Inaugural Honda Challenge Championship

[RacerX-21]

Grass roots magazine wrote in an article early this year that they were surprised not to see NSX’s coming out to race the new HU rule in Honda Challenge. I took that as a challenge and opportunity to represent the premiere Honda sports car, and built an NSX to win the inaugural Honda Challenge Championship at Mid-Ohio in September.

It did its first shakedown at a Chin Motorsports event last weekend at Barber in Alabama. Other then a loose hose clamp, the car worked flawlessly even in 100-degree temperatures.

It’s registered to race the next Honda Challenge event at Road Atlanta in August. After the Championship in September I will bring the car to NSXPO in Sebring.

All images/files contained on this disc are Copyright 2006 Colour Tech South Motorsports Photography, LLC.
The original purchaser is licenced to utilize the images for personal use, personal/team promotion, or news release only. When used in personal/team promotion or news release a credit is asked to be given to Colour Tech South Motorsports Photography, LLC. Any commercial use, copying for resale, or resale in whole or part in original or altered form is stricltly prohibited and unlawful without the expressed written permission of Colour Tech South Motorsports Photography, LLC.

Contact information:
Colour Tech South Motorsports Photography, LLC
30922 Sealine Drive
Leesburg, Florida 34748
Tel: (407) 325-2520
e-mail: [email protected]

 

[ak]

Good luck! Is the scoop on the trunk for water heat exchanger for the air/water cooler?

-ak

 

[RacerX-21]

It's for Air to Air from the Supercharger.

 

[Ponyboy]

Good to see an old DAL car get some proper use. Congrats! I wish you all the luck and look forward to seeing the results.

Keep us posted!

 

[john@johnhudakracing]

Someone's been busy. Very Impressive. :smile:

 

[MiamieNeSeX]

"Father Basch" must be proud. Very interesting piping. Any reason the tailpipes turn the way they do?(Divert exhaust away from wing vaccum?)


Armando

 

[Andrie Hartanto]

Good deal Rob!!!
I will see you at Mid Ohio, but I will be running H1. That is if my car not sold by then.

 

[RacerX-21]

Very interesting piping. Any reason the tailpipes turn the way they do?(Divert exhaust away from wing vaccum?)


Armando

The car was too loud for the DB limit at some tracks, so in addition to adding sound reducing cones I put directional tips that can be rotated away from the sound testing stations. Some tracks have them on the left and some have them on the right. I can’t take credit for this; it’s common practice in racing.

 

[RacerX-21]

Someone's been busy. Very Impressive. :smile:

Danka,

Heres a link to more pictures- http://www.racerx.tv/Video/HC

Please give credit to Colour Tech South Motorsports Photography, LLC.
if any of these pictures are used.

 

[BRIVIN]

Very nice looking car! It appears to be well prepped as well. Good luck at the Nationals. Hope to see you there{ i'll be in H3 Integra}.
Brian

 

[NSXLuvr]

Holy Crap Batman

Just curious -what kind the RWHP?

 

[RacerX-21]

Good deal Rob!!!
I will see you at Mid Ohio, but I will be running H1. That is if my car not sold by then.

Very nice looking car! It appears to be well prepped as well. Good luck at the Nationals. Hope to see you there{ i'll be in H3 Integra}.
Brian

It will be good to see you both, I will likely run two classes if I can find a way to get both cars to the track.

Holy Crap Batman

Just curious -what kind the RWHP?

The engine is a T-sleeved 3.3 with billet mains and other strong parts; the heads have larger valves, port shaping, and custom cams. The car made 625 rear wheel HP with only 14 lbs of boost. It's been near 100 degrees out here so I track tested with about 12 lbs of boost making 560 at the rear wheels... and I have an 18 lb pulley estimated at over 700 RWHP.

 

[Scot]

Holy Hell!!!! 625rwhp!!!!! I raced the Red S2000 with East Coast Honda Challenge for 2004-2005. I think I had 210 rwhp.

You should not have any problem lapping the full field (including H1) with that kind of power.

what kind of lap times do you expect at Road Atlanta? I think H1 record is about 1:39's....

The engine is a T-sleeved 3.3 with billet mains and other strong parts; the heads have larger valves, port shaping, and custom cams. The car made 625 rear wheel HP with only 14 lbs of boost. It's been near 100 degrees out here so I track tested with about 12 lbs of boost making 560 at the rear wheels... and I have an 18 lb pulley estimated at over 700 RWHP.

 

[RacerX-21]

Holy Hell!!!! 625rwhp!!!!! I raced the Red S2000 with East Coast Honda Challenge for 2004-2005. I think I had 210 rwhp.

You should not have any problem lapping the full field (including H1) with that kind of power.

what kind of lap times do you expect at Road Atlanta? I think H1 record is about 1:39's....

1:29's

 

[Scot]

I am surprised they would even let you out there with the closing speeds you are going to have on the H5 guys.... that is going to be scary as shit for everyone! it is scary enough with regular H1 guys.

1:29's

 

[RacerX-21]

I am surprised they would even let you out there with the closing speeds you are going to have on the H5 guys.... that is going to be scary as shit for everyone! it is scary enough with regular H1 guys.

In many classes with both major series you have huge differentiation between cars. My last NASA race at Road Atlanta had sports racers running 1:30, and I was in a Toyo toting Spec Miata running a best weekend time of 1:48. You asked me what I expect the NSX can run, upper 1:28’s or 29’s but in all actuality I wont need to change back the boost and risk a failure before Mid-Ohio. I also have a tire dilemma so I’m confidant that mid to upper: 30’s are likely all the car will run. The dilemma with tires is that the way I have the car configured, I need a very low height front tire that is also wide enough to balance the high HP rear tire. Only Goodyear and Hoosier make such a tire, normally tires are open in HC but the Championship is sponsored by Toyo who has a limited selection of sizes. In addition to the reduced selection, Toyo is experiencing a national shortage of many tire sizes. Including ones I need! No matter what, I will need to make a compromise in performance. I will also likely need to buy new rim sizes to match the Toyo selection. I will need to make the choice between short narrow tires, or wide tires that will require me to raise the car like a pick-up truck. I defiantly know I cant get the tires I want for Road Atlanta and it’s questionable even for Mid-Ohio, so I don’t want to spend the money for new rims until I’m sure. Vilvan tire has priority with Toyo because of the World Challenge, of the three dealers I called they told me that they only received 4 of the 40 tires they ordered and all 40 of them have a waiting list. I sent the facts to NASA who may have to revise something before Mid-Ohio. FYI, even SM tires are supposed to be out of stock the closer we get to the end of the season. That said, at Road Atlanta I will likely be running used cup tires from the 2004 Grand-Am series. But now that you pointed out the HC lap record I have a new goal:smile: … but buying expensive Hoosiers for one race will be hard financially.

 

[johnnybul]

That is an extremely impressive car you have built and I wish you the best of luck.
One question though, do you have any video of that beast on the track?
Regards,
John B

 

[RacerX-21]

That is an extremely impressive car you have built and I wish you the best of luck.
One question though, do you have any video of that beast on the track?
Regards,
John B

I’m kicking myself for not putting the camera in at Barber; it sounds really good with the Tial blow-off valve. I will defiantly have it in for the Road Atlanta race.

 

[john@johnhudakracing]

The engine is a T-sleeved 3.3 with billet mains and other strong parts; the heads have larger valves, port shaping, and custom cams. The car made 625 rear wheel HP with only 14 lbs of boost. It's been near 100 degrees out here so I track tested with about 12 lbs of boost making 560 at the rear wheels... and I have an 18 lb pulley estimated at over 700 RWHP.

I also have a tire dilemma so I’m confidant that mid to upper: 30’s are likely all the car will run. The dilemma with tires is that the way I have the car configured, I need a very low height front tire that is also wide enough to balance the high HP rear tire. Only Goodyear and Hoosier make such a tire, normally tires are open in HC but the Championship is sponsored by Toyo who has a limited selection of sizes. In addition to the reduced selection, Toyo is experiencing a national shortage of many tire sizes. Including ones I need! No matter what, I will need to make a compromise in performance. I will also likely need to buy new rim sizes to match the Toyo selection. I will need to make the choice between short narrow tires, or wide tires that will require me to raise the car like a pick-up truck. I defiantly know I cant get the tires I want for Road Atlanta and it’s questionable even for Mid-Ohio, so I don’t want to spend the money for new rims until I’m sure. Vilvan tire has priority with Toyo because of the World Challenge, of the three dealers I called they told me that they only received 4 of the 40 tires they ordered and all 40 of them have a waiting list. I sent the facts to NASA who may have to revise something before Mid-Ohio. FYI, even SM tires are supposed to be out of stock the closer we get to the end of the season. That said, at Road Atlanta I will likely be running used cup tires from the 2004 Grand-Am series. But now that you pointed out the HC lap record I have a new goal:smile: … but buying expensive Hoosiers for one race will be hard financially.

Hi Rob,

Hoosier tire budget is hard for anyone to upkeep. What toyos are they mandating for the specific race T1S/R or more likely the RA1? What sizes specifically are you contemplating? I just bought a good number of new T1S's yesterday some smaller distributor was getting rid of last week on the cheap. I'd be happy to ask around and see if anyone has anything up this way that might meet your specific technical requirements.

On the size, that is a hard call. I think short/narrow is the better bet because personally- the front is light since the weight comes off unproportional usually, and putting the ride height up as I have it now with the wider 255 fronts coupled with the higher ride height feels just like a truck from where I had it slammed before.. very noticable, it irks me daily- as every mm of ride height I tend to obsess over, of course.. with that level of power and the degree of prep work you did... from the few NSX's I've seen setup like that... you probably do need as much tire as you can get... hell I'd be mostly concerned about living to drive it another day. I wish I could be there to see it run.

I'm just as lazy... but definitely get some video!! :biggrin:

 

[RacerX-21]

Hi Rob,

Hoosier tire budget is hard for anyone to upkeep. What toyos are they mandating for the specific race T1S/R or more likely the RA1? What sizes specifically are you contemplating? I just bought a good number of new T1S's yesterday some smaller distributor was getting rid of last week on the cheap. I'd be happy to ask around and see if anyone has anything up this way that might meet your specific technical requirements.

On the size, that is a hard call. I think short/narrow is the better bet because personally- the front is light since the weight comes off unproportional usually, and putting the ride height up as I have it now with the wider 255 fronts coupled with the higher ride height feels just like a truck from where I had it slammed before.. very noticable, it irks me daily- as every mm of ride height I tend to obsess over, of course.. with that level of power and the degree of prep work you did... from the few NSX's I've seen setup like that... you probably do need as much tire as you can get... hell I'd be mostly concerned about living to drive it another day. I wish I could be there to see it run.

I'm just as lazy... but definitely get some video!! :biggrin:

The RA-1’s are the spec-

I trim off the lower section of the radiator support (The radiator doesn’t sit there anymore anyway), so that my splitter can go flat to the bottom of the nose without the chin spoiler. The chin spoiler is an 1-1/2” to 2” tall and in Cup it was a way to get lower without bringing attention to the car. Cup also had spec tires 225/45/17 up front and 275/40/17 in the rear. The 225 was 24.5” high, and the 275 was 25.3”. With that front tire the car was up in the air like a truck. With Pete Halsmer’s help and some NSX data we were able to persuade the Grand-Am series to let us use the spec tire that the touring cars were using, a 225/45/15. Even know theoretically we would lose a small amount of contact patch because of the diameter difference, the height is only 22.7” and the car could go as low as we wanted it. Vaughn and I tested during a local SCCA race in an open class at Barber and our times were greatly improved, in fact we had times that would put us in the top 5 and we never even re-aligned the car yet. About the time we started to become competitive we lost a car in a transport mishap on the way to Mid-Ohio, we lost an engine in the other car during qualifying (We ran 6th in practice and this was a new track to us), and the final nail that ended the team effort was the loss of the replacement engine at VIR in the first practice because the assembler never cleaned out intake manifold that still had valve parts from the blow-up at Mid-Ohio. This would have been our first race with a 3.2 and Barber was the very next weekend. This inevitably was our last Cup race.

Anyway back to the tires. We found that the NSX really improved with the shorter tires, and the original plan for HC would have allowed me to run 11.5” wide tires in the front and 13” tires in the rear… overkill I know, but I wanted to put some whoop-ass to the local guys running unlimited GT-1 and Trans-Am cars. Only Hoosier and Goodyear make super wide tires with short heights. In my inventory I only have 15” front rims, 17” front rims, and 17” rear rims. Going with these super wide tires would require the purchase of rims, but maybe worth the expense. I was also contemplating some aluminum coachwork to flare the fenders similar to the PPG BMW’s

So for the Championships my choices with Toyo are (1st the logical) 225/45/15 in the front and 275/40/17 in the rear, very similar in size to the cup tires but the 275 I defiantly cant get and I’m not sure but I think the 225 was also on B/O. The next choice is the 235/40/17 up front but that is 1-1/2” taller and similar to the original high cup tires, I would also need to buy new 18” rims and run the 305/35/18 because I cant get the 275’s. As long as I’m this high and may need to buy rims anyway I’m going to try my existing 275 rear tires up front and if they fit I can get 335/30/18’s in the rear… with new rims that is. What I need is a day at Tire Rack or somewhere similar to try rim and tire sizes.

Your right... it was lazy

 

[Da Hapa]

Holy schmoley that's incredible. Good on you and good luck.

 

[AU_NSX]

I do remember your run of bad luck...

Welcome back and good luck! Car looks awesome! :wink:

 

[VintageracerNYC]

what times did you run at Barber? I have a race there later this year and will be curious as to what your car did and compare it to mine.
JJ

 

[RacerX-21]

what times did you run at Barber? I have a race there later this year and will be curious as to what your car did and compare it to mine.
JJ

What race?

Barber was a DE where I was the Chief instructor so I spent most of my time doing provisional solo signoffs and when I did get on the track I usually had a passenger where its not safe to run 100%. So I never bothered installing the data acquisition in the NSX (Like the Camera). I did however record my Miata times if that helps. My best time on good Hoosiers is 1:469 with normal runs in the 1:48’s, with Toyo full depth my best run was a 1:50. My guess is upper 1:30’s maybe mid 30’s with new tires.

 

[Chris F]

"I took that as a challenge and opportunity to represent the premiere Honda sports car, and built an NSX to win the inaugural Honda Challenge Championship at Mid-Ohio in September."

Ah ha! We'll see about that! Hehehehe....

Couple of things to make sure you keep in mind...
-- Do you know how many other HU cars are registered, did HU make the minimum cutoff? If not, you'll be stuck in SU or PTU if you still want to go to NASA Nationals. Do they need 4 or 5 cars, I can't recall.

-- Do you have the minimum amount of NASA races under your belt to be eligible for the Nationals? I think it's 5 races [edit: Not 5 events, 5 races]...

So far, the only two I know of in HU actively are me and Kelsey in a Prelude.

Coming up to Mid-O in a few weeks with NASA? I have some work to do on the car but I'm about 75% sure I'll be there. They cut all the curbs down, they were HORRIBLY high this spring, but now they're friendly again. That might take a second off our existing times. Last time I was out there I blew up my tranny, but was still able to make the Sunday race at least, and caught the other HU car on the last lap, from the back of the pack


Edit for preciseness, here's a qhote from http://nasachampionships.com

Requirements to participate in NASA Championships:

1) The driver must earn points in at least five official races (not weekends). You may run one or more classes to earn points.
NOTE: Once minimum qualifications are earned, drivers may compete in multiple classes at the National Championships.

2) There must be at least four entries in a class at the Championships by the September 1, 2006 deadline.

It seems like "5 races" could be done in 1 weekend if you enrolled in HU, SU, and TTU (or TTR?). You might want to bring a crew.

-Chris