Earlier this month we headed down to Vic Time Attack at Phillip Island, entered in the demo class. With limited prep time and testing the focus was getting out there and running some laps. Competition brings pressure, mistakes and less enjoyment; I wanted to focus on re-learning the track and testing the changes to the car.
It’s been a few years since I’d been at Phillip Island. The last time out I only had 37kW (50hp) in my old Nissan Micra, which meant full throttle from the 2nd last turn all the way to T2. I expected a steep learning curve with more than 4 times the power in a similar weight car. Since the last event at Winton the only change was the install of our prototype booster delete kit, you can read more about that here: Booster delete install
A bunch of our customers were out there on track too, which was great to see. Bill was there in his recently built Civic, testing out a set of our bump steer correcting tie rod ends and the first production set of our solid steering rack mount bushes. First time out in the freshly built car, he knocked some time off to get down to an impressive 1:58.2. A great result for a car that was a bare shell barely a month or two ago.
Perennial track goer Rhys was there in his EK as well:
On a personal level it’s great to see our parts out there on the track running laps. We started Honed as part of our passion not just for Hondas, but to help others experience the enjoyment of a fast, reliable and well balanced track car. A car that can run at the track all day, while being fun and challenging for the driver. Rhys, Bill and the others epitomise this spirit, and it’s great to have their support.
The CR-X performed superbly all day, the brake feel is leaps and bounds better with the booster delete in place. The brake pedal no longer needs such a deft touch; I could feel the the limits of the grip of the tyres under brakes more easily.
My best lap was a 1:48.3 on the very last lap of the day. Traffic was challenging all day, and after languishing in the low 50s for most of the day it was great to put together smooth lap. The time would would have put us solidly mid field in the Street class, so maybe next year I’ll stump up the higher entry fee and see how I fare.
Data Analysis
Below is a speed trace from the best lap, taken from Racechrono full size
It’s my first time here in this car so it’s difficult to make comparisons, but a few points stand out:
- My T1 speed is slow, around 160km/h consistently. Based on feedback from others, I should be able to match my best SMSP T1 pace of 185km/h here, so there’s time to be gained here.
- The gearing is slightly too short for PI; I’m bouncing off the limiter in 6th down the main straight. The rev limit has already been bumped to 8000RPM, and I’m not willing to go higher with the stock K24. In the other areas of the track though it works well, so my gut feeling is there’s no need to make any changes here.
- On most laps I was easing off the throttle at the final corner, though comparing multiple lap data shows that I can hold full throttle from the apex of the 2nd last corner all the way to T1 as long as I position the car correctly.
Overall it was a great day, and very refreshing to be out on a different track. Thanks to the organisers of Vic Time Attack for putting on an excellent event, despite challenging circumstances. We hope the event continues to grow and I’ll definitely be making time for another Phillip Island event later in the year. For now though, the next planned event is a test day at Winton next week where we’ll be collecting some brake pressure and temperature data on the CR-X, and further testing our suspension geometry kit in the EF Civic.
– Tom