Photos by Andy Hollis, Tom Suddard and Heyward Wagner unless otherwise credited; lead photo by Driftpoint Media
Two guys walk into a bar. Behind them? The still-smoldering Volkswagen Golf GTI they’d just driven for 3500 miles and through 16 track events all over the country. Ahead of them? O…
Most excellant!
Great story.
I'd like to point out that both Andy and Tom wrote this story, but since the website doesn't yet have provisions to assign two authors to the same article, I just picked Andy as the author.
At any rate, yeah, sounds like it was a wild ride the whole way through.
There should be a One Lap wall of heros somewhere for the folks who do it in a Cobra or gutted CRX or a Lotus 7.
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:There should be a One Lap wall of heros somewhere for the folks who do it in a Cobra or gutted CRX or a Lotus 7.
The most notable ones in my memory banks are:
Superlight 7 (open top 7 clone with an S2K drivetrain) - circa 2008, ran on E85 before it was widely available. So they towed a small enclosed trailer full of fuel...cigar-shaped...with sleeping area. Passenger rode there to sleep (maybe permanently?). Nicknamed "the coffin". Driver wore snowmobile clothes for inclement weather.
Similar to above was the Arial Atom One Lap Special Edition. Turbo K-series powered, open top. Driven by Charles Espenlaub (pro driver) and Jack Beacham (now of Chin admin fame).
We've also had a couple of Ultima GTR kit cars. Zero room for anything. They would send packages to each of the hotels for change of clothes each day, and throw away the soiled stuff.
And yeah, a Cobra Daytona coupe...Superformance replica, actually. But still. Gorgeous car. Amazing sounds. Zero room.
And then there's Super K...
Fantastic story! What fun and what great adventures! This was epic and I am thankful that you did it for the readers at your comfort expense :D I could 'feel' the pain as memories of riding or driving in extremely awkward positions came flowing back but, thank God, not to the extreme that y'all went through. No way.
Wonderful story and reminds me of the days of Auto-X magazine. Back when we autocrossed a GT-6 we had lots of corners to cut, on a Air Force enlisted paycheck. You both taking an old time trials car on the One Lap and finishing near the top of a 77 car field is real bragging rights. Congratulations on a great run and hope to hear about a few more budget top ten finishes in the future.
Great story. Wow, your heads bouncing off the roof. Well at least you're harnesses, seat and fire suit we're all up to date.
Sharp driving, sharp writing!
Now that was a fun read. Thanks guys for taking us along for the ride.
Still hard to believe you bested all those 'supercars'. Congratulations ! Would like to know more about the Honda's powertrain.
mcloud said:Would like to know more about the Honda's powertrain.
Built K24. Sleeved and punched out to 2.5 liters, Carrillo rods, Wiseco 12.5 compression pistons, K20 head CNC ported by 4Piston, Kelford 179-B2 cams and springs, I/H/E, E85.
Trans is RSX-S 6-speed with later OE Honda gear LSD from Civic Si.
Some pics starting here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/the-one-lap-crx-is-back/260943/page5/
mcloud said:Still hard to believe you bested all those 'supercars'.
Still at it.
This is from Sunday at COTA.
What a ride! So that little CRX managed 170 MPH? Dear God that must have been terrifying! Congratulations guys!!
86Starion said:What a ride! So that little CRX managed 170 MPH? Dear God that must have been terrifying! Congratulations guys!!
Even more terrifying given the wind conditions that day. Circling gusts...no consistent direction. Not super strong, but enough to move the short wheelbase car around.
I kept telling myself to drive it like a boat. "Look where you want to go...no sudden movements...no minor corrections"
Here's a pic of the aero config that day, with improvements suggested by our own Steve Stafford. Car lowered, small wheels/tires that can fit within the wheelwells, air dam with flat underfloor covering entire engine bay and reduced radiator flow, diffuser covering entire rear fuel/muffler well of the car, flat drag-style rear spoiler, rear mud flaps, front tire gurneys, gaps taped, mirrors removed. Lots of little details.
Here's a rear shot of the diffuser and spoiler for the Texas Mile.
Wasn't there a new video where you said it was time to get a new chassis? The CRX clearly has a soft spot to you!
IF you were going to update, what chassis's are on the short list?
alfadriver said:Wasn't there a new video where you said it was time to get a new chassis? The CRX clearly has a soft spot to you!
IF you were going to update, what chassis's are on the short list?
That comment was regarding the structural integrity of this particular one and swapping for another just like it, but with no previous track use. Like a racing kart, the metal in these things fatigues over time as track use stresses them far more than their design constraints. So they become flexible flyers.
Roll cage helps, but the cage in this one does not tie in enough points to fully resist the bending moments. You can tell by jacking it up at the pinch weld just behind the front wheel. The door will then not open/close well.
As it turns out, my spare chassis which later became the B-swap car, started out in way worse shape...which I only discovered when track prepping it. Not even close to straight and has suffered a couple of hits (Lf & RR).
Finding better CRX "bones" these days is like looking for unicorns. So I'll just soldier on with these two for now.
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