Where were all the hondas

With the exception of the lone Accura there were no Hondas at the Longest Day. What gives??? With them dominating ITA & ITC at regionals, why didn't any of them brave this race?? Are they that fragile??

Some would say, "yes." Others have had some luck with them.

K

...or would that be "Some say yes, others sell parts for them"?? ;)

Hubs, and driveshafts, and spindles, oh my! :dead_horse:

I was one a driver of Colletti's Acura and am a 2nd gen CRX owner. Most of those Honda's who have disappeared were 88 - 91 civics/CRX's. As long as they use new Hubs and uprights should be fine for 24 hours. I have never seen a axle break (assuming you maintain the boots). There were two 88 - 91 CRX's that I raced against in I believe 1996 24 hour race, they turned .22's all day long and broke nothing.

I do think it should be noted, with the recent weight penalties the 88 - 91 civics have gotten, I believe the bloom is off the rose for '88 to '91 Civic CRX owners. Between that and the car's age, its reasonable to judge those cars as excellent but at a dead end.

Speaking as an owner of a CRX, who wanted to stay FWD with honda. we are kind of stuck because the VTEC cars have top end HP but no torque in ITS. I have won about 40 races at Blackhawk in my CRX in Midwest Council, and my legal ex pro, Del Sol that was 2nd in '05 NASA H4 is good for about 23's. I can finish 2nd a lot there but I won't be beating 2nd gen RX-7's when they can turn 20's on SCCA weekends. It ain't handling because I am outbraking him into the turn, its motor. I bought my Sol, cause it was a car I wanted to drive, but if the right cars show up the way VTEC's are classed ain't going to to let it happen. Frankly a 1.6 VTEC if you measure the power under the HP curve is probably at parity with the 2 liter ITA Nissan's. Let me assure you, if a Miata balks me at turn 7 at blackhawk, I cannot pass him into turn one.

The 1.8 non vtec integra is an excellent ITA car but no faster than a '91 civic. I think most Honda Owners won't build a new car that was no faster than their old one. As for ITA, I think you need a 2 liter or larger to be competitive. I don't know where the ITA civic/crx owners have gone but its not to newer Integras, Del Sol's or Civic SI's which would have been their replacements.

Another factor on disappearing ITA Civic CRX honda owners is are so many Miata's slamming doors with you. The last race in my CRX, I was hit three times by the same miata. I ended up first in ITA, he was 2nd, and he didn't see anything wrong with hitting me. The following year, I saw a class leading 16v Sciracco totalled by a Miata who spun the VW into another Miata. Search Youtube for Miata T-bone. That's spec miata for you. You'll see my Del Sol Slide by in the grass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfq3ZOUa-So

I was surprised to see our Integra as the only Honda in the Nelson 24 too. I guess too many Honda owners have either left racing or moved on to different cars. The Civic CRX weight adjustments have really worked to equalize the class; their owners stop improving them, they stop showing up, and now the class is 80% Miata's. Thanks for the equality. There just ain't much future for FWD honda's right now.

sorry for the rant, I just wanted to to share one of those Honda owner's perspectives.
bob



Ps Knestis, Was that your Blue golf? Fine Car, awesome headlights. Good job keeping it clean. Congratulation on the class win. I saw your team get your trophys, but didn't put 2 and 2 together. Guess that is what a lack of sleep does.

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...Knestis, Was that your Blue golf? ...
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Sure was - thanks for the kind words. I'll pass them on to the guys/gals who made that success possible and kept the car as straight as it was.

K

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and kept the car as straight as it was.

K
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Greg, Have you noticed since you and I stopped driving Kirk's car it's actually straight after the race!!! :D

Damn! I was hoping on one else would notice...

All
Honda/Acura products make great race cars I would have liked to see more at the 24 .I don't know why
there were no others this year ?Reliabilty with these cars is very good we had some issues with axle boots and wheel studs on the practice day but only one stud problem in the 24 hr race itself and neither one of these problems had given us issues in years past and don't know why they showed there evil heads.True to form we started the race and had our problems early in the race and had to fight our way back from the bottom.The first driver ran out of talent at the carosel entrance when the sky's opened up (me) and that put us down 20-25 mins and then the wheel stud and a lost dip stick. Drama is the key word with Endurance racing which most teams had their share of , I hope to see more Honda/Acura cars next year maybe we will have 2 that's total insanity!
Thanks to our team for a great job the workers and the region for putting on a great event and the other drivers who made it fun
Steve Colletti
Collettimotorsports