People will argue that the car presented here cannot be a Honda, because underneath the skin is a tube-framed, rear-wheel driven race car that does not even share a floor plan with its road-going Civic brother. But this Civic-bodied racer does derive its motivation from a Honda powerplant, so a body and engine from the Japanese manufacturer arguably makes it a Honda.
RaceEnergy built this car to run primarily in the SCCA’s GT3 division, but had in mind some endurance events to run the car in, so this car has a few build differences from a pure GT3-class car. As mentioned, a tube frame chassis with integrated cage forms the structure to which the engine, suspension and the rest of the components are mounted to. Of note is a detachable tube subframe at the front which facilitates replacement and repair should an unavoidable racing accident happen.
The engine of choice is a Honda K24, which was modded and designed for torque, rather than ultimate output, by a pair of U.S. Honda engineers, who contributed in a non-official capacity and in their spare time. Kinsler throttle bodies, a dry sump and a Motec ECU help to produce 270 horsepower, which is what you get when you put a 31mm restrictor in the inlet plenum. Output is said to be in the 350 horsepower range without the restrictor. The K24’s grunt is handled by a Tractive 5-speed sequential tranny out of Sweden, with a quick-change diff transferring power to the rear wheels.
Other notable components are Ohlins 4-way adjustable dampers, Performance Friction brakes rated for endurance racing, wiring for headlights and a driver cooling system. Note that the last two features are more for endurance, rather than sprint, racing. But the most visible and aesthetically appealing component is the 100-lb carbon fiber body, which helps trim the weight of the car to 2,200 pounds. Horsepower calculations reveal that the power-to-weight ratio of this car is equivalent to that of a Porsche 996 GT3.
Whatever detractors may say about the purity of this car as a Honda, the pictures show an incredible build that shows a lot of podium potential when the car is fully sorted out.
Source for this post here.
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