Civic Hatchback Sport at the track

[dominican]

I know a lot of attention is on the Type R and how it performs on the track, but I wanted to share my thoughts on how the new Civic Hatch is also a GREAT car, not just for commuting, for for a fun track day or autocross as well.

So far, I've been to two track days, with a total of about 3 hours of on track driving. Each time I get out on the track, I am SURPRISED at how good the little hatch is. Mind you, I am completely stock, factory setting all the way through (that will be changing shortly), but even from the factory, this car is WAY too much fun.



Pros - Let's start with the best part, the chassis! The chassis on this car, and the suspension, are nothing short of amazing. I own an S2000, and I think this car, with the right amount of power, can keep up with the abilities of the S2000, and that's a lot considering this is still a FWD platform. On all of the turns, the body is kept very controlled, the car feels planted, and I know I can push the car a lot harder if I just had more time and experience on the track. The engine, while not powerful, never felt underwhelming, it was always smooth and never missed a beat, not even on the hottest of days. The factory tires are actually very impressive. They won't help you break track day records, but they will hold their own when pushed.



Cons - Let's talk about the brakes. These brakes are horrifically undersized. We have (huge) 18 inch rims, yet we have TINY little brake rotors. Of course, as you'd expect, they provide more than enough braking power to stop the relatively lightweight car. However, under prolonged braking, they basically want to melt off of the car. There is just not enough heat capacity in these tiny little brake rotors to have them be useful on a track long term. To be honest, even a spirited canyon run on these stock brakes will case some concern, as you can easily cook the brakes just in that situation. In the future, it may be advisable to make an upgrade to bigger brakes, at the very least the Si or Type R brakes. The issue I now have is that, at least for the rear brakes, there are no real performance options available, not even for the pads! Hopefully the aftermarket fixes this soon...




Final Thoughts - I think this new hatch will be the platform of young tuners for years to come. Just like Honda of the 90s was known to be very popular in the tuner crowd, I expect the new Civic to be the same. 1.5ts are already cheap to get, and they are only going to get cheaper as time goes along. the CR-V, the civics, the new accords, they all have the 1.5t, so I wouldn't be surprised to see heavily tuned Civics with stonking big turbos on them in the near future.

Finally, I can say, Honda got its mojo back. Now bring back the S2000!!

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[360glitch]

Great write-up, thanks for sharing.

 

[BarracksSi]

I'm pretty sure the pads would be the same size as the sedan's or coupe's. Hold out a little longer for EBC or Hawk (etc) to come out with some performance pads before messing with changing the rotor sizes (and dealing with brake balance).

 

[VarmintCong]

Pocono! That was like my 2nd track day back in like 2001. Which club did you drive with? Surprised they let you go solo with so little track experience.

You probably don't need bigger rotors, just more aggressive pads. Stock pads tend to be poorly suited to track days. Also noobs tend to overheat the brakes. Could even be your tires giving up, rather than your brakes.

If you're in NY you should do Watkins Glen, and Lime Rock. Both are pretty scary tracks.

Light cars make great track cars, that's why it does so well.

 

[Jay.DeVries]

As someone who has 5 track days under the belt of his sport hatch, I have to agree with most of what you are saying. I have a Hondata tune and Eibach lowering springs. The chassis does have some understeer so it requires a certain degree of trail braking and careful weight transfer to really push the car. For the most part it isn't too difficult to get the rear of the car to step out, but keep in mind I have more camber in the rear than factory so I have slightly less rear grip.

As for issues with the car, the brakes are indeed very weak. I'm running Dot 5.1 and my brakes still suffer from considerable brake fade. Once they get hot it isn't even possible to lock up the brakes. Cooling seems to be an issue. I'm am looking into brake ducting as a possible solution. Better pads would help the cause as well.

For someone that is actually go to track the car regularly. There are a few other issues. The intercooler is ineffective as well as the intake being poorly placed. With a better intercooler and cold air intake, you would see a significant gain in power on track. I was seeing intakentemoeratures around 150-170 degrees after the intercooler on track.

 

[BarracksSi]

Definitely try better pads when they're available. The streetable performance pads I had on my EP got better on a backroads blast (which I'll NEVER do again) while most of the other guys said they were getting fade.

And about the seats ----

Try the "poor man's racing harness" trick next time. I'm a little disappointed that the other drivers at the session didn't tell you about it, because hanging onto the steering wheel for dear life is no way to maintain control of a car.

Here's the steps:
1. Get seated and buckle up.
2. Slide your seat all the way back.
3. Jam yourself as flat against the seatback as you can, and exhale as much air from your lungs as you can.
4. Reach up to the shoulder belt by your head (I'd suggest using your right hand) and give it a SHARP TUG to lock it in place.
5. Lean forward against the now-locked shoulder belt, and...
6. Slide the seat as far forward as you can.

Do it right, and you'll be locked into the seat so snug that you ain't going nowhere.

The next step up would be a CG-Lock attachment for the lap belt. I haven't used one of these, but a lot of the local Solo II drivers have them.
http://www.cg-lock.com/index.html

Try these before going to a new seat and 5-point harness.

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