Impressive performance of Steel Honda's DC5

[Trung]

Was at Rally Supercar day yesturday and saw 3 DC5s. The real head turner goes to Unnamed Warrior's Buddy Club DC5. :wink:
Nice to meet ya! :wink:

I stayed around near to the end to watch a Steel Honda's DC5 go on the track.
Suprisingly it was beating all the cars on the track in his session which included a modified P1 and an EVO4
I was very impressed with its performance. I spoke to Richard Woore earlier on and as far as I could remember the only mods were:
Fully stripped and roll cage interior, uprated shocks, adjusted camber, full slicks and 15" Team Dynamics Pro-Race rims.
Just goes to show you how good a DC5 is on the track with minor mods.

I'll be doing a similar method soon by getting hold of a set of used DC2 rims, semi slicks, ABP Fast Road set up with KONI shocks and Spoon progressive springs.

 

[Type R - Matt]

I have known Richard for a number of years now, and before he had this he had a DC2.

With out wishing to take praise from the DC5, Richard is a fantastic driver, and has as much knowledge of Castle Combe as any one, and that is the key to being fast round any circuit.

His car has Mugen N1 3K :shock: (too hard IMHO), Dunlop Slicks, agressive camber, 15" wheels, Full weld in cage, and safety equipment.

 

[Jevo]

ha ha thats my old car he has.. and what a fine beauty she is... has uprated brake pads too...

Agree with Matt.. Richard is a superb driver but it does go to show that getting the suspension set up and teh brakes sorted will make a car much quicker than having loads of power mods...

Jevo

 

[Type R - Matt]

Hope you have had a good weekend Jason. Im away get pissed for the next 2 days (work conference :lol: ) so email you on wednesday.

Seen quite a few piccies on Scoobynet, looked an awesome day, Stratos, 6R4 \/

Most ironic thing is I got this saturday off, and did stuff all, wish I came down now.

 

[jonster]

I met Richard for the first time at Castle Coombe. Really nice chap. I got lapped by him twice in one session. Having chatted with him I was interested in how making mine lighter would make a difference. As Jas and Matt witness, I borrowed a spanner off Richard and removed my passenger seat (20Kg) and spare wheel (13Kg) and went out again. I couldn't believe the difference. Dramatically less corner squeal, noticable better acceleration and braking.

Since that day I've bough 5.9Kg Sparco's to replace the front seats, a carbon bonnet (half the wieght of the stock one) and still cruise about without my spare wheel. It's like driving a new car.

I've got lighter wheels planned next. Stock 17s are about 8.6Kg and I've seen 5.5kg out there. They will double as a track only set too so I can run slicks. I want to buy suspension mods too so the wheels might have to wait.

 

[Trung]

Sounds interesting. I've not taken out the spare wheel yet. Didnt realise it weights 13kg with tyres. I think I'll give it a go tomorrow.

What ligthweight rims are you planning?
Im planning a set of 17" Buddy Club P1's soon and maybe 15" stock DC2 rims for track day only (if they fit) :?
Would like TE-37s or RGs but thats mega wonga.

BTW. Are you selling your Recaro's?

 

[jonster]

Hi Trung,

I'm sure weight saving is the key. Less stress on the brakes, faster acceleration and better cornering. I don't really want to turn my car in to a track only machine, but the effect of putting the Sparco's in means nobody can get in the back of the car because they don't hinge. The sliding rails I've mounted them on weigh nearly as much as the new seats but I'm sure lighter ones will become available. I customized stock ones which were heavy in the first place.

I'm not sure which wheels to go for. I think the Buddy Club P1 QF Racing ones look the best value. I'm torn between the 16" and 17" ones. The 16" are quite a bit cheaper but I'd need tires with a greater wall height if I was to retain the same wheel diameter or I'll suffer an incaccurate speedo. I would be accelerating faster though Spoon wheels seem very light too but look a bit naff. Volks are too expensive for me.

I might consider selling my Recaro's but I'm not sure Blue would go well with another coloured car.

Did the Gruppem make your car feel that much faster. Must have been a touch choice to spend so much on a filter. Been thinking about the same but I could buy a 4-2 manifold for similar money.

Take it easy,

Jon

 

[D3mon_Hunt3r]

How i envy u guys!

I'm not yet a DC5 Type-R owner (hope i am soon!) but just the thought you guys get to drive in tracks... makes me very :cry: because even when i have my DC5 i won't be able to drive in a track because i live in Portugal! perhaps when i finish college/university i can go and live there or in the states!

 

[Trung]

Hi Trung,

I might consider selling my Recaro's but I'm not sure Blue would go well with another coloured car.

Did the Gruppem make your car feel that much faster. Must have been a touch choice to spend so much on a filter. Been thinking about the same but I could buy a 4-2 manifold for similar money.

Take it easy,

Jon

The Gruppe M is great and was worth investment however I bought mine 2nd hand. :wink:
The performance increase was staggering. I've been in other CTRs with Quickshift metal cone and all it did was make some loud noise in VTEC mode which is Max Power mod :roll: . With the Gruppe M you can feel extra power coming in from 5000rpm. At a recent dyno session at G-Force, they found that the intake temperature was lower than ambient temperature so all the CF really did make a difference.
I guest its a hell lot of money for an airbox but you have to consider a lot of time and effort has gone into the design and material used. You could say the same for a Mugen N1 system.
I choose the Gruppe M because judging by the design and the layout of K20A, I find it be more effective than the Mugen box and even Richard Woore agreed. :wink:

 

[Steels]

What bonnet did you buy in the end?

I met Richard for the first time at Castle Coombe. Really nice chap. I got lapped by him twice in one session. Having chatted with him I was interested in how making mine lighter would make a difference. As Jas and Matt witness, I borrowed a spanner off Richard and removed my passenger seat (20Kg) and spare wheel (13Kg) and went out again. I couldn't believe the difference. Dramatically less corner squeal, noticable better acceleration and braking.

Since that day I've bough 5.9Kg Sparco's to replace the front seats, a carbon bonnet (half the wieght of the stock one) and still cruise about without my spare wheel. It's like driving a new car.

I've got lighter wheels planned next. Stock 17s are about 8.6Kg and I've seen 5.5kg out there. They will double as a track only set too so I can run slicks. I want to buy suspension mods too so the wheels might have to wait.

 

[Steels]

Re: What bonnet did you buy in the end?

Sorry about my attempt to use "quote" there Jon, trying to run before -etc!

 

[jonster]

Carbon Bonnet

Hi Richard,

No worries on the quote.

I ended up buying from a compay call Impossible Performance :-

http://www.impossible-performance.cwc.net

Click on the 'Japanse Import Cars' then 'Honda' then 'Body Styling' and finally 'Bonnets' and you should see a picture of a familiar car.

It wasn't cheap as you can see but it's well made enough not to need bonnet pins and has a good strong latch. The washer jet holes are pre-drilled and the hinges locate perfectly. It took some fiddling to make it sit perfectly because it sat a bit high at the front. I altered the latch bracket to make it height adjustable to get around this.

It's half the weight of the stock one and it helps the handling as expected. It's not as a dramatic difference as putting the lighter seats made though.

I wanted an OEM shape so it would keep the rain out. I'd expect you would go for a vented one for racing

I want to get lighter wheels next. Buddy Club 16''s look the most reasonably priced and only 5.05Kg. Do you rate them :-

http://www.nightspeeduk.com/bp1qf.html

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Steels]

Sorry I've not come across them.

I went the Dynamic route because I knew they were race worthy with slicks which put an enormous load on running gear. Do you know if they're 'race rated'? Because you will be on slicks in no time!

The bonnet info was very helpful, thanks.

See you soon.[/u]

 

[herts62]

Hi Jonster,
Could you tell me where you purchased your Sparco seats from and any details on the modification to the standard rails? as this all sounds like a good Idea, I am still waiting on AGP Motorsport to get back to me on the Hondata ECU as well.
Ps. any pictures of your seats fitted?

 

[jonster]

Hi Hert62,

I bought the Sparco's from GrandPrixRacewear. There were not the cheapest but they were the nearest. Their web site is :-

www.grandprixracewear.com

The seats were roughly £200 each but the aluminium brackets were a heafty £38 each for the height adjustable ones. The fix height ones were even more at £50 which have less bolts and less metal. I don't know why this is.

Because I wanted to retain the sliding rail ability of the original rail runners I needed to obtain a set of Honda seat rails. This would allow me to swap back to the Recaro's whenever I wanted (4 bolts per seat). Thankfully Richard / David at Steels Honda were able to order some rails in for me from Japan. The rails are nothing to do with Recaro as I originally thought. Each rail comes in two parts (ie a left and right side). I misunderstood the quote I had from Steels and thought they were going to be £40 each seat but they ended up being per each left/right side. Hence, £200 including the VAT. Ouch!

It then took me about two months on and off to customise the Honda rails to fit to the Sparco brackets. I got there in the end and they are great. Nobody can get in the back though.

Lessons learnt from this excersise are :

1) It's more expensive than I thought.
2) A lot of the seat weight is in the rails.
3) A lot of the weight in the Recaro or similar seats is in the folding mechanics.

If I was to do it all again, I would buy £200 Spoon sliding rails that fit directly to the floor bolt holes and are compatible with Sparco seats. I didn't know this at the time. I'm not sure how heavy they are though.

Cheers,

Jon

 

[Type R - Matt]

Jon I thought you told me you were broke :lol:

oh and I have spoken to SELOC Committee, about bringing along the DC5 brigade to the Elise trackdays, will hopefully post up info soon. Cheaper trackdays for you chaps 8)

 

[jonster]

Hi Matt,

I never planned to spend so much on everything. I blame you and Jas (Jevo) entirely for the state of my finances of course. I've turned in to a mod monster. Is there some number I can call for help.

Cheap track days sound good mate. Keep me posted.

Have you powered-up your beast with those engine mods you were planning to kick my butt with?

I'm thinking about getting my throttle body taper bored-out. Is there any point? It's cheaper than buying the Spoon one which is just a bored out OEM one? Costs £180 inc. VAT to get it done vs. £373 + Vat for the Spoon.

Later matey,

Jon

 

[herts62]

Hi Jon,
I contacred the web site you provided for the carbon fibre Sparco carbon fibre seats and the cheapest they had were £629 :shock: each :shock: you can get them in fibreglass for £200 ish but not carbon fibre. The f/glass ones weigh about 7kgs. Any ideas?
Pete

 

[jonster]

Pete,

I don't remember mentioning I'd got carbon fibre ones, but I could be wrong. Would have been nice. The Sparco's I bought were the 'Evo' fibreglass models. They weigh 5.9Kg which is a big saving over the stock Recaro's (20Kg with rails). As I mentioned before, the rails remain are the heaviest part when fitting the Sparco's. The modified Honda sliding rails I used my not be the lighest. When I went to the GrandPrixRaceWear shop I sat in the different models whilst considering which was the lighest too and the Evo's seem to be the best. I wanted them for everyday driving use and not just track.

The best thing I suggest you do is take your spare wheel out and your passenger seat (4 x 14mm bolts) and go for a drive. I noticed a big difference and was pleased to do the mods to make my car lighter, but retain every day use (minus rear seat passengers). Rear passengers used to have to climb in through the boot, but I've since done away with the rear folding sets to release another 8Kgs

Have fun,

Jon

 

[herts62]

Ah, ok thats good news, I thought maybe you was lucky or I was being stitched up and thanks for your help on this matter. I think I will try the passenger seat and spare wheel on Sunday as I am going to Santa Pod, it might knock a tenth off my time.

Pete