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.