session. The session was there in the data, but I was having trouble converting and exporting it. I had uninstalled and re-installed RaceChrono since my last visit to the track, which could have been the cause of the problem. After trying a couple of times, I managed to convert and send the data. I really did not want to lose the data of my new best time! Anyway, by the time I did all of this, I was a bit less sweaty and tired and there was another green session coming up in about 10 minutes, so I decided to head out for one last session. I was trying a new line onto the front straight where I short-shifted into 4th gear and cut the corner a bit more and it seemed faster, although the limited data doesn't bear this out yet. I didn't improve my lap time and only managed a 1:47.44 in that session.
I am still learning a few tricks at ICAR and there is still some time on the table. I tried a couple of laps where I did not overdrive the car at all, and focused on smoothness, and the times are not that far off the best time. I think these types of laps are easier on the car and tires. I also felt that I was carrying more speed in the esses (where I crashed in 2017). I still need some more track time to fine tune these things, ideally a full day at that track. I was focusing on smooth weight transfer at the end of the back straight into the hairpin and it felt good. I also realized that whatever Choo did with my pedals, it is now quite easy to heel-and-toe on downshifts, which makes for a better entry into corner one.
I think that a lap in the 1:45's is achievable without any upgrades to the car. I have been looking at videos on Youtube, and there are a couple of Civics in the 1:43 to 1:45 range. The coupe that flew by me did not have any visible aero, yet it was quite a bit faster. I have to figure out why! Is it horsepower? Gearing? A limited-slip diff? I hope I can chat with the car owner at some point.
As for my Civic, it has become super reliable. It is easy to drive to the track, I can really push it on track, and as long as I keep an eye on the oil level, it needs no maintenance at the track. It's really meeting all my expectations. Now, I want to focus on driving it well. There are a couple of small things I might do to the car this season (dyno tune, front lip and rear wing) but they are minor things. The car is now fully succeeding at being a fun and economical track tool. Let's hope things keep moving in the right direction!
