More Pictures at bottom!
The morning of April 18th brought no work, chilled weather and the Miller Park Racing Association Race #2. Innovative Garage, Mad Dog Cycles and Munoa Performance all field cars. A 1995 Honda Civic, 2001 Acura Integra Type R and a 2005 Acura RSX Type S. The Innovative Garage Civic and Munoa Performance Type R arrived at the track promptly at 7am ready for annual tech inspection and license renewal. The Mad Dog Cycles RSX starting the day off with an alarm clock malfunction, arrived slightly AFTER the morning drivers meeting.
A typical Race day with MPRA consist of two practice sessions, qualifying and the race. As far as the Type R is concerned it ran flawless MOST of the day. Both practice sessions it ran well. Adam (the Type R driver), was turning very fast laps. He was reporting the car was turning, braking and was accelerating better then it had in the past year! New alignment specs and a fresh tune seemed to all be working well. With consistent lap times in the 1:43 range there was no doubting it. A 1:43.3 was the small bore class fastest time of the day set down by Adam and the Type R, putting him on pole. The last few laps during qualifying, Adam reported the car started to sputter in high G-force corners. Finally the engine shut down in turn 9 and he coasted in the hot pits. Scrambling to figure out the problem before the race Jordan Munoa (much needed and appreciated crew member, thanks Jordan) and Adam went to work trying to fix the problem. Checking electrical grounds and connections. The engine would start, run and rev normally while sitting in the pit stall. But as soon as the car was put into any sort of lateral G-force, it would sputter or stall. As I strapped into the Civic and headed to grid for the race they were still working on the problem. With two minutes till grid closes, Adam comes blazing into the hot pits to lead us out on to the parade lap.
With the Mad Dog Cycles RSX missing the first practice session Randy Gibb (car driver), had more work to do then the rest of us. Luckily the RSX was doing what it had done all of the 2008 season……….running flawlessly. The car was setting consistent lap times in the 1:44-1:45 range. Thin pads made qualifying a little difficult, Randy put down a 1:46.7 time. Setting him 7th in small bore class. Definitely, not his best lap time but considering VERY squishy brake pedal, not to shabby. A quick pad installed and the RSX was race ready.
The Innovative Garage Civic was a whole different story. I tested the car on the 21st of March. All day it ran like a super champ. No issues. Turned well, accelerated slow but normal for a stock B18a. Braking was exceptional. The Integra Type R brakes are money on this lightweight car. Saturday for some reason the car was plagued with issues. The transmisson was popping out of third gear. Most 3rd gear corners I had to hold the shift lever in place to keep the car in gear, leaving me to drive with one hand. Not ideal! This problem was small compared to some sort of electrical problem the car was now having. It would literally shut down in the middle of high G-force corners. Not sputter or lose power, SHUT DOWN! The first time it did this was turn 9, just after I apexed. I lost traction in the rear end of the car and spun into the dirt. It did this all day, without knowing when and where the car would shut down was nerve wracking. Always expecting to spin off track if the car lost power. We tried all sort of things, check all electrical grounds and connections. Swap ECU’s, distributors, nothing worked. In qualifying I figured out I could flick my kill switch off then on and this would allow the car to keep power. Never figured it out. Went through the rest of qualifying and the race like this.
The race was intense! Grid went like this:
1. Adam Munoa, Integra Type R
2. Kris Mckoy, 2005 Acura RSX Type S (Snow Camo)
3. Tom Felt, 2006 Honda S2000
4. Jason D. Smith, INNOVATIVE GARAGE 1995 Honda Civic HB
5. Ed Mineau, Porche
6. Randy Gibb, 2005 Acura RSX Type S
7. Mike Watson, Porche
8. John Watson, Porche
9. Aaron Ptaft, Miata
10. Tyler Dahl, Miata
11. Allan Anderson, Miata
12. Jon Lee, Miata
13. Clark Dodson, Miata
14. William Pendleton, Miata
15. Dan Dilsaver, Miata
16. Dave Kizerian, Miata
17. Frank Hatton-Ward, Miata
18. Joe Sim, 1999 Honda Odessey (Yes, a minivan)
19. Dan Dilsaver Jr,
20. Randy Cummings
21. Todd Imwold, Miata
I will edit the race footage soon so you can see for yourself! The top six were involved in a battle for about 6 laps. On the first lap, pole sitter Adam Munoa had a stroke of bad luck. Spun off of turn 6, jumped a curb and broke a driver rear upper control arm. Putting him out of the race. Unfortunate considering this was the car to beat all day. Very Fast. I was only able to keep Randy’s RSX and the two Porche’s behind me by some extremely late braking. All 3 cars would creep up on my bumper just about any strait length track. About 4 laps into it third gear was no more. DONE! The gear shift would go into the right spot but the car would go no where. Randy and the Porsches soon made quick work of me, considering I was now limited to 4th gear only. 2nd gear is pretty much worthless on the west track, way to low. Even with a longer LS transmission. I was able to stay in front of Tyler Dahl and his miata ONLY by pulling some dirty blocking moves and keeping him to the outside of all turns.
The Small Bore Race 3 finish:
1. Tom Felt, S200
2. Michael Watson, Porsche
3. Randy Gibb, RSX
4. Ed Mineau, Porsche
5. Jason Smith, INNOVATIVE GARAGE Honda Civic
6. Tyler Dahl, Miata
7. Jon Lee, Miata
8. Kris Mckoy, RSX Camo
9. Aaron Pfadt
10. Bill Noblitt, Porche
11. William Pendleton, Miata
12. John Watson, Porche
13. Clark Dodson, Miata
14. Dan Dilsaver, Miata
15. Todd Imwold, Miata
16. Dave Kizerian, Miata
17. Joe Sim, Honda Odessey
18. Dan Dilsaver JR
19. Frank Hatton-Ward
20. Randy Cummings
21. Allan Anderson, Miata DNF
22. Adam Munoa, Acura Integra Type R DNF
Enjoy the Pics:
Stay posted for the race footage from the Innovative Garage Honda Civic…………
