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With the Civic Cup well underway for this year we really wanted to get involved in what seemed like a great championship. We were first hit with the task of changing our track car into a car that would pass MSA Scrutineers and be to the regulations specified by Civic Cup for an EP3 Civic Type R.
The regulation for the series for anyone interested state that:
Car must be 1300 KG with Driver after Qualifying, Race 1 and Race 2.
Wheels can be no wider than 17x8 and must run Toyo 888 215/45/17
Standard Brakes must be used with Yellow Stuff pads - Discs are Free.
Engine must be no more than 228 BHP.
Gearbox must be standard with Standard Final Drive However any LSD can be used.
Car must retain the standard silhouette.
Car must display sponsor stickers - Tegiwa, Racing Logic, Race Numbers, SuperPro etc.
Apart from that, cage can be built to any specifcation you wish and the usual extingusher, Kill switch and rain light need to be added.
The above ment quite a change for our CTR which previously ran 17x9 WedsSports with much wider front to rear tyres. Along with this our AP Racing Calipers needed to be removed and 100KG of Ballast had to be added.
With Friday Testing fast approaching the Thursday was a 16 hour day getting everything ready, as customers do need to come first which ment we had very little time to do anything on the car in the previous weeks. With Friday Morning looming we headed down to what was a very wet Rockingham with a sense of nerves. Nervous we hadn't ran the car for atleast 3 months and even more so that Rob had never competed before, let alone drove at Rockingham.
In the Morning the weather went from wet to dry by around midday, although this limited our dry testing it was good for us to find the limits in changing conditions which were forecast for the next days qualifying and race.
We were more than pleasantly surprised in the afternoons testing when we were actually a few tenths quicker than the Tegiwa EP3 which had won the previous round at Oulton Park. The day ended with us on a 1:44.7, we had no idea if this time would be quick or slow as the Civic Cup hadn't ran on this circuit configuration previously.
Few images from the test day:
Tegiwa and our EP3:
Out on track courtesy of Mark Callf Photography.
Onto race day and with a sense of optimism in the air for us we and especially Rob driving we were rather nervous, racing is something we help support all the time in various formula's such as BTCC, British GT and Clio Cup, however with it being our own car and even more so Rob driving in his first ever qualifying session we really wanted to prove we can build the best race cars around, and that would only be done by being close to the top of the standings.
Qualifying for those don't know is a 15 minute free for all pretty much, you have that time to go out there and set the best possible time you can. We were prepared early and on the ball to get down to the assembly area and at the front of the que as we knew space would be tight out on the circuit.
Rob went out when the flag dropped for qualifying, warming his tyres considerably more than previously, with the bank corner being 120MPH on the exit it was more than important to get the rear tyres upto temperature.
4 laps into qualifying and just 6 minutes gone, Rob was in and out the car, leaving us all worried that something had let go and that would be the end of the day. Getting over to the car Rob was out by the fence watching the others go round and to our relief he had stopped as the tyres had no more left for a better lap than he did, now we just had to wait till the end of qualifying to see where we would place on the grid.
As you can imagine, we were more than suprised to see that we were just shy of 2 seconds faster than anyone as shown on the TSL Timing sheet below.
After qualifying we had a good 4 hours to go over the car and check everything, Rob reported the steering was off after qualifying and that he'd hit quite a few curbs and a bollard, so we certainly couldn't fault the effort. After trying to fix the front bumper that had become dislodged we then began aligning the car, and it's a good job we had the time to do so as the front right had nearly 6mm of toe out and certainly would of been terrible in Race 1 hadn't we of fixed it.
Grid for Race 1
Heading down to the assembly area for our first ever race in Civic Cup again was a little nerve racking as it would be for anyone racing for the first time. After a few practice starts we optimised the Kpro launch control and just hoped that Rob's reactions and race craft would be enough to get him out of the first corner leading the pack. This would be difficult as the EK Civics with there reduced weight normally start much better than the EP's from watching previous videos.
Out of the first corner and into the 2nd Area Motorsports Car leads the way with Luke from Tegiwa Imports following close behind.
Once Rob had the lead he put in a flying first two laps to gain a gap back to 2nd place who was following close behind. Fortunately the pressure was then somewhat relieved when 3rd place Rich Hockley caught the Tegiwa car and the gradually fell further back due the battle they were having. lap after lap passed and finally the chequered flag dropped with us somewhat winning by a flattering 9 seconds. This we're sure would of by no means been the case if 2nd and 3rd wern't constantly battling throughout the race.
To say we were over the moon was an understatement, and to top it all off we also gained fasted lap.
Results for race 1.
Video from Luke at Tegiwa's car showing the main reason we managed to pull such a big gap.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VHejY7z6tZU[/youtube]
Some images from the race courtesy again of Mark Callf Photography.
After the race in the assembly Area with again a slightly damaged front bumper but smiles all round.
After Race 1 we again strung the car and checked and adjusted the alignment and did the usual spanner check although time was much tighter Mark also found the time to string Luke from Tegiwas EP3 which had 10mm of toe out after some various hard hits on curbs with just minutes to spare, this may seem odd but although it's a championship we're also happy to help and we're more than grateful for the help we received from Luke at Tegiwa and various others from Civic Cup throughout the weekend.
Race 2 grid had some changes in the field from the race 1 results with a few people sadly missing due to car issues.
From the line on race 2 Luke from Tegiwa got a great start and really put the squeeze on us upto the first corner where we were just able to hold on to 1st place, into lap 2 and 3 we had an issue with our front splitter which was touching the ground the whole way round the banked corner leaving a lovely burning smell, Rob was considering stopping but instead decided to slow his speed by a considerable margin to try and ensure the car got to the end of the race whilst also hoping that the gap that he'd created over the first 3 laps would be enough to compensate for the lift round the first corner.
Fortunately this was once again the case and Rob brought the car over the line in 1st again with another fastest lap.
As you can imagine we're thoroughly over the moon with the result. At Area Motorsport we put alot of effort into ensuring customers cars are always maintained and worked on to the highest standard and to transfer that work ethic into racing ourselves and bringing home not only 2 wins but P1 in qualifying and two fastest laps we couldn't be happier.
It was also great for us as a company to see Luke from Tegiwa come second after we'd done various work on it including a gearbox rebuild and refit and alignment, and finally Craig Shore in the other EP3 we've setup and done various work on bring is lap times down hugely with every lap he did and bringing in great results gaining 4 places in race 1 and 3 places in race 2.
So all in all a great weekend for ourselves and another great weekend for the Civic Cup providing some great close racing throughout the field.
Big thank you to everyone that came down to support us and to our customers who without we wouldn't of been able to do this.
Also Thank you to Luke from Tegiwa for his help throughout the weekend and the rest of the Civic Cup crew for the guidance throughout building the car and racing it on the weekend.
Be sure to check out http://facebook.com/areamotorsport for furture updates.
Arrive and drive is available in this car in Civic Cup.
And as always, whether it be a race car build or a simple service for your Honda or Japnease car, simply give us a call on 01562 519 070 and we'll be happy to help and advise.
Some final images from the weekend.
P1!
A few customers popped down to watch:
Craig Shore's EP3
Luke Sedzikowski EP3
Rich Hockley EK
Nick Chatburns Coupe
The regulation for the series for anyone interested state that:
Car must be 1300 KG with Driver after Qualifying, Race 1 and Race 2.
Wheels can be no wider than 17x8 and must run Toyo 888 215/45/17
Standard Brakes must be used with Yellow Stuff pads - Discs are Free.
Engine must be no more than 228 BHP.
Gearbox must be standard with Standard Final Drive However any LSD can be used.
Car must retain the standard silhouette.
Car must display sponsor stickers - Tegiwa, Racing Logic, Race Numbers, SuperPro etc.
Apart from that, cage can be built to any specifcation you wish and the usual extingusher, Kill switch and rain light need to be added.
The above ment quite a change for our CTR which previously ran 17x9 WedsSports with much wider front to rear tyres. Along with this our AP Racing Calipers needed to be removed and 100KG of Ballast had to be added.
With Friday Testing fast approaching the Thursday was a 16 hour day getting everything ready, as customers do need to come first which ment we had very little time to do anything on the car in the previous weeks. With Friday Morning looming we headed down to what was a very wet Rockingham with a sense of nerves. Nervous we hadn't ran the car for atleast 3 months and even more so that Rob had never competed before, let alone drove at Rockingham.
In the Morning the weather went from wet to dry by around midday, although this limited our dry testing it was good for us to find the limits in changing conditions which were forecast for the next days qualifying and race.
We were more than pleasantly surprised in the afternoons testing when we were actually a few tenths quicker than the Tegiwa EP3 which had won the previous round at Oulton Park. The day ended with us on a 1:44.7, we had no idea if this time would be quick or slow as the Civic Cup hadn't ran on this circuit configuration previously.
Few images from the test day:
Tegiwa and our EP3:
Out on track courtesy of Mark Callf Photography.
Onto race day and with a sense of optimism in the air for us we and especially Rob driving we were rather nervous, racing is something we help support all the time in various formula's such as BTCC, British GT and Clio Cup, however with it being our own car and even more so Rob driving in his first ever qualifying session we really wanted to prove we can build the best race cars around, and that would only be done by being close to the top of the standings.
Qualifying for those don't know is a 15 minute free for all pretty much, you have that time to go out there and set the best possible time you can. We were prepared early and on the ball to get down to the assembly area and at the front of the que as we knew space would be tight out on the circuit.
Rob went out when the flag dropped for qualifying, warming his tyres considerably more than previously, with the bank corner being 120MPH on the exit it was more than important to get the rear tyres upto temperature.
4 laps into qualifying and just 6 minutes gone, Rob was in and out the car, leaving us all worried that something had let go and that would be the end of the day. Getting over to the car Rob was out by the fence watching the others go round and to our relief he had stopped as the tyres had no more left for a better lap than he did, now we just had to wait till the end of qualifying to see where we would place on the grid.
As you can imagine, we were more than suprised to see that we were just shy of 2 seconds faster than anyone as shown on the TSL Timing sheet below.
After qualifying we had a good 4 hours to go over the car and check everything, Rob reported the steering was off after qualifying and that he'd hit quite a few curbs and a bollard, so we certainly couldn't fault the effort. After trying to fix the front bumper that had become dislodged we then began aligning the car, and it's a good job we had the time to do so as the front right had nearly 6mm of toe out and certainly would of been terrible in Race 1 hadn't we of fixed it.
Grid for Race 1
Heading down to the assembly area for our first ever race in Civic Cup again was a little nerve racking as it would be for anyone racing for the first time. After a few practice starts we optimised the Kpro launch control and just hoped that Rob's reactions and race craft would be enough to get him out of the first corner leading the pack. This would be difficult as the EK Civics with there reduced weight normally start much better than the EP's from watching previous videos.
Out of the first corner and into the 2nd Area Motorsports Car leads the way with Luke from Tegiwa Imports following close behind.
Once Rob had the lead he put in a flying first two laps to gain a gap back to 2nd place who was following close behind. Fortunately the pressure was then somewhat relieved when 3rd place Rich Hockley caught the Tegiwa car and the gradually fell further back due the battle they were having. lap after lap passed and finally the chequered flag dropped with us somewhat winning by a flattering 9 seconds. This we're sure would of by no means been the case if 2nd and 3rd wern't constantly battling throughout the race.
To say we were over the moon was an understatement, and to top it all off we also gained fasted lap.
Results for race 1.
Video from Luke at Tegiwa's car showing the main reason we managed to pull such a big gap.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VHejY7z6tZU[/youtube]
Some images from the race courtesy again of Mark Callf Photography.
After the race in the assembly Area with again a slightly damaged front bumper but smiles all round.
After Race 1 we again strung the car and checked and adjusted the alignment and did the usual spanner check although time was much tighter Mark also found the time to string Luke from Tegiwas EP3 which had 10mm of toe out after some various hard hits on curbs with just minutes to spare, this may seem odd but although it's a championship we're also happy to help and we're more than grateful for the help we received from Luke at Tegiwa and various others from Civic Cup throughout the weekend.
Race 2 grid had some changes in the field from the race 1 results with a few people sadly missing due to car issues.
From the line on race 2 Luke from Tegiwa got a great start and really put the squeeze on us upto the first corner where we were just able to hold on to 1st place, into lap 2 and 3 we had an issue with our front splitter which was touching the ground the whole way round the banked corner leaving a lovely burning smell, Rob was considering stopping but instead decided to slow his speed by a considerable margin to try and ensure the car got to the end of the race whilst also hoping that the gap that he'd created over the first 3 laps would be enough to compensate for the lift round the first corner.
Fortunately this was once again the case and Rob brought the car over the line in 1st again with another fastest lap.
As you can imagine we're thoroughly over the moon with the result. At Area Motorsport we put alot of effort into ensuring customers cars are always maintained and worked on to the highest standard and to transfer that work ethic into racing ourselves and bringing home not only 2 wins but P1 in qualifying and two fastest laps we couldn't be happier.
It was also great for us as a company to see Luke from Tegiwa come second after we'd done various work on it including a gearbox rebuild and refit and alignment, and finally Craig Shore in the other EP3 we've setup and done various work on bring is lap times down hugely with every lap he did and bringing in great results gaining 4 places in race 1 and 3 places in race 2.
So all in all a great weekend for ourselves and another great weekend for the Civic Cup providing some great close racing throughout the field.
Big thank you to everyone that came down to support us and to our customers who without we wouldn't of been able to do this.
Also Thank you to Luke from Tegiwa for his help throughout the weekend and the rest of the Civic Cup crew for the guidance throughout building the car and racing it on the weekend.
Be sure to check out http://facebook.com/areamotorsport for furture updates.
Arrive and drive is available in this car in Civic Cup.
And as always, whether it be a race car build or a simple service for your Honda or Japnease car, simply give us a call on 01562 519 070 and we'll be happy to help and advise.
Some final images from the weekend.
P1!
A few customers popped down to watch:
Craig Shore's EP3
Luke Sedzikowski EP3
Rich Hockley EK
Nick Chatburns Coupe