Building for the road course...again

[gotovato]

Gingerman was awesome. What a trip. What a track.

I have tons of good footage but am working to try and overlay my aim data over the video. It’s proving to be a bit of a challenge.

photo taken directly after buddy in the zr1 pointed me by.


little bit of body roll there. Shoulda cranked up the dampers some more

 

[gotovato]

Spent sometime trying out different lines but definitely messed up a few corners here. It’s a challenging track to learn but I had an amazing time. I’ll be back for sure.

overlay done with data from my aim mxm. It was a pain to overlay and get the timing correct but I know what to do for next time now lol

speedometer is in mph overlay is in kph
Gingerman Raceway Lapping with the Civic

 

[Awafrican]

That's overly with the new tech is pretty sweet! How are you liking the new dash?

 

[gotovato]

That's overly with the new tech is pretty sweet! How are you liking the new dash?

It’s freaking awesome lol. Took me some time to get the data overlay right but yea it’s all solid. High quality 10/20hz GPS and accelerometers. Solid data. Logs engine parameters via the canbus and everything else via gps. The shift lights are nice I can see them flashing without having to take my eyes off the track.

next up will be to wire in oil temp and oil pressure. I have a single sensor that’ll do both. I’ll remove the oem oil pressure switch and install there.

then the aim unit has an assignable output I will wire to the factory oil pressure switch to keep the dash light off. I can then have the factory oil pressure light trigger however I want based on how I setup the aim. It’s cool for sure

 

[gotovato]

Full session including some traffic I catch and proceed to pass. This track really showed me how slow the civic is power wise. People pointing me by and I’m still struggling to pass lol.

Gingerman Raceway Full Session Lapping with the Civic | The chase is on

 

[gotovato]

Cooling mods. I love mods that cost $0.


Ew, airflow blockage


That’s better


Don’t need any of this where we’re going


I’ll have to find some time next to pull the AC compressor. That shits heavy and useless. I have a shorter belt for the AC delete.

the condenser and lines I’ve removed so far weigh 7lbs. The compressor is another 25ish. With that out, and the rest of the lines out it should be a ~35lbs weight savings. That’s not bad!!

 

[gotovato]

Tire wear from 2 days at gingerman. These tires were brand new with stickers


Camber seems to be bang on after a quick little adjustment before gingerman. Running 3.25* of camber upfront. With the caster I’m running, at turn in/mid corner it’s closer to 3.8* of total camber. Pretty serious lol

 

[L337TurboZ]

Do they make a thinner crash bar for your model? Something along the lines of this.

You can see where my old one was and it was about as thick as yours is. It blocked about half the radiator from getting air directly to it.

 

[gotovato]

Do they make a thinner crash bar for your model? Something along the lines of this.

You can see where my old one was and it was about as thick as yours is. It blocked about half the radiator from getting air directly to it.

I’m not sure but I’ll look into it.

I know I did want to do something with the crash bar for weight savings and more airflow. Either build a tubular bar or see if something already exists.

I may even just be able to hole saw my crash bar.

 

[L337TurboZ]

You could notch it if you have some decent welding skills. Maybe fill it in with some expanding foam to increase rigidity. While the style I'm using gave me more room, I am a little afraid of what could happen in an accident. The bright side is that it sticks out further than the factory bar so hopefully it gives a little more leeway in an accident.

 

[gotovato]

You could notch it if you have some decent welding skills. Maybe fill it in with some expanding foam to increase rigidity. While the style I'm using gave me more room, I am a little afraid of what could happen in an accident. The bright side is that it sticks out further than the factory bar so hopefully it gives a little more leeway in an accident.

See so I’m pretty sure my factory crash bar there is aluminum so I don’t think it’s crazy heavy. Next time I have the bumper off I’ll investigate more. I remember my flash light magnet not wanting to stick to it and it had 0 corrosion on it. No rust at all. I’ll see how the temps are and if I even need to mess with it at all but I’m thinking temps will be ok now

 

[L337TurboZ]

It really comes down to what kind of temps you may see on track. Down here in the south I've raced on some 90-100°F days and coolant temps hit 230ish. I'm also running a turbo and that's a lot of heat soaking into other components. I've since added a triple pass radiator and some better ducting to correct for it.

Are you running any brake ducting at all?

 

[Easter Bunny]

If you have everything sealed from the bumper opening to the radiator and at least the factory undertray the pressure differential between the grille and the engine bay will push all the air you need through the radiator. The crash bar would be enough of an improvement to give up the crash worthiness

 

[gotovato]

It really comes down to what kind of temps you may see on track. Down here in the south I've raced on some 90-100°F days and coolant temps hit 230ish. I'm also running a turbo and that's a lot of heat soaking into other components. I've since added a triple pass radiator and some better ducting to correct for it.

Are you running any brake ducting at all?

So at gingerman my coolant was reaching 230f pretty quickly actually. At my home tracks that doesn’t happen. A lot more wot time at gingerman. Mind you it was hot out like 90f. Still I was surprised it got so hot. usually it peaks 225 here then I do a cool down but it takes longer to get to that 225.

I have no brake ducting yet but I might do some just to extend life of parts. I actually haven’t had any brake issues this season. Brakes have been holding up great. Even my stock setup that’s on the car now. Pads and rotors have lasted a while too. I’ve gotten 7 track days out of this set of pads/rotors and there’s still life left. I’m using less brake these days I guess.

 

[gotovato]

If you have everything sealed from the bumper opening to the radiator and at least the factory undertray the pressure differential between the grille and the engine bay will push all the air you need through the radiator. The crash bar would be enough of an improvement to give up the crash worthiness

This shit doesn’t come factory with an under tray actually lol. Some people will install the under tray from the hybrid model I believe it’s a direct fit and it helps some with aero but I don’t think people do it for cooling?

Being NA I hope this is enough for now. If not…oil cooler goes on lol. That things massive.

 

[L337TurboZ]

Maybe make something like this out of plastic to help with airflow. You could also route the air intake into the duct to get even cooler air into the engine. Hood vents would do wonders especially with keeping the front end planted at higher speeds. The Miata is light enough I could feel the front end lift at speeds above 100mph. They really helped with getting air through the radiator. I'm sure the Civic could benefit from them as well.

 

[gotovato]

Maybe make something like this out of plastic to help with airflow. You could also route the air intake into the duct to get even cooler air into the engine. Hood vents would do wonders especially with keeping the front end planted at higher speeds. The Miata is light enough I could feel the front end lift at speeds above 100mph. They really helped with getting air through the radiator. I'm sure the Civic could benefit from them as well.

This was my goal with the speeds front end. Duct it fully like that. It really needed it.

I’ll probably end up doing this with the civic in the future. Once it gets a turbo it’ll definitely need something like that for sure. Hood vents will come for sure too

 

[Easter Bunny]

I would get the hybrid undertray

Is there nothing on your car or is the radiator support huge? It doesn't need to go to the firewall but if it went to the front of the motor it should do it

 

[gotovato]

I would get the hybrid undertray

Is there nothing on your car or is the radiator support huge? It doesn't need to go to the firewall but if it went to the front of the motor it should do it

So factory there’s nothing. It’s all open under there. You can drain the rad without removing anything. I guess they weren’t overly concerned?

I am considering the hybrid under panels. They can be bought from rock auto. At very least I need to see if there’s an under tray. I know it made a huge difference on my speed

 

[Easter Bunny]

its economy car, they have design targets and literally all of the decisions are "that's good enough"