This also reminds me of a story off old Dr.Brimski's site, with the Syclone we all know as Sally. Heres the story
[Dr.Brimski]
I'm not really an opponent of "Rice-burners", in fact I have owned an Acura and loved it, but I didn't race it. Somehow the idea of dropping 10 grand in mods on a car just to get it in Mustang territory is not what I would call "getting the best bang for the buck".
I remember when I was a little snot nosed kid back in the late 70's, the muscle cars were suddenly all weighted down with inefficient anti-smog devices that sucked the horsepower right out of the cars, thanks to the federal government. The car companies wanted the cars to seem fast in spite of these deficiencies so they plastered the cars with all kinds of race stripes and other gimmicks. The Plymouth Roadrunner had gone from a NASCAR behemoth to boulevard pussy, basically a 318cid Volare'covered in roadrunner stickers and decals, the Firebird Trans Am had de-evolved from a true muscle car to a chunk of lard on 4 wheels with lots of plastic spoilers and vents and a screaming chicken decal on the hood to make it look fast. And on it went… finally in the eighties the decals started disappearing and horsepower and performance was coming back. I said that to say this….
If you have a "Rice-burner", NO amount of stickers, decals and VTEC logos are going to make your car faster. Period. Also, NO 4 or 5 inch coffee can welded or screwed to your exhaust tip will make your "Rice-burner" run 12's or under. The US car market found out years ago that graphics and appliqués don't make you car faster and quite frankly those who remember the 70's just laugh at these pseudo-street racers. Gotcha pissed off now? If you fit in this category I hope you are pissed off, that means I accomplished my goal.
;-)
Go out and buy some performance parts and stop bragging about stuff you have no knowledge of.
OK, enough editorializing, now on with the Acura Type R.
I was parked in a parking lot where the street racers hung out trying decide who will race who and which race location to race at… (this is usually determined by inside info on where the cops will be patrolling that night.) I was approached by this guy with a Honda CRX who is saying all the wrong things for street racing. Talking his car up and bragging, then he wants to know if I'll run him for $50.
(yeah, I know I'm just a whore… ;-)
I got out and looked the CRX over - it had rims, paint job and braided steel hoses on the engine.. I asked if he had NO2 and he said it had a 100 hp shot… I inspected the front tires and found that they were not racing compound tires so I told him he's got a race.
A few minutes later one of his friends show up in this beautiful red Acura Integra Type R. It was rumored he was running somewhere in the 12's and this was vague info determined by knowing the race times of those he had beaten. I was really more interested in running the Acura than the CRX but I had to play the "poker-face".
If I ran the Acura first and beat him the CRX may not want to run me since he was most likely the slower of the two.
When it was decided which road we were going to race at we caravanned over there and I lined up with the CRX, we were about 3 cars back from the first race.
When our turn came the CRX revved, I staged with my foot on the brake and a steady 3500 rpm. The guy standing on the yellow line dropped his hands and we launched!
I jumped off the line, hearing the mosquito-like buzz of the CRX's engine fading off behind me and see nothing but headlights in the rear-view mirror…
When I got back I arranged a run with the Acura for $100… this was gonna be a good one everyone thought. Most folks new the Sy was fast but really didn't have me figured out yet, and the Acura had respect and all the import guys sort of looked up to it as the "flagship" of their group.
I checked out the Acura prior to running, it had a turbo and a fogger… (something I personally wouldn't try with my turbo), race tires, race gas, headers, and some internal engine mods… We lined up and with a nod from both of us got the flag.
I jumped off the line at 3500 rpm and the Syclone gobbled up pavement in front of the Acura, but after that initial surge the Acura's headlights started getting closer and closer… About a couple of hundred feet from the finish he came by me like I was sitting still. When I crossed the line I looked at the Vericom on my dashboard and it was reading 12.45@107. This was not what I expected at all… I watched as the import guys all circled around the Acura and celebrated.
I went over to the GN guys that were gathered around and asked if anyone had any xylene, (a liquid that smells like a magic marker and is used as a bootleg octane booster by some of the turbo guys I know).
One of them just happened to manage a tune-up shop nearby and we went there and first filled the tank up with premium gas, then knowing the tank held 20 gallons, we siphoned out 4 gallons and replaced it with xylene. I cranked the Syclone and drove it around the parking lot, slushing the gas in the tank around a bit, then turned on the ANS boost controller and twisted the knob just a bit. I nailed the accelerator, dialed in 21-22 psi, and let off. Then we went back to the street races, stopping by a convenience store on the way and buying 2 bags of ice and putting the ice in the intercoolers icebox in the bed of the truck and turned the pump on. I was ready.
I found the dude in the Acura and arranged for another run for $200, and he was game even after I told him I was now using race gas. (yes, I told him)
We lined up and there was a lot of side-betting going on - imports against domestics, blah… I set the Vericom up, shifted to neutral, the brake pedal sank down about an inch, then I put it back in drive and stuck the motor on 4000 rpm, I looked at the guy flagging the races and nodded. His hands went down and I hit the floor with my accelerator foot and let go of the brake simultaneously. The Syclone jumped violently forward shoving me back into the seat and snapping my head back against the headrest, the tires squealed and the windshield cracked right in my line of vision. When the windshield broke I remember thinking, "well, there goes my engine tie down…"
The launch at 21 psi is way different from a 15 psi launch. The initial surge lasted longer at 21 psi than at 15 psi and was so loud and violent I had no idea at first where the Acura was.
I looked around for the Acura and it was maybe over 10 car lengths back and I was still putting distance on him. A couple of seconds went by and the Acura's headlights now started coming closer - when I flew by the finish line the Acura was still more than 5 car lengths back and although he was coming up fast he just didn't make it. I checked the Vericom and it was reading 3.02 on the 0-60 time and the ¼ mile time was under 11.85.
The guy in the Acura came over and paid me and told me he had a feeling that he shouldn't have given me a second try against him…
I'm glad he did.
Word to the "rice-burners" out there, if you're going to race, do it right, do like this Acura did… no stickers, no attitude, just balls out high performance under the hood…
I respect him for that.[/Dr.Brimski]
