97 Integra GSR as an ITS car?

[Eclipse2Lancer]

Looking for opinions? Good, bad, indifferent?

Have become a fan of these recently.....
This would be a build from scratch. Found one not "riced" up by a 17 year old like you typically see.

[bamfp]

After helping my friend built one and getting to do a few laps in one. It is a very easy car to drive fast. But it is like driving an ITC car. It is all about momentum. It has zero torque to get you up hills. At Road Atlanta if the weather is right I think one could run a low 1:40.00 but it will still be over a second off the pace. And it will not be able to do it for very long since the front half of the car is 65% of the weight.

Blake Meredith

[Xian]

What Blake said ^^^^^

At the current weights, most ITS and ITR fwd'ers have difficulty keeping the pace over the course of even a sprint race. There are a few factors here... weight, power, limited tire width advantage over ITA/B cars.

If you like the 3rd gen Integra, look at building a non-vtec chassis for ITA.

[Eclipse2Lancer]

so probably a mid-pack ITS entry at best?

Thanks for the input!

[Xian]

It'll depend on the depth, prep, and talent in the field... I'd imagine that a full 10/10ths build will likely be better than mid-pack but I'd be surprised to see a podium finish out of one at something like the ARRC.

[mmasters]

Drop me an email to [email protected]. We are currently running one in the ECR and have been for a few years. Much better than a mid pack car if you know what you are doing. The car always wins in the rain.

Mark

[Eclipse2Lancer]

It'll depend on the depth, prep, and talent in the field... I'd imagine that a full 10/10ths build will likely be better than mid-pack but I'd be surprised to see a podium finish out of one at something like the ARRC.

Oh lord..... ARRC? I gotta crawl before I walk. But also wouldn't want to be DFL.

"...he don't even have a license, Lisa!" - Wyatt in Weird Science

[JeffYoung]

The car has the numbers to be competitive, and I've seen a few that are fast. Zsolt's is quick, and Scott Seck's is supposedly real fast (it had a clutch failure at Daytona). Guy Marvin has a relative who run his at CMP last year and it finished third to Steve Eckerich and me with a new driver.

I've also seen one from the DC area run under 2:20 at VIR.

A balls out one I think has a good shot at tracks like Roebling or Lowe's that are power dependent and more flowing.

Definitely a top 5 car in a good field if done right I think, although Christian is right about torque tracks and tracks that work the brakes and front tires giving it issues.

[Eclipse2Lancer]

well I'd be coming from autocrossing an '89 Civic Si on street tires (okay....Bridgestones shaved real real low).....so hopefully some of that experience would translate to keeping momentum on torque-reliant tracks.

[Xian]

Have you thought about turning the 89 Si into an ITA car?

[Eclipse2Lancer]

Drop me an email to [email protected]. We are currently running one in the ECR and have been for a few years. Much better than a mid pack car if you know what you are doing. The car always wins in the rain.

Mark

you got mail.


.....I don't own the Civic Si....it's my friend's that he has me co-drive with him. He won't sell it to me.

[Jeremy Billiel]

We are getting the setup dialed in on our GSR and when Greg drives it he can finish top 3, but like Blake and Christian said keeping the car consistent throughout the race is the challenge. We have been abusing front tires at alarming rates.

The GSR will not ever compete on a big road course like the ARRC against the BMW's, but at courses like Mid-Ohio it can be very competitive.

[court76wi]

I'm currently prepping a '97 GSR. Giddy-up!

It's not the #1 ITS car from what I hear. But it's probably one of the best ITS vehicles considering its speed potential vs. the $$$ you'll invest in it. I doubt if I could find a roadworthy '97 BWM or Porsche with 140k miles for under $2200. I have a Honda CRX that I've autocrossed SM2 for three years that I have yet to break. Before that I had a '94 Integra that was pretty indestructible. Now of course this is road race, but I hope the reliability continues.

[quadzjr]

I know that Scott Seck down here in the SE division has done fairly decent with his ITS integra. Unfortunately like ti has been mentioned earlier during the August daytona regional event the clutch blew up shatering the bell housing, seperating the transmission from engine, as well as cutting a nice hole into hes aluminum radiator. I beleive there was damage to the block as well.

[Greg Amy]

LF Tire on our ITS 'Teg at LRP last month. Started feeling this about 18 minutes into a 45-minute race...

[Mazmarc63]

I know that Scott Seck down here in the SE division has done fairly decent with his ITS integra. Unfortunately like ti has been mentioned earlier during the August daytona regional event the clutch blew up shatering the bell housing, seperating the transmission from engine, as well as cutting a nice hole into hes aluminum radiator. I beleive there was damage to the block as well.

Must not have been too bad. He is entered in the Daytona regional at the end of the month. Scotts car is beautiful and is nearly at 100% prep level. He is consistantly very fast but...

He can't keep the axles from coming apart. The latest thought is to run a cooling hose directly to the boot. Hope that works for him. Its always great to have him at the track. Should be an interesting weekend in ITS.

[spnkzss]

LF Tire on our ITS 'Teg at LRP last month. Started feeling this about 18 minutes into a 45-minute race...

Is that a characterristic of the car or is that a characteristic of the car requiring that amount of camber to be fast?

[Greg Amy]

Is that a characterristic of the car or is that a characteristic of the car requiring that amount of camber to be fast?

Probably a bit of both, with the driver tossed in there to boot. We wear the outside of the tires at Lime Rock, the inside of the tires at NHMS, and even wear at NJMP (so far this year). We'll find out about Watkins Glen here in a few days. Regardless, this car loves to go through tires...

I'm pretty convinced the ITS Integra (actually, pretty much all ITS FWD cars) will need a further weight break to be consistently competitive with top-notch RWD ITS cars. I'm loathe to toss a lot of engine development $$$ at this car until I see someone run up front at the ARRC, IT Fest, or a similar gathering...

[Xian]

Probably a bit of both, with the driver tossed in there to boot. We wear the outside of the tires at Lime Rock, the inside of the tires at NHMS, and even wear at NJMP (so far this year). We'll find out about Watkins Glen here in a few days. Regardless, this car loves to go through tires...

Out of curiousity... is it eating just the kook's? (assumption on my part b/c of the big Hankook sticker) Any better wear with Hoosier?

I'm pretty convinced the ITS Integra (actually, pretty much all ITS FWD cars) will need a further weight break to be consistently competitive with top-notch RWD ITS cars. I'm loathe to toss a lot of engine development $$$ at this car until I see someone run up front at the ARRC, IT Fest, or a similar gathering...

Yeah, I can see a really well sorted GSR laying down a single, smokin' lap but there's no way you can keep it fast for an entire race.

[trhoppe]

I'm going to say that yore doing something wrong. You seem to be wearing the outside of the tire, which to me doesn't imply wheelspin or wear through the brakes. Since your car and my car weight exactly the same, I'm assuming we are going to be putting fairly similar load on the car through the corners (same weight, same suspension, same tires).

More camber necessary on that particular track?

Again, I can't see how your car, that would run 2 seconds faster on an almost 2 minute lap at Road Atlanta because of the power, could kill a tire like that, while my car heat cycles them out before it wears them out.

-Tom