INSPIRE: YK*RKEW EG6 Civic is now the fastest NA FF at Tsukuba Circuit-56.070 seconds

Since yesterday's post on the GNR EK9, I've been researching more Instagram accounts and YouTube channels along with reading the 4 Parts to "The Chronicles" Attack Tsukuba event posts. I found out that the Yellow Factory R KEW (Kanagawa Engine Works) sponsored EG6 Civic hatchback is now the fastest NA FF (front engine-front wheel drive) machine with a best lap time of 56.070 seconds. He is knocking on the door to that 55 second barrier. Wow!

I want to make sure I give credit to those taking these photos.

So, enjoy these photos from The Chronicles 4 posts. Find more here:
https://stickydiljoe.com/2020/03/25/attack-tsukuba-2020-coverage-part-4/
Please also jump over to Joey Lee's YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/stickydiljoedotcom

Please also check out @shuboxinc Instagram page. This dude lives in Japan and Vancouver and covers the racing scene in both places. He also has a YouTube channel found here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYH32V6cfQ0lDRQgnltiQ8Q

Without these dudes taking their time and money to travel to Japan and photograph and video these events and cars, I wouldn't have them, so big thank you!

Ok, back to the Yellow Factory * Racing Kanagawa Engine Works EG6 Civic hatch time attack car.
My notes on the car are:
Yellow Factory*RKEW EG6
K24, ITBs, ???hp/770kg (1694lbs)
Big aero, wide fenders f & r

Photo by Joey Lee of "The Chronicles" 

My point in writing this blog entry is to appreciate this car and its lap times, see the similarities to those of the other Top 5 Hondas and the differences. Because there are really no rules except to run street legal sticky tires, the creativity of Time Attack leaves it open to each team copying what works and coming up with their own tricks along the way using trial and error.

An interesting thing too is the "Time Attack season" in Japan is pretty short. It's during the winter months. Why? Cold dense air makes more horsepower and less stress on the powertrain. If the sun is out, the cool air and sun keep the track surface warm enough for grip but not so hot that the tires get greasy and slippery. Makes sense. Also only makes it possible for 3 big events. At least, that's all I'm really seeing during these months. That could be partially due to the small amount of coverage I see online. IDK.

Big front aero, wide wheels/tires, carbon body panels

Wide fenders, wide wheels/tires up front, carbon hood, doors, hatch and wings. I noticed the yellow tape sealing off the front splitter to the bumper. Cheap and functional. Heat and air vents in the hood.

Here was my first clue that the YF RKEW EG6 had set the fastest lap time. Thanks @shuboxinc! 56.0 is insane! It's super fast!

Notice the long shifter. I'm pretty sure that is a

Here's a video of the car a year ago (Feb 2019) run a 56.697 sec. In an entire year he's gained .627 seconds. A years worth of development and driving! Hours of hard work! Lots of money! All for .627 sec. LOL Much respect!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l48A3101pZ8&t=28s

So, I know this is a K24 powerplant. You can see ITBs, which Joey Lee's article says are Toda Racing Sports kit. A titanium strut brace, tube front radiator support. I don't know the power level.
The weight of the car is even lighter than the GNR EK9, by 176lbs. That's not chump change. 1694lbs is feather light. Part of the difference could be the EG chassis is slightly lighter than the EK chassis.

Super cool picture looking down on the paddock at Tsukuba. Man and his machine! Pretty cool that the rear hatch is still functional. You can see the rear side windows are lexan or carbon as well just like the GNR EK9.
The YF*RKEW EG6 and GNR EK9 are very very similar in build design. Let's see if we can spot any differences.
One difference I spotted was the YF EG6 has a rear carbon diffuser for cleaning the air flow out the back of the car and likely helping with downforce. Both cars are running 295 (or larger) fronts and smaller rears. Both have K24 engines. What I don't know is if either have standard 6 speeds or sequential gearboxes. That could cut down on gear change times and allow for customized gear ratios. The details of the drivetrain specs are just not known in the public so there could be some key differences there. Also, the "driver mod" is another big factor in lap times.

56.070! There you have it! The gold...errrrr....yellow standard for all other Honda time attackers to beat!

INSPIRE: GNR EK9 Tsukuba time attack machine

Time for some more INSPIRE. The other night, I started getting hyped up about time attack focused Civic hatchbacks, specifically the 1996-2000 model years, or the "EK" hatchback. Now, the EK9 chassis code is technically the Civic Type R for JDM market from 1997 to 2000. Not all 1996-00 Civics are "EK" actually. My 1999 Civic DX hatchback is actually an EJ6. Doesn't sound as cool, right? :( The USDM 1999-2000 Civic Si coupe is "EM1". But, for simplicity sake, all 1996-00 Civics are just called "EK", the 1992-95 are called "EG" and the 1988-91 are called "EF".

As I was saying, I was getting a dopamine hit while researching details of the fastest naturally aspirated (NA) powered Hondas at Tsukuba time attack events.  The difficulty of finding details about these cars that are the most interesting to me are due to a few things. First, they're in Japan. I don't live anywhere near Japan and second I don't speak Japanese. (Maybe that's my first solution, learn Japanese). Third, google searching for these cars doesn't result in much. These owners/drivers are doing this for the love of the sport and the love of tuning and not for internet fame or money. They probably don't think they're doing anything special enough to be worth anything to others across the world. (you are! please share info!) They're in their own little time attack world. :) So far, the only places I can find anything on these cars are YouTube, Instagram and a couple websites of Americans who make trips over to Japan once in awhile. Here's some links if you're interested:

YouTube Channel: "Attack Official @Days"
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdHgaHJ4IviYUwB40BoOkuQ

Instagram page with awesome photos and names of the cars/drivers that are helpful:
@mistbahn and www.mistbahn.com
The description for this IG page says "Honda PP1 BEAT (JDM Midship Kcar) for track. Mainly posting Honda track cars scene in JP. All photo shot by me except with comments.
Actually just clicked on the website and looks like its half English, half Japanese. Looks like the owner races a Honda Beat (mid engine tiny sports car) and runs a Racing Enthusiast website, mostly photography of race cars. Cool!

American websites of Japanese time attack/Honda enthusiasts:
The Chronicles is found at the website: https://stickydiljoe.com/
Not the most appropriate of names, but from my Honda padawan view, this is THE website for Honda tuning in the world. The close inner circle of Joey and the The Chronicles friends are the trend setters for Honda street cars from the late 80's to 2000 (EF, EG, EK and the Acura Integra counterparts (DA, DC2)). Joey and friends make trips to Japan and have become friends with some of the big well known Japanese Honda Civic tuning shops. Joey doesn't cover only Hondas, he covers all JDM tuning scene stuff. But, his roots are in Hondas and he covers all the biggest, highest quality Honda gatherings in Southern California.

Narita Dogfight website: https://thenaritadogfight.com/
Narita Dogfight YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5mGZ7CKbcnRN4UT1ZyH_Ag
Again, this is another Southern Californian Honda guy. He's building a sick EM1 Civic coupe time attack car. That car is worth a separate INSPIRE look. He rarely posts about it though and like many, gets busy with life and goes many months without sharing updates. Again, this site and his YouTube channel are not 100% 90's Hondas but its the only site where he's done some in-depth feature blogs on a few of the top Civic time attack machines from Japan.

Ok, that was a long intro, but I feel strongly to recognize and link you (and myself in the future) to their websites and YouTube channels. They are the ones supplying all the goods for now. I'll take you through my research process. I started by scrolling down the video list of the Attack Official @Days channel looking for any EF/EG/EK Civic hatchbacks. Then I would watch them and take notes on any info the video gives out. Like take a look at this picture below. It gives the cars power level, weight in kg (to convert to pounds, just multiply kg by 2.202462. I always shorten it to 2.2), tire model and size, sometimes the goal lap time or Personal Best lap and maybe some basic engine info. Then I take any additional notes I can by what I see on the car itself. Some info may be generic like the color and whether the car has simple or "big" aero mods, wide front fenders, etc. I'm just writing down what I observe. The other important piece of info is the cars are usually known by a title, which is based partly on the tuning shop that the car is built or sponsored by and the chassis code. In this blogs case, its the "GNR EK9".

The car I want to share and talk about today is the GNR EK9 Civic, owned by Asai Yasuji. It is one of the "Top 5" fastest NA powered Civics, with a fastest lap time of 57.823 (Update! found in The Chronicles posts from the February event that the new personal best time is 57.100sec) seconds at Tsukuba Circuit. Technically he's the 4th  (not sure where this puts him on the top Honda NA FF list) fastest according to the cars and lap times I've found so far. These pictures are all from the article posted by Narita Dogfight in March 2019 at this link here:
https://thenaritadogfight.com/2019/03/18/feature-northern-exposure-the-gnr-racing-ek9/
Go take a look at the original pictures and NDs story.

Screenshot from Attack Official @Days YouTube channel of the GNR EK9.

The notes I put in my iPhone "Notes" was:
GNR EK9 Asao Yasuji 57.823sec 57.100sec
link to the Narita Dogfight story
280hp/880kg (1936lbs) "Perfect" power to weight
295/30/18, custom ohlins, Endless brakes, custom radiator support
Big aero, wide fenders front and rear

GNR EK9 at Tsukuba Circuit pitlane ready for an attack session

Let's start with a stock EK9 Civic Type R. Stock power was 182hp (185PS) @ 8200rpm (8400 redline), 118lb-ft @ 7500rpm (LOLOL!!!) from a high revving 1.6L B16B and 5 speed. Google says it weighed 1090kg or 2403lbs. That means this car has dropped 210kg or 462lbs. That's 19% of its original weight is gone. Wow! That's significant. Just dropping the weight and doing no additional mods would transform the car. The EK9 Type R came in Championship white (NH-0), Sunlight Yellow (Y-56) for "facelift" or Kouki years, which were 1999-00, Vogue Silver Metallic (NH-583M) and Starlight Black Pearl or Flamenco Black Metallic was it was also called (NH-592P). So, this sharp looking blue is a custom non-factory color.

Let's talk weight. 462 lbs less than stock. So, my guess is carbon fiber #allthethings. Roof skin, doors, rear hatch, hood, front fenders and even side rear windows (maybe the rear hatch glass is carbon or just dark tint? Can't get a clear photo to tell). Then fully gutted interior (sorry, couldn't find a good interior photo). The front radiator support is chopped out and replaced with tube chassis pieces. No headlights remain. Typical dedicated racecar, there's nothing left that is not serving a go-fast purpose.

Close up shot of the front suspension. You can see the tube front support holding the body work and front aero. The Endless brakes (Japanese brand popular in racing circles), the Ohlins coilovers and the carbon headlight cover.

Then there's the tires. 295/30/18 tires on a 90's Honda???!!! That is INSANE!!! Stock was 195/55/15. 195mm divided by 25.4 converts mm to inches. 195/25.4 = 7.68" inch width. A 295 is 11.61" inch width.  How about 4x2 = 8" of more rubber on a car that weighs less than 2000lbs. The EK9 was a 5 lug (assuming 5x114.3 bolt pattern), so I don't think anything special was done to fit these super wide wheels. They bolt up. Oh, except for the fact that the fenders have to be tossed and you need custom wide units to replace them. See my last post for my idea of a clean, wide fender option (TF-Works).

GNR EK9 with K24 power

The Attack video of the 57.823sec run says this car is making 280hp. Or is that 280PS? I don't know the difference. haha Something with the different ways to measure power...That's 100hp more than the stock B16B. Of course, this isn't a B series engine under the hood any longer. This is a K24 with ITBs (Individual throttle bodies). The K24 stock was about 200hp around the world. This is probably a K24 with a K20 head for better flow and its going to be fairly well built, meaning aftermarket cams, header, throttle body, pullies (ditch the accessories like a/c), custom light weight (most likely titanium) catless exhaust and an ECU tune of some kind. Besides what you see, I have no idea what parts this K series is using or what's inside of it. This view also shows the cut out front half of the body and radiator support and front half of the internal fender.

GNR Racing EK9 in action at Tsukuba Circuit

Here it is in action. We haven't talked about the downforce aerodynamics at all. They're big! Look at that rear wing. Check out those front, double decker wings. The front bumper is actually fairly stock looking. You can see the transition from the front wide fenders to the bumper. The front grille looks blocked off with a carbon piece. The lower grille has an oil cooler (I think). The hood has big air vents extracting heat and letting air pressure out.

Final comment is the lap time of 57 seconds is really fast. I've seen video's on the same YouTube channel of high end cars, much more expensive cars, that are modified that are slower than this thing. The big lap time target for a fast car is the 1 minute barrier at Tsukuba. For comparison for how far time attack has come and for how far Honda Civic time attack builds have come, when I first started following closely the Tsukuba time attack lap record for a street car on "street" tires, the fastest lap time was 57 seconds. That was the record in 2002 by RE Amemiya FD3S RX-7. Who remembers the bright yellow JUN Super Lemon WRX STi time attack machine? Go take a detour and read this article: http://www.superstreetonline.com/features/130-0304-jun-super-lemon-subaru-wrx-race-car/
There is some good Tsukuba time attack history in there.

The JUN Super Lemon STI was the Top Time Attack machine in 2003. It had 582hp, 495tq from a stroked 2.5L turbo suby flat 4. It's fastest lap was 55.9 seconds. It had 18x9.5 Advan RGs, 265/35/18 tires, big rear wing, mild front airdam, and all metal body parts. The record was short lived and in December 2003 the Cyber Evo took the crown with a 55.8 sec laptime.

Just compare the basics though. That JUN Sti had twice the power, probably weighed almost 1000lbs more, had skinnier tires and awd and is only about 2 seconds faster than the lowly Civic. This is where the Civic catches my interest. The Civic is pedestrian. Look at the name. Civic. It's civil. It's a commuter car. It's a car to learn how to drive in when you're 16. But, with the right combination it can be made to go faster around a track or mountain road faster than much more expensive and purpose built sports cars. The Civic is a car I can afford. It's a car I can commute in and modify. Now, of course, I can have a gutted track car to daily drive. But, eventually the Civic will be retired from daily duties and can be built into a Tsukuba time attack inspired track toy! I'll keep researching and being INSPIRED. There's more cars like the GNR EK9 that inspire me and I'll try and put up a blog about those soon.

Hecht Speed's 2005 Mustang GT track car (and its daily driving replacement Civic EX coupe)

An update is in order for Brent Rod's 2005 Mustang GT. We bought our red "hot rods" within a couple days of each other last year in April 2019. The Mustang has been given the Hechtspeed touch over the last few months. Or should I say Hecht Speed touch. Brent created a YouTube channel and he's been posting some track day videos.

Check out the YouTube channel here:
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_wVnZ5wwzCKE_YLbF0gTCw/videos

The first update is probably the fact that the Mustang's daily duties were replaced by this EK coupe.

White Honda Civic EX coupe is now the daily driver

The Civic coupe came with some bolt ons, Tein coilovers. Brent has changed up the wheels/tires and obviously fixed a bunch of things.

Brent's #5 Mustang GT 3V 4.6L on track at Buttonwillow's CW13 layout

I'll try and summarize the changes Brent has made. First, the exterior was changed up. The Saleen rear trunk wing/spoiler was removed. Brent fabricated his own fiberglass spoiler. He added a front lip spoiler. The wheels were also changed out for 19" GT350 with 325/30/19 and 285/30/19 Nitto Invo tires.
Cooling upgrades were also done to keep the under hood temps under control. Functional hood vents were installed and the stock fog lights removed.

Paddock at Buttonwill. Showing off the changed up rear mods.

The rear panel was blacked out with some vinyl and a new GT fender badge to replace the big bulky OEM badge.
Brent has done 3 track days so far. 1 event at Willow Springs "Streets of Willow" clockwise, 1 event at Willow in counter clockwise and 1 at Buttonwillow CW13.

Corbeau race seat for the track!

A Corbeau race seat was installed with S197 brackets from AmericanMuscle.com.

Bullitt wheels replace the GT350s

The GT350 wheels were recently sold and some 17x9 Bullitts painted in Gold and some NT05 200 tread wear tires. These haven't been used on track yet. Waiting for coronavirus to finish cancelling events.

S550 V6 vs S197 GT

Brent got the chance to make a little cash by installing an X-pipe on his old 2016 V6 Mustang. It gave the chance to take some side by side photos and driving comparison.

INSPIRE: Touge Factory (TF-Works) wide +50mm EK front fender

I mentioned in my previous post that there are a few blogs I want to do to log what other Honda guys are doing that inspire me right now. I have lots of ideas on this and need to start somewhere. So, I'll start with some of the street cars that I'm digging lately. 

LATOMMYLA and his zenki EK hatch "test fitting" Volk TE37 in 17x9 :O

"LATOMMYLA" has a very popular (in the Honda circles) YouTube channel and Instagram page. He lives in the San Diego area. He's had his YouTube channel rocking for like 2-3 years. He's had a couple EK chassis Civics. He works for a Honda dealership. He appears to be a young single dude living with his brother and parents and living the 90's era-Honda dream. :) He has a customer colored green (honestly I don't know what the name or code of the color is, but every time he has to paint fenders or bumper, it needs to be done at least twice to get the color to match the rest of the car). The EK hatch that makes up most of his posts and videos is not his daily driver. I've been following him since soon after buying my own EK hatch. I've learned a lot. Go check him out! Here's a link to his YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LalalaToMi

Tommy changes his wheels all the time. Usually its 16x8 very class and expensive legit Japanese wheels like Volk TE37 or Regamaster EVO. He runs sticky high quality tires, usually Falken Azenis. His suspension is pretty low but not "stance" low. What he's done recently has really inspired me! He bought some fiberglass Touge Factory wide front fenders. Then he took pictures test fitting 17x9 +15mm bronze Volk TE37, which is a Nissan GTR (R32, R33, R34) fitment/size. Wow! On a little Honda Civic! So aggressive! He is running 235/40/17 tires. He then finally found some black 17x9 +18mm Regamasters to match his 16x8 rears. 

LATOMMYLA with the "final" look, 17x9 Regamaster EVOs and 235/40/17 Falken Azenis under the Touge Factory TF-Works wide +50mm front fenders

Once I found out where these wide fenders are from, I quickly googled more images. I think separately (can't remember, I was in a search frenzy, going down the rabbit hole), I found Instagram account "shuhei1212" who lives in Japan. He has a white EK9 (Civic Typer R) with these front fenders and runs bronze Volk TE37v (v for vintage fitment/size) with what look like 225/50/15 Advan tires. These wide TF fenders are just so killer! 

Instagram member "shuhei1212" from Japan rocking the TF-Works on his Kouki EK Hatch. Those Volk TE37v and Advan meaty rubber look killer!

So, if you want to get a set of these fenders for your EK hatch, drop by Touge Factory's TF-Works website and drop down $400 + $120 shipping! It's definitely on my wish list. 

https://www.tf-works.com/tfworks-honda-civic-ek-kouki-99-00-50mm-wide-front-fenders/

The fenders are +50mm, which for those non-metric folks (like me) that's 50/25.4 = 1.97" inches. You can get them in zenki (1996-98) or kouki (1999-00) models. 

Shuhei1212 with Touge Factory wide EK fenders and TE37v's!

Shuhei1212 front quarter view! Along with the TF-Works fenders, he's also got the TF-Works carbon fiber brake duct and Tactical Art front lip! Except for the sunroof, this is a perfect set up in my opinion! Inspiring!

So, while my car is a street driven, daily driver, my biggest inspiration and end goal is to have a track/time attack build. So, I see these fenders as a way to get wide front wheels and tires for more grip at the track. I'd try and fit 17x9 wheels with 255/40/17 or even 275/40/17 tires. :) he he The first step would most likely be some 15x9s with 245/45/15 or 225/45/15 sticky rubbers. A boy can wish!

The hatch gets a Yonaka catback exhaust and more low

So, this whole coronavirus social-distancing has motivated me to do some more blogging. Figured I would do an update post on the 1999 Civic DX hatchback. It's coming up on one year of ownership. Currently the car has just over 51,000 miles. Pretty low for a 21 year old car, eh? ;) I've put about 16k miles on it in the 11 months of ownership. One of the (few) bonuses of the coronavirus thing is I'm not adding 400 more miles to the odometer each week. Ha Ha #cuphalffull

Had to drop by JDM Legends after the first round of mods and show Eric what I picked up last year.

Ok, so not a ton happened for months on the car. Just enjoying 41mpg on the daily and carving corners wherever I could. Then, one day while driving home on the freeway, I started hearing my exhaust. I know right!? Weird! LOL You're not supposed to hear the stock factory DX exhaust. Got home and put it up on jacks and turned the car on and got under the car. I found a silver dollar sized hole in the exhaust pipe right in front of the resonator. I bought a cheap Autozone patch and it worked for about 6 weeks. Then right before heading across the country for Christmas break, I pulled the car out of the garage to wash it and the exhaust was loud again and heard it dragging on the ground. No bueno! The patch had completely become useless and my pipe was fully separated and split in two.
I had already purchased a Yonaka 96-00 EK 3dr Hatchback catback exhaust. The problem was it was on backorder with an 8-12 week delivery.

"Pantera Corey" welding up the short patch tube on the stock exhaust while I wait for the Yonaka system to arrive.

My friends helped a brother out. "Porsche Kris" let me use his lift and "Pantera Corey" welded up my temporary exhaust pipe patch section. This all went down January 3rd after we got back from Georgia. My Yonaka catback was on a boat from China, literally, and didn't arrive until February. It finally got installed Feb' 21st. The patch held up great! Thanks guys!

The Yonaka system is a very nice quality system for the price ($240 shipped).

Nice quality welds and stainless steel materials.

Out of the box the Yonaka system was very nice quality. I paid $240 shipped, but that was because it was on backorder from October to February. Hey, I'll take it. I'm on a serious budget! I chose Yonaka for a few reasons. First, I couldn't afford a name brand system like Greddy or the like. Second, I wasn't going to go cheap and buy an eBay system. Third, most eBay systems use the big 4" round "fart can" muffler. That's just not my style. Unless I could get the muffler angled up "JDM style" I wasn't going round muffler style. Fourth, I wanted a more quiet system and preferably an oval shaped muffler. To me the oval muffler is a classier look. Unless I'm going super lightweight, time attack race style with Titanium materials, the oval muffler is better suited for my daily driving.

The Yonaka and the OEM catback systems laid out next to each other. Look at how the OEM has a slight bend after the heatshield. Hmm...

Yonaka catback installed. Notice the fitment...

The removal of the 21 year old OEM exhaust was easy and the install of the Yonaka was pretty straight forward. They supplied new hardware for the system but not the mounting hardware to connect up to the catalytic converter. My issue with the system is the fitment. The muffler ended up being about 1/2" to 1" shifted over to the right. I played around with the 2 lengths of rubber exhaust hangers on the car. The problem was, if I was able to get the system shifted to the left, it was really close to hitting the bottom of the car at the 90 degree bend section.

Overall I'm happy with it. If I can bend the 2 hangers on the muffler at some point to get fitment more on point, I'll do it.

A week or so after doing the exhaust, I finally decided to adjust the coilovers again. I've been wanting to go a little lower on ride height. I ended up only lowering it about 1/2" all around, but it made a difference in the look for sure. I also added about 1/4" more negative camber up front. I think that added about .5 degrees. It is very similar to the rears, which were at -1.1 and -1.4 degrees per the alignment shop. Since I dropped the rear 1/2" as well, it probably gained a couple tenths of a degree of camber. So, everything is probably at about -1.3 to -1.5 degrees. Should give me good handling without sacrificing tire wear. I didn't adjust front or rear toe at all. My tires show very little wear. The Hankook all-seasons are doing awesome!

All in all, I'm loving the hatchie! I've had fun adjusting the coilovers. The car handles great, is economical and I love washing it and keeping it super clean! Enjoy these beauty shots! I want to do some blogs about the top Civic hatchbacks that are inspiring me right now and giving me ideas for my own car. Hopefully I don't go 6 months before posting again. No promises!

Rear shot looking down the side profile for an idea of the fitment and camber.

What's next for the hatchie? I really want to do a front lip. My favorite lips right now are the First Molding, Spoon Type One or Tactical Art. They're all carbon fiber and start at like $400 plus shipping. Soooo, I'll probably end up going with a urethane eBay replica of one of those at first.

Cool top view from the porch. I always hand wash in my front lawn. Loving the white 949 Racing 6UL wheels with the Roma Red. 

Some cool news! I submitted an application to be sponsored by MPC, a tuning shop in the midwest who specializes in machined aluminum hardware, suspension bits and k swap parts. I was accepted! There is a "care package" in the mail. More to come on that! Pretty exciting. My first sponsor!