OneLapCivicSi
Member
- First Name
- Andy
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2021
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 34
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- 115
- Location
- Houston, TX
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- Vehicle(s)
- 2019 Civic Si
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- #16
At the beginning of March we were very excited to receive the official word from Brock Yates Jr. that we were off the wait list and officially in for the 2021 One Lap! We expected the event to open up some after the rush to register back in 2019, but it was nice to be official. This gave us some renewed energy for the project as we headed to the NASA NOLA Region event at NOLA Motorsports park on March 13/14.
We loaded the car on the trailer the first time before the Friday morning drive to New Orleans. Honda was nice enough to provide T-hook slots on the factory frame rails to safely secure the car on the trailer.
It was our first time at NOLA, and we were very fortunate to have help from Chris Carver Motorsports. Chris is building the cage for our future WRL E36 M3, and even though he was busy as event director, he still managed to bring a well setup Spec Miata for us to split time in with the Civic to learn as much about the track as possible. Thanks Carver!
NOLA is a big boy track, and the Indy straight configuration that NASA used for this event really highlighted some braking issues. There were 3 spots on track that required heavy braking from over 100 mph. The Carbotech XP10s managed to do this for multiple laps without giving up, but they left a lot to be desired in total grip and especially in feel. Initial bite was great, but mid-range didn’t provide much additional bite. Deep into the pedal range grip picked up again, but we were still left not being able to really push the car in the braking zones. It was pretty clear that the speeds we will be able to achieve in the Civic especially when we up the power with Ethanol will require a more aggressive pad compound (we stayed on TSP Stage 1, Map 2 Sport all weekend). We decided that we would call Carbotech before our next track time to see what they recommend. We managed the brake issues by increasing braking distances, limiting the number of back to back hot laps to 6, and regularly flushing the fluid as the longer sessions on track were really cooking it.
Chris L. and I learned some valuable lessons over the weekend when we both had off track excursions. Chris L. dropped a wheel off the backside of a curb into a sizeable hole, and I went off at the entry to the Indy straight at 90+ mph after being distracted by upcoming traffic and missing an apex. Fortunately, the car continued on, and we set our fastest laps after these incidents. The key learning for us was that chasing the last few tenths of lap time like at an autocross is very risky on track. It is definitely not worth it at One Lap were consistent fast over the 3 lap time combined format is needed.
Overall the weekend was a success. The suspension changes (while noisy) were positive and the car handled fantastic all weekend. We used a Garmin Catalyst while running for the first time, and the instant feedback on lap timing is really useful. We are still trying to work out some of the kinks in uploading video with data overlaid, so apologies for the poor video quality below. In our last session I ran 3 smooth, hot laps in a row to simulate a One Lap run, and I was very happy to lay down our three fastest laps of the weekend. Chris L. was right there as well on his last stint; he was just under a second back on my pace. We weren’t running timing equipment in the Spec Miata while we drove, but the same car ran a couple sessions in a TT group with a good driver. The Civic was a full 7 seconds faster than the Spec Miata on R comps! The long straights had a lot to do with this, but overall Civic and its drivers are starting to show some good pace. Next up was some post race repairs and the SCCA Texas Tour autocross in Houston.
[youtube]
We loaded the car on the trailer the first time before the Friday morning drive to New Orleans. Honda was nice enough to provide T-hook slots on the factory frame rails to safely secure the car on the trailer.
It was our first time at NOLA, and we were very fortunate to have help from Chris Carver Motorsports. Chris is building the cage for our future WRL E36 M3, and even though he was busy as event director, he still managed to bring a well setup Spec Miata for us to split time in with the Civic to learn as much about the track as possible. Thanks Carver!
NOLA is a big boy track, and the Indy straight configuration that NASA used for this event really highlighted some braking issues. There were 3 spots on track that required heavy braking from over 100 mph. The Carbotech XP10s managed to do this for multiple laps without giving up, but they left a lot to be desired in total grip and especially in feel. Initial bite was great, but mid-range didn’t provide much additional bite. Deep into the pedal range grip picked up again, but we were still left not being able to really push the car in the braking zones. It was pretty clear that the speeds we will be able to achieve in the Civic especially when we up the power with Ethanol will require a more aggressive pad compound (we stayed on TSP Stage 1, Map 2 Sport all weekend). We decided that we would call Carbotech before our next track time to see what they recommend. We managed the brake issues by increasing braking distances, limiting the number of back to back hot laps to 6, and regularly flushing the fluid as the longer sessions on track were really cooking it.
Chris L. and I learned some valuable lessons over the weekend when we both had off track excursions. Chris L. dropped a wheel off the backside of a curb into a sizeable hole, and I went off at the entry to the Indy straight at 90+ mph after being distracted by upcoming traffic and missing an apex. Fortunately, the car continued on, and we set our fastest laps after these incidents. The key learning for us was that chasing the last few tenths of lap time like at an autocross is very risky on track. It is definitely not worth it at One Lap were consistent fast over the 3 lap time combined format is needed.
Overall the weekend was a success. The suspension changes (while noisy) were positive and the car handled fantastic all weekend. We used a Garmin Catalyst while running for the first time, and the instant feedback on lap timing is really useful. We are still trying to work out some of the kinks in uploading video with data overlaid, so apologies for the poor video quality below. In our last session I ran 3 smooth, hot laps in a row to simulate a One Lap run, and I was very happy to lay down our three fastest laps of the weekend. Chris L. was right there as well on his last stint; he was just under a second back on my pace. We weren’t running timing equipment in the Spec Miata while we drove, but the same car ran a couple sessions in a TT group with a good driver. The Civic was a full 7 seconds faster than the Spec Miata on R comps! The long straights had a lot to do with this, but overall Civic and its drivers are starting to show some good pace. Next up was some post race repairs and the SCCA Texas Tour autocross in Houston.
[youtube]