July 9th, 2008
Just another day at work for our official driver trainer John Boston.
This time, he has been given the job of driving Elias Augerinos’ Turbo S2000 at Superlap in the street car class. So that is 450HP at the rear wheels, with what is essentially street tyres (not semi slicks). So watch and learn: this is how to drive a high powered RWD car without high grip levels.
July 4th, 2008
In our interview with Honda Australia’s Mizuno-San, we asked him a few more questions about the Honda Civic Type-R road cars that didn’t make it into the magazine (which you can read here). So what more did he have to say?
Tim Fung: How has they Type R fared in Australia? Has it been widely accepted?
Yasuhide Mizuno: It’s going very, very well. We are selling almost 900 cars per year – and there is only one type of car, in manual and at $40,000 it’s a pretty expensive car so it’s amazing!
I’ve just received a lot of feedback through letters from our customers, who have been waiting for this type of very real Honda car. And even though their ages might be a bit higher now, they love to use the car, not only on holidays but also to drive on weekdays to the office.
TF: I use to own a DC2 Integra Type R which was very hardcore with no sound-deadening and a lot of virbrations etc however we are seeing that the new Type R is more compliant and comfortable to drive on the road. Is this the direction that new Honda Type R’s will be taking?
YM: The 3 door Type R (hatch) is very much more a mass production based road car however the 4 door Civic Type R (sedan) only sold in Japan and Malaysia is a crazy car on the road. If you drive it in the city or anywhere other than the race track, it is very uncomfortable *He makes teeth grinding noises*. So this is Honda introducing a real racing car that without any modifications can go straight on to the race track. But the 3 door is a bit more mildly tuned to fit in with road driving.
TF: So was the 3-door Type R bought to Australia because research showed that the super hardcore 4-door version was unsuitable?
YM: Well I use to drive the 3-door Civic Type R here (to the Honda office, in Tullarmarine) but it was still very peaky and the suspension is very hard. My daughter even mentioned that she felt sea sick *laughs* so I think it’s still a very racing oriented car!
TF: So what car do you drive to the office now?
YM: Legend, Legend…
TF: A lot of our readers would love the super hardcore JDM 4-door Civic Type R to be bought to Australia. Why did we not receive this model?
YM: Outside of Japan, there is only one country where this car is exported which is Malaysia. Ten times I had to go to R&D to hit the table *He hits the table* “Please! Bring this car to Malaysia!” in order to get any success. The crazy R&D guys don’t want to export this car because it is a very sensitive car to export outside of Japan. So it was a very tough job to negotiate with them however finally I convinced them to (bring it to Malaysia) because we had done so much work with the 4 door Civic in racing so we had a lot of evidence to show that the car would succeed in Malaysia.
In Australia, ADR imposes a lot of conditions to bring the car here.
Mark Higgins: Also, in Australia, we jumped from the DC2 to the Integra Type S. A lot of our customers told us that as much as they loved the DC2, they wanted softened suspension, air conditioning and a few of the creature comforts. And exactly the same thing happened with the first generation Type R in the UK. Customers said “We love the car. Don’t change the performance but we’d like to have a bit more comfort on the motorways and a few more creature comforts”. So the 3-door probably suited the Australian market a bit better than the 4-door car. The 4-door car is like driving the Dead Sea – you’ll lose your teeth!
June 10th, 2008
The underlying message after our Saturday Trackday at Oran Park? We want more!!
For many of us, it was the first time out at Oran Park South, and we would all soon discovered the joys of undulating corners and fast changes of direction. Not to mention the non-stop action from the rest of the short 1.8km circuit!
Ian Luff Motivation was there on the day to support our efforts to experience Oran Park before it closes down. So thanks to them who helped us all learn the new circuit, or refine our driving to match the levels of our cars.
Tim Poulton topped the timesheets on the day, with a 48.443. He had laboured all morning with his mechanic as the car wouldn’t start, but it was all worth it in the end to hear that supercharged Toyota motor smash all other cars on the circuit. Nick Kalis’ EVO was next with a 48.515 albeit driven by Circuit Club resident John Boston. Rounding up the top 3 was Steven Christofedelis, who only managed 33 laps before having to retire his car. He did a 49.171.
Special mention should be given to George Vigotis, Dale Coghlan and Michael Midas, who all did over 100 laps! Crazy!
So thanks everybody for showing up. Another great Circuit Club Trackday in the bag, and even more memories to frame.
Here are the laptimes from the day.
Special thanks to Matthew Mead who took photos for us on the day here.
June 2nd, 2008
For the first time ever, a live ad was streamed in the UK over the weekend - Honda’s “Difficult is Worth Doing”. It features a bunch of Skydivers who spell out “HONDA” live on TV. Awesome.
Give it a watch now!
May 30th, 2008
You can pick up your copy of The Circuit at these outlets from the 2nd June. Or, download your online copy now!
May 13th, 2008
We are back from our weekend trip away to Winton Raceway with EXE-Crew and boy what a trip! Although only three Circuit Club cars ended up on the grid, it wasn’t a poor showing by any circumstance! And from the level of fun we experienced, we can only hope to do it again.
The day was almost perfect in every sense: Cars, track, weather… everything came together so well. Thanks to everyone who showed up and special thanks to Jally, Silas and the rest of the EXE-Crew who helped us put this one together. The day ran so smooth, bar only a couple of incidents that brought proceedings to a halt, though only for a short while.
We have uploaded the photos to our Flickr, and you can find the link here.
You can also check out Melboune photographer, Irawan’s photos here.
Here are the timing sheets from the day too! (Note: 1.40 is about equivalent to a 1.10 at Wakefield Park)
We will be running more detail on our trip in Issue 16 of The Circuit, Due out on the 1st June 2008.
April 5th, 2008
Remember those Victorians who came up to a Trackday half a year ago? Well they were the EXE-Crew from Melbourne, and we have decided to go invade their space this time around! On the 10th May 2008, Circuit Club will be trekking it down to Winton Motor Raceway to colaboratively hold our first ever Trackday in Victoria with that very same crew.
Who else wants to come with us? Lets show them just how WE do it!
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