Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Reason

Words & snaps by Ben

We make our cars less comfortable, loud and often unpractical. We have to crawl sideways over humps to clear them, endure spine shattering rides, noisy interiors, unpractical bucket seats, our 4-seaters suddenly lose the back seats in favour of roll cages and harnesses. People understandably do not understand us.

Why put ourselves through this daily torture? When the heavens open, some of us have to cruise at turtle-speeds, because the semi slicks are slippery on wet roads. And of course, we all experience cold sweat every time the authorities drive by.

Why do we do that?

Because when we sit at the wheel, turn the key and are greeted by the welcome sequence of our gauges, before the engine growls to life, it makes us smile.

Because when we put our right foot down, the engine's push and the exhaust's roar make our heart beat faster.

Because when we clip the apex of the highway ramp and feel the bucket seat hugging us in place while the semi slicks bite the asphalt, it makes us feel alive.

Because when we hit the track and lose ourselves in an endless loop of laps, our minds blank out, nothing else matters, and our lives make sense.

This is our passion. What defines us. And why to us, these "pains" we put ourselves through, are nothing but pleasure.

Wan is one of us, and when he had to let go of his EG9 with a twitchy chassis, he got his hands on this clean EG6, the perfect canvas for his passion.

He was looking for a car that would double up as a daily and a track car and the EG6 was, in his books, the perfect car for his plans. As soon as he got it, he set about making it loud and uncomfortable.

Just a simple look at the interior, and I could just imagine the comments he must have been getting from family and non-motorhead friends.

The carpets were gone, so were half of the rear seats. The car breathed emptiness, except for the rear strut and room bars, and Bride Vios and Gias bucket seats towering in the bare cabin.

By the passenger seat sat a fire extinguisher, which served as a testament to Wan's commitment to the track.

In the passenger's footwell, the Hondata S300 ECU commanded the B16A's 187 horses and 157Nm of torque. All it was lacking was a sign warning the passengers not to pull the wires to prevent their heads from being pulled out.

Facing the command seat was a Keys Racing wheel (horn optional), with a Pivot tachometer staring at him while aiming a shift light at his eyes.

Wan shared with me that his dashboard worked fine, and that the reason behind adding the tacho in front of it was to hide the stock speedo, so that his focus would not be affected by ridiculously high entry speeds around the Johor Circuit's turns.

Subtle carbon fibre highlights, a no frills round aftermarket shift knob and Sparco pedal covers complemented the racing character of this EG6.

Above the windscreen, a trio of Defi NA gauges informed him of the essentials: water and oil temps, and oil pressure.

Enthusiasts can appreciate the spartan, straight forward, function-driven interior, and we can just imagine the incomprehension of the common crowds at the happiness Wan felt everyday when he sat in and drove off.

Mechanically, Wan had pushed his build to reach the fine balance between street-ability and track-ability, without breaking the strict rules of legality imposed by the local authorities.

After tightening the front handling with a Mugen carbon fibre strut bar, Wan decided to keep the internals mostly stock, and only topped his engine with stage 2 camshafts before focusing his funds on the gearbox.

The Johor Circuit is a short, technical track that favours quick accelerations to high top speeds, thus Wan rebuilt his gearbox with close ratio 2, 3, 4 and 5th gears, crowned by a 4.9 final drive, the whole set mated to a Mugen clutch.

A 1.5-way LSD cracked and popped when Wan maneuvered his car around carparks, a small price to pay to ensure all the power got down to the asphalt when clipping the apexes.

Behind the drilled bumper, an oil cooler ensured the blood of the B16A stayed cool.

Sandwiched between the oil cooler and engine, the 2-layer aluminium radiator handled the rest of the cooling duties.

The obvious Simota air intake funneled the air in the engine, accelerating it through the Skunk2 air intake and into the combustion chambers.

The fuel, fed by a Walbro pump, mixed with the air in the engine before going through the 4-strokes dance and bellowing out through the Invidia full cat-back exhaust system.

This simple setup was enough to propel Wan's 800-odd Kilos EG6 at ridiculous speeds around the track, and make him smile everyday when he was driving to and from work.

Wan kept the straight forward, all-thrills-no-frills approach to his build on the exterior, and focused on upgrading the looks with function in mind.

The vented carbon fibre hood relieved the front weight distribution while setting the race mood at first sight.

Flanking the hood, carbon fibre fenders wrapped around the 15" Rota Slipstreams and their Yokohama R888 semi slick tyres. Sized 225 at the front and 195 at the rear, his setup was optimised face-shredding cornering around the track, at the expense of rainy days' grip.

The reason behind Wan's "crawl-across-speed-bumps" low stance, were ISC coilovers with upgraded springs. Why did he put himself through this spine-shattering, unpractical situations? If you asked Wan how they felt around the track, the smile on his face would answer for itself.

Peeking behind the Slipstreams, Prelude front calipers bit on the stock EG6 discs to ensure proper, balanced stopping power.

At the rear, a carbon fibre boot sat above the drilled rear bumper and its Golden Eagle diffuser. Above the boot, a Spoon carbon fibre roof spoiler ensured the lightened rear stayed stable at speeds he would never be able to achieve on open roads, but that were a given around the track.

So what is the reason behind us doing all these uncomfortable and unpractical modifications to otherwise perfectly fine cars?

It's what makes sense to us. It's what dives us and makes us happy. It's our passion, and it's what we live for.

Our philosophy is simple: if installing sub-braces can contribute to the pleasure we feel when bringing our cars on the edge around a track, but require the passengers to alight from the car every time we need to cross a speed bump, then it's obvious that the passengers had better get the heck out of the car to clear that damn hump!


’92 Civic EG6
B16A 1,595cc
Drive Layout
Max Output
187hp, 157Nm

Power Mods
Simota Air Intake, Skunk2 Intake Manifold
Oil Cooler, 2-Layer Aftermarket Aluminium Radiator
Walbro Fuel Pump
Stage 2 Camshafts
Invidia Full Cat Back System
2, 3, 4, 5 Close Ratio Gearbox, 4.9 Final Drive 1.5-Way LSD, Mugen clutch
Hondata S300

Rota Slipstreams
R888 Front 225/50/15 Rear 195/50/15
Prelude Front Calipers
ISC Coilovers With Upgraded Spring Rates
Mugen Carbon Fibre Front Strut Bar, Rear Strut Bar, Room Bar

Spoon Carbon Fibre Roof Spoiler
Vented Carbon Bonnet, Carbon Fenders and Boot, Drilled Front Bumper, Drilled Rear Bumper with Golden Eagle Bumper Diffuser

Bride Vios And Gias
Steering Wheel
Keys Racing
Sparco Pedal Covers, Aftermarket Shift Knob, Carbon Fibre Console Highlights
Defi NA Gauges (Water & Oil Temperatures, Oil Pressure) , Pivot Tachometer with Shift Light

Wan would like to thank his family for giving support to his passion, to the friends who constantly gave advice to push his car to new limits, and to the really close buddies who were always there to send him home during the countless of times his car broke down.

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