"Oh cute," I'm thinking, "Honda's strapped a wing and a roll cage to a CR-Z and called it a racecar." Burbling out of pit lane at Willow Springs Raceway in the Honda CR-Z Racer, with what sounds like a swarm of bees armed with a megaphone in tow, I roll on the throttle. Suddenly the tach needle jumps by two thousand rpm, the front wheels jolt, the steering wheel scrambles in my hand, and I'm heading into turn one much faster than anticipated.This white and red concoction of turbochargers, nickel cobalt magnesium batteries, and racing slicks is the work of Honda Performance Development, a research and development subsidiary of the Japanese automaker that focuses solely on racing. Based in Valencia, California, the roller coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain are visible from the road that approaches HPD's two-story, 125,000 square foot building. Home to an engine assembly hall, machining rooms, dynos, and so on, HPD is responsible for producing about one-third of the engines for IndyCar -- each of which takes 120 hours -- and for developing products for ALMS, go-karts, SCCA World challenge racers, quarter midgets, and SEMA show pieces.
The injury is one to ego. HPD knows the ins and outs of its hardware, as most of it is factory spec. The V-6 the new ARX-01d chassis relies upon is based on a stock Honda Accord engine. HPD changes the crank, cam profile, and adds two turbochargers. There's your race engine.
Admittedly, I wasn't thinking about development practices while heading towards turn one at Big Willow. I was thinking about attempting the fast left-hander in fourth gear and pushing those tires harder. I wasn't thinking "Oh, cute" anymore. I was thinking that while the showroom may not inspire the enthusiast within, enthusiasm for racing is alive and well at Honda.
Hence, the CR-Z Racer I'm fumbling around the big track at Willow Springs. It bowed at SEMA last year, alongside a group of similarly modified stable mates, with a turbocharged 1.5-liter I-4 and a higher output battery pack; combined, the package makes right around 190 horsepower. The hybrid system offers interesting approaches to racing. The 25 horsepower and 65 pound-feet of torque Honda estimates it delivers can be activated by pressing a button, push-to-pass style. The powertrain can even revert to an economy setting for endurance races. How well does it work? Honda entered two CR-Zs at the arduous 25 Hours of Thunderhill (a race famous for its "I survived the 25" finish line slogan) one of which placed second in class and ninth overall.
If there were a finishing place for fun-factor, the result might've been similar. The CR-Z is exceedingly hilarious. It is not a fast car, although it offers admirable acceleration in the upper arches of its powerband. The CR-Z's strength is maintaining speed. Its 17-inch wheels are shod in BFGoodrich racing slicks which beg to be pushed harder corner after corner. After a two-lap taste, I want to gorge.
The CR-Z Racer remains a small part of HPD's interests, which range from top-tier IndyCar and ALMS series to grassroots efforts. In 2010, the SCCA approved a variant of the Fit-based 1.5-liter engine for use in Formula Ford, or as it's now known officially, Formula F. The engine that powers your Honda generator? HPD turns that into a mill for quarter midget racing. It also takes 125 cc dirt bike engines and readies them for go-karts.
Most recently, Honda has been working with other manufacturers to introduce B Spec, a racing series for subcompacts like the Fit. The cars rely on production components -- engine, transmission, and chassis -- to drive down the cost of entry; a finished racecar should total around $25,000. Required changes for safety include a roll cage, suspension upgrades, wheels and tires, and a few other pieces, and HPD will, of course, offer these parts for your Fit. Mazda has been gung-ho with its Mazda2 -- such that it and Honda debuted the two racecars simultaneously. Ford and Kia have subsequently prepared versions of the Fiesta and Rio for competition. Toyota may even offer a Yaris. The series is rapidly gaining traction, and the automakers plan on having the cars performance balanced soon (a process that ensures that all cars perform on an equal level).
DEPENDABLE RACE CARS
Honda calls itself the most dependable name in racing and eagerly backs up the claim. Since becoming the sole supplier, HPD's IndyCar V-8s have broken records for reliability; the last in-race engine failure happened in 2009. Such performance is the result of scrupulous investigation. A materials analysis room at HPD is the home of countless slivers of metal and rubber, material encased in plastic. Each one has a story to tell. A piston, for example, is cross-sectioned, sliced thinly like a steak. Across the length of the slice, every few millimeters, HPD takes measurements to see what temperatures the metal has experienced. Knowing the temperatures means knowing how far the pistons can be pushed in the future, or how much to back off.
Honda calls itself the most dependable name in racing and eagerly backs up the claim. Since becoming the sole supplier, HPD's IndyCar V-8s have broken records for reliability; the last in-race engine failure happened in 2009. Such performance is the result of scrupulous investigation. A materials analysis room at HPD is the home of countless slivers of metal and rubber, material encased in plastic. Each one has a story to tell. A piston, for example, is cross-sectioned, sliced thinly like a steak. Across the length of the slice, every few millimeters, HPD takes measurements to see what temperatures the metal has experienced. Knowing the temperatures means knowing how far the pistons can be pushed in the future, or how much to back off.
Other pieces tell stories of tragedy. A square gasket, no taller than a coffee mug, hangs from a wire stand. It's from Fernandez Racing's ARX-01b, the then Acura-branded American Le Mans prototype, which finished second overall at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring. During the post-race inspection, the engine refused to stall after its intakes were plugged (ALMS requires all air entering an engine to go through inlet restrictors). The team was disqualified. After an intense search, HPD found that the supplier responsible for the small gasket switched glues during production. That glue failed and the gasket unseated, allowing extra air through. Though a small, seemingly insignificant piece, the gasket cost the team the race. HPD doesn't forget, and team members still sour when telling the story.
The injury is one to ego. HPD knows the ins and outs of its hardware, as most of it is factory spec. The V-6 the new ARX-01d chassis relies upon is based on a stock Honda Accord engine. HPD changes the crank, cam profile, and adds two turbochargers. There's your race engine.
When I toured the facility, I was guided to one of the dyno rooms, where an example of the twin-turbo V-6 sat. In the isolated room, the bare engine was hooked to an innumerable amount of wires, looking ready to enter the Matrix. We entered an adjacent room for monitoring, separated from the dyno chamber by two heavy doors. We watched as the engine ran a simulated lap of Sebring raceway, using data gathered from a race. The suspended engine revved to its 6200-rpm limiter, simulated an up shift, and continued again. Its sound is a flat and low burble, the piping around the turbochargers quickly glows orange. When needed, HPD will run an engine for 24 hours to simulate the rigors of endurance racing. I closed my eyes and pictured running a lap, downshifting for braking, maintaining throttle during long corners. At one point the engine audibly shot past limiter. "Over rev," the technician says. The driver from when this data was gathered put a tire on the slippery painted curbing, getting wheel spin.
This type of development is one of HPD's contributions to Honda products. Since its inception in 1993, HPD has learned much about efficiently developing cars for extreme scenarios. For example, HPD doesn't rely on wind tunnel testing anymore, favoring computational fluid dynamics, or CFD, until race day. Eliminating wind tunnels means eliminating costly and time-consuming scale models; designing and building a front splitter for that 50 percent scale ALMS prototype costs $25,000. The company relies on computing power and claims no downsides. The team says it has so much success with the process that they can take a prototype out on a shakedown and it will perform just as CFD predicted. Passing this expertise on to the parent company has the potential to cut development time and costs.
Admittedly, I wasn't thinking about development practices while heading towards turn one at Big Willow. I was thinking about attempting the fast left-hander in fourth gear and pushing those tires harder. I wasn't thinking "Oh, cute" anymore. I was thinking that while the showroom may not inspire the enthusiast within, enthusiasm for racing is alive and well at Honda.
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