Cars

[Guest jrhairychest]

Oh god not a Fiat 500. D:

 

Good for a first small new car, but for my personal tastes, is like driving a Hyundai Getz Bubble version.

 

Those Fiats have had a reputation of being cheap and horrible cars. I don't know if the quality has improved, but you would probably be better off with something else...

From the reviews I have read over the past few days the quality of the cars have grown a lot from previous years. I will be sure to do more research before I actually buy it, but it's something to look foreword to.

 

Get a Suzuki Swift. Looks better and you've got Japanese reliability.

[Sbrideau]

Looks like I'm going to have to put a little bit of money on my car. Sometimes I only have half of the power steering and the belt is making a lot of noise when I turn. I guess it's just the belt though so it shouldn't be too expensive.

[Kaphias]

Alloys for sure!

 

Hubcaps look horrible no matter what. I don't know why people just don't take them off, most steel wheels look better imo.

 

Get stock alloys like mine!

 

Image

$1,500 for that set of wheels I was looking at. Forget that idea, just gonna put my summer tires back on the same wheels I have now...

[demby123]

Well my auto to manual swap is 80% complete, just gotta get the exaust back in, fill n bleed the clutch master cylinder, and tie up other nick nacks.

 

Pic related, pulled it out last week, manual trans is in today.

 

[Tyler93]

My 2000 Mustang GT recently got wrote off (Someone blew a stop sign right infront of me so wasn't my fault!) so I picked this up, Was one of those vehicles I've always wanted and had the chance to get it so I did!

 

2003 Ford Lightning with a 5.4L V8 Supercharged, This thing is pretty fast but does it ever eat gas! Probably one of my favorite vehicles, And I've owned ALOT of vehicles (and I just turned 19 :o)

[Sbrideau]

Forgot to check back in here after my last post. Both belts were replaced due to them being so worn out that they had iron pieces in them. Funny that they didnt make any noise. Also got the oil changed and the hand brake's wire reset so that it actually worked a lot better. A good $110 and I'm going to be good until the yearly inspection in august, but I probably won't need to change anything until next year.

[demby123]

YES HATCHIBROKU LIVES!!!

 

Just got to fill the trans up with oil and fix a *cough* exaust leak and put the trim back together.

[Jeffwilson99]

Got a Warrant of Fitness coming up Thursday, hopefully I don't get stung for anything.

[Blake]

Carroll Shelby died on Thursday night :mellow: He was 89.

[Kaida23]

Dag. I hadn't heard. That's the end of an era right there. :cry:

[Blake]

So I have a friend that knows a billionaire, who likes to collect cars. Today, I got to go see just a small part of his collection, and it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. In this garage, there is a Lamborghini Miura P400 SV (only 150 produced, auction for ~1.5M), Audi R8 V10 Spyder (my favorite new car in the world!!!), a McLaren MP4-12C, a 1971 Mercedes 280SE which is in the same state as it was brand new, with barely any miles and completely original everything, a (forgot the date sorry) Fiat Zagato 8V that he paid 2M for because it has a lot of racing heritage, and a Ferrari 365GT4S, which he said was the most expensive in his garage, but he didn't say why. He also had a gullwing Mercedes 300SL, but it's not in the pictures.

 

He has more cars I didn't get to see too - a McLaren F1 that's in Sweden being repaired, a Ferrari F40, a Porsche Carrera GT, a Noble M600, and some others. They're in different places in the US and Europe, where the climate is better.

 

I got to sit in the Lamborghini Miura, which is my favorite old car of all time. I never thought I'd get to ever see one, let alone sit in one. I also got to sit in the McLaren, which was amazing. Words cannot describe how excited I was during this :thumbsup: The Audi R8 is my favorite new car, and I swear I will have it some day. I didn't get to sit in it because it was on the lift, but oh well. I also didn't get to drive any, but I'm not complaining :)

[hide=The Garage][/hide]

[hide=Fiat Zagato 8V][/hide]

[hide=Sitting in the Miura SV][/hide]

[hide=Miura Side view][/hide]

[hide=Sitting in the MP4-12C][/hide]

[obfuscator]

Wow that's really neat.

[Boredom RS]

2000 Trans am Ws6 5.7l LS1 fastest car on this thread so far

[Kriegsmier]

Unfortunately not mine, but the department I work for just got new cars. Pretty sick If I do say so myself....beast of a car.

 

[Blake]

Got a new car :D It's a 2006 Hyundai Triburon GT V6 Limited, 48k miles. It's a blast to drive! Manual, leather, sunroof, 8 speakers with sub, all the good stuff. First 4 are my (crappy) iphone pictures, next 4 are dealership pictures

[hide=New Car]

 

[/hide]

[Jeffwilson99]

Not bad for a Hyundai lol, not sure about the tan leather seats.

[obfuscator]

Nice :thumbup: That's one car I've always liked...how much did it cost?

[Blake]

Not bad for a Hyundai lol, not sure about the tan leather seats.

Yeah it's nice :) The tan isn't the best color, but I still like the contrast with the seats, shift knob, and the door inserts. Red or black would have been nicer, but oh well.

Nice :thumbup: That's one car I've always liked...how much did it cost?

 

Well the dealer has it listed as a GT V6 at $11,000. KBB suggested retail for it is 12,555. However, I'm pretty sure it's the GT V6 Limited (higher) version, which KBB suggested retail is 15k. Limited comes with leather seats/accents, 8 speaker inifinity soundsystem with subwoofer, power moonroof, and a couple other things, which it has all of. So, it's possible I actually made a bit of money on it :)

 

It comes with a 30 day full warranty, 3 years free oil changes, unlimited free car wash, 6 months breaks/battery/lights/tire replacement too, which is great.

[obfuscator]

Oh yeah that's not bad.

[Blake]

I wanna take the badge off the front, get the black headlights from teh 07-08 model that matches the front headlights, and get some gunmetal-color rims that match the lights/grill/exhaust. That's probably all i'll do to it, dont really like super modified cars much. It sounds very good with the stock exhaust and the V6 already :)

[Atom Smash40]

It's great to see this thread still alive and running. Here's what I've been up to. (This is a copypasta from another forum I'm on so it may not seem coherent but it's more about the pictures.)

 

[hide]

Here it is, my ITR Expo 12 coverage thread. I'll be posting updates in segments as to 1) not overwhelm you with the whole story at once, 2) because I'm too lazy to write the whole story at once and 3) the whole story isn't even ready (namely pictures and videos need to be edited.)

 

There will be three "entries" (Intro/Day 0, Day 1, and Day 2) that I'll post with pics and video (if applicable). Intro/Day 0 consists of Expo background info and the drive to the track. Day 1 and Day 2 will be both coverage of the track and cars and what not. Day 1 will be more fun because of what will be written about what happened AFTER the end of the track session (there's a banquet and other fun stuff.) Day 2 will be a short entry, but similar in nature to Day 1's track coverage, though I took more "show car style" pics on the second day so that'll be a nice change.

 

All pics were taken with my trusty iPhone 4. Bear with me :cool:

 

Alright, here we go:

 

Intro:

 

It’s finally time! Time for ITR Expo, the US’s biggest gathering of Integra Type-R’s! Expo is a once a year, 2-day track day at various tracks all over the US (it’s been held at Gingerman, Beaver Run, Buttonwillow, Virginia International Raceway, Autobahn Country Club, and most recently Carolina Motorsports Park.) But the fun doesn’t stop after the track goes cold; there are shenanigans galore, even BEFORE the first track day, but most of them take place between the first and second days. Last year we had a Slip ‘n Slide set up at the track, so what’ll we have this year? Let’s find out!

 

Expo 12 was held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, one of the country’s most famous (and most popular) racetracks. The ITRCA (Integra Type-R Club of America) has been wanting to run Expo at Mid-Ohio for years now, and we finally got the chance. Conveniently, Honda has a factory in Ohio and routinely does testing at Mid-Ohio so it would be great to see one of Honda’s greatest cars do laps around their track. The kicker: this year Honda was kind enough to give up one of their testing days just for us to use as a track day (thereby making the cost of the event per person much cheaper.) Well, enough intro. Let’s get to the event!

 

Day 0:

 

Woke up at 6AM on Sunday, August 19th. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep the night before and was running on a little over 7 hours of rest. Didn’t matter—the adrenaline made sure I was wide-awake within minutes.

 

My dad and I left the house around 6:30 and started off towards the meeting place for the northeast caravan (I’m located in NJ, and the organizer thought it was a good place for people from NJ, NY, and MA to congregate seeing as we were going to take I-80 all the way into Ohio.) We arrived around 7:15 and ate at a diner nearby while we waited for other people to show up. Unfortunately, my brain wasn’t functioning so I didn’t take pictures of the people that met us at the NJ meet up spot (there were 4 ITRs: 1 yellow and 3 white, 1 E90 M3, 1 2004 TSX, and 1 B6 S4 Avant.)

 

From there, we rolled out onto the freeway and made our way up to I-80.

 

 

 

 

We made damn good time, averaging close to 85 MPH for 3 hours before pulling off for gas (damn German V8’s.) Along the way we picked up another yellow ITR (this guy has been coming to Expo since Expo 3 back in 2003.)

 

We also saw this thing:

 

 

At the gas station, we met up with an S2000 and EM1 from Mass., ate a quick bite, and got back on the highway.

 

Later on, while we neared the longitude of Pittsburgh, we picked up another yellow R, bringing our R total to 6 (with 3 yellows.) We took a final stop around 2 for food at a place called “Chesters”. The food was not bad, actually. Like Popeye’s. I enjoyed it.

 

S2000 and dad’s TSX:

 

 

Food:

 

 

Everyone from the NE:

 

 

Rain :( :

 

 

Finally, after a grueling 8 hour drive filled with rain and construction traffic, we pulled into the Comfort Inn.

 

 

 

(Remember I mentioned shenanigans? Well guess what? Those people in the parking lot have beer :D and just the night before there was a pre-Expo event called “Cincinnasty” where I can only assume everyone who made the drive on Saturday got wasted together :P)

 

 

 

 

We were lucky enough to have the track open for us on Sunday to do tech inspection so we wouldn’t need to waste time on Monday (our first track day) for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Racekor:

 

 

No torks:

 

 

 

This thing will give me a headache, just wait:

 

 

 

Well, that’s the end of Day 0. Tonight, it’s rest. Tomorrow, it’s go time!

 

 

Day 1:

 

So after a good night’s rest, Expo officially began on Monday, the 20th.

 

 

Who says S2000 can’t haul stuff :P :

 

 

S2000 CR :eek: :

 

 

Yes, that's a REAL EK9 Civic Type-R, straight from Jah-pan.

 

 

The RSX had hand controls (the driver was in a wheelchair.) I didn’t take pictures of them out of respect (and I couldn’t find the driver to ask if I could take pics or not.) He was pretty fast on the track.

 

Drivers’ meeting:

 

 

Restored Realtime Racing Acura Integra Type-R:

 

 

Miata! This thread is officially TCL approved!

 

 

Turbo ITR:

 

 

 

For later ;) :

 

 

 

 

Stripes add 10 HP each:

 

 

 

 

 

 

S2000 CR flying down the front straight:

 

 

 

That’s the strangest looking ITR I’ve ever seen. Is it a body kit?

 

 

Backstory: the owner of the M3 used to have a super clean 98 ITR as well but sold it to go back to school. Priorities :thumbup: I believe he intends on buying another one once the money is there.

 

Parade Lap:

 

Apologies in advance, I don’t have many parade lap pics because 1/3rd of the way though, my phone filled up to storage capacity and I couldn’t take any more pics.

 

The parade lap was started at Expo 1 and is basically a low speed (5 MPH tops) lap around the track with all the cars going three wide. It’s the perfect time for a photo op, and many better pics than mine were taken. Maybe when those photographers upload their pics, I’ll borrow and post them up here. For now, you’ll just have to suffer.

 

This year we only had 8 or 9 black ITRs. There isn’t really a reason for it, just that I guess not many people with black ITRs signed up this year. White had the most, as it should because it’s the best one (and they made the most of them.)

 

Here’s a production numbers chart:

 

 

Here are the pics:

 

 

 

 

 

Later, the Honda HPD racecars from the Rally America and Continental Tire ST classes came. I really wish they brought the BTCC Civic, though. That thing is turbo’d and the whole suspension mounting points are all reworked. They later had the Fit running on the track but not the Civic. Even though the Fit was balls slow compared to the other cars in the run group, looked like a blast to drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honda Challenge racecar:

 

 

 

This red Civic hatch racecar with a K20Z3 (didn’t get to talk to the driver, who was a very busy instructor, about what suspension setup he had) was DEVOURING cars in its class (an STi, K20 race prepped Integras, that S2000 CR):

 

 

A chick was driving the STi (she’s already taken. Boyfriend has a 2004 Viper and is looking to buy an NSX :thumbup: ):

 

 

 

Another 4 door ITR:

 

 

Incidents: There were two people that went off that day (an omen of things to come): A super clean red GS-R and a brand new 135i. I didn’t take pics of the GS-R out of respect and the guy that wrecked the BMW had it towed off the track so people couldn’t take pics. However, I did find pics that the GS-R owner posted of his car so hereyougo:

 

Ouch… (the BMW was much worse):

 

 

Here’s where he went off:

 

 

He carried too much speed into turn 1, tried to scrub it off by trail braking, but since you’re going so fast, trail braking will easily make your back end kick out. He fish tailed, tried to recover, hit the curbing, went airborne, slid, and smacked into the wall :( :

 

Back at the hotel after a long day:

 

 

Stupid clean 97:

 

 

 

Real deal EG6 SiR:

 

 

K24 turbo EJ8. This thing was stupid fast:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting intake set up. I’ve never seen a circle used (usually it’s a triangle-ish thing that conforms to the shape of the headlight):

 

 

A shot of the greenhouse and roll cage of that JDM fronted R that was on jack stands in the first post. He’s from Washington state, has a built K20 (all motor), pretty much a race car set up (except that his car is also street legal and has no A/C and he drove it down from Washington. Talk about dedication.):

 

 

My most artsy picture of the day:

 

 

Silly Honda, thinking it’s a racecar (actually, I’m gunna do this on my tires and see if I like or not. Getting new ones soon anyway so if I don’t like, then I won’t do on the new set):

 

 

Now here’s where the fun really starts. There’s always a banquet dinner after the first day for all the participants. Usually the food is really good (this year was no different) and there are plenty of shenanigans before and after. There’s also a raffle every year where the sponsors and organizers of the event show their appreciation by giving away expensive stuff (like gift certificates worth up to $300, a full race spec intake set up, GoPro Hero2 cameras, discounted race coilover kits retailing close to $2,000, and other neat stuff.)

 

PARTY BUS! BYOB!

 

 

 

We fit 48 people in it (basically filling up to capacity):

 

 

 

So, we took the long way for some reason and that long way took us through some hills. See that in the distance? We had to chug up that. By the time we reached the top, the bus was in 1st gear and probably not revving higher than 3000. Thankfully we made it because >151 torks, thus we were safe to begin with anyway. But still, we all need to lose some weight :laugh: :

 

 

I join in on the fun:

 

 

Some estates… :cool:

 

 

Oh crap, another hill. This one wasn’t as bad:

 

 

The restaurant:

 

 

Remember how I said we took the long way (basically we took 20 minutes to get from the hotel to the road that takes us past the track, when we could’ve gone the direct route and taken only 10 minutes)? Well, people from the hotel followed us, so us busgoers got a kick out of that:

 

 

 

Banquet hall:

 

 

People already lining up for the bar:

 

 

The raffle begins:

 

 

I WON A FREE GOPRO! Valued at $300:

 

 

Yum yum yum!

 

 

A round of applause for the organizers that work so hard to set up this event year after year:

 

 

Someone proposed at the banquet! She said yes!

 

 

The hotel had this hanging up. Pretty neat:

 

 

That’s the end of Day 1! Stay tuned for Day 2!

 

 

Day 2 (the day of offs):

 

#shenanigans

 

 

Day 2 began, not as foggy, still chilly. I wonder how many drivers were hungover from the night before…

 

 

 

Snow…?!

 

 

At the track: instructor meeting:

 

 

 

Hey x_GTI_x, this’ll “pull on you” :wave: :

 

 

 

Could’ve bought an R32… and that surfboard is useless, amirite?

 

 

This racecar is a POS, too, right?

 

 

 

Lookat this ricer and his hood dump. I bet he doesn’t even have a turbo but is just trying to act like he’s a “9 second car”:

 

 

Oh wait…

 

 

 

 

Using my brand new GoPro. I don’t like the wind noise, but what are you gunna do? I might get a B-pillar harness bar just to mount the camera to so it’s not as noisy. It’s a 30+ minute video, but the good parts are at

and

. Feel free to critique my driving. Only requirement: that you actually know what you’re talking about. Are there any lines I could run differently? I had an instructor ride with me one session and he said that my lines were very good:

 

[video=youtube;dHL9YhtBx9o]

 

The guy that spun out in front of me took that turn too late and tracked out way wide. He put 2 wheels off and instead of driving straight off (because there was no barrier in front of him), he tried to save it and once the wheels hooked, he spun. Here’s the damage. Can anyone say “LeMons car? :D” (the badass fixed up his suspension and went right back out the next session #hardcore):

 

 

What happened with my spin was that I was coming into the chicane very hot and I saw that the GS-R in front of me had dove way deep into the turn and I thought that the same thing that happened to that yellow one was going to happen to him, so I panic braked (but my wheel was still turned so the tail end got light). You could call it a save because I know that if I hadn’t spun and instead kept my same line and speed, I definitely would have made contact with him once he got back onto his line.

 

Late prep is better than no prep:

 

 

This was in the GS-R that was in front of me:

 

 

Because racekor?

 

 

 

Hey, x_GTI_x, this’ll pull on you as well, and he’s only making 225 to the wheels:

 

 

Silly Honda, pretending it’s a racecar:

 

 

Those brake ducts in the turn signal slots are just for show ;) :

 

 

 

 

Here’s the interior of a different Civic hatch:

 

 

 

No idea what was done to this RSX but he was making more than 300+ wheel all motor:

 

 

 

I want brake ducts:

 

 

 

Nice set up:

 

 

And now, to satisfy your Honda hate, I crashed. Yes. Me. Mister “Next Michael Schumacher” crashed his car. What happened was that I was coming down the back straight like usual, and I broke as usual. However, this time around I got overconfident and wanted to carry more speed into the corner (aka aiming to drive the racing line instead of the HPDE line). Problem is, I realized that after the last braking cone that I was still going too fast, so I extended my braking zone by a few feet to try and scrub off more speed and aim for a later apex. I did neither, ended up turning in way late, still going to fast. The tail end stepped out, I corrected my steering and I lifted the throttle (a no-no, but you VW guys wouldn’t know anything about lift throttle oversteer anyway), the end swung around, and the wheels hooked and sent me into China Beach. What I should’ve done was after I corrected the wheel, I should have gave it throttle to pull the back end back in line to keep it from swinging out again. Oh well. I’m gunna need a new bumper, new lip, some PDR on the driver side fender, and maybe some PDR on the passenger side fender. I haven’t taken the bumper off to check the frame, but it didn’t seem like that bad of a hit. There is definitely misalignment in the body panels that will need to get checked out, but I'm just glad it wasn’t worse (it most definitely could have been, considering that people can ROLL their cars when going off where I did.)

 

Another 30 minute vid, the crash is at 25:07

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpZYwhg-Qm4

 

Here’s the damage:

 

 

:( but that’ll buff right out :D, seriously:

 

 

 

Here’s the driver’s side fender. You can see the crease, and I’m thinking that it’s this crease that’s causing the misalignment of the fender and hood (and hopefully not frame damage). Upon further inspection under the hood on that side, I'm about 95% sure that’s the case, so that’s great news as this can be easily fixed by a good PDR guy:

 

 

 

The bumper was pushed in on the driver’s side (and so was the driver side headlight) and bent out on the passenger side (though that side already had minor damage from a previous incident. Hopefully it’s just that, a push, and no frame damage.

 

After that I called it quits. The car was drivable, sure, but I wasn’t (still am not) sure how bad the damage was/is, and I wasn’t taking the risk of something flying off and hitting a guy behind me. Plus the car had been through enough.

 

This one (the Honda Challenge H2 #11 car) died in the middle of a lap. I didn’t get the chance to find out what went wrong but it wasn’t running when I left the track :( :

 

 

I guess you can have too much grip. This guy’s car broke his rear control arms because he had too much grip going through a corner and over stressed them. I didn’t take pics of the rest of the car, but it if there was ever a car that was built strictly for handling, this was it. He did have your standard I/H/E, but suspension and tires were top of the line:

 

 

 

Nice brakes :drool:

 

 

 

Packed up and ready to leave. I ended up doing only 2 sessions on the 2nd day. Oh well, maybe one of these years I’ll actually do all 8 sessions at Expo.

 

 

 

Skip Barber Miatas!

 

 

This thing was for sale a couple miles from the track. Stupid clean, pretty cheap:

 

 

 

On the drive back—I guess you CAN move a house :laugh: :

 

 

This guy’s plate said “KRYPTN9”:

 

 

This truck said: “Be a flirt/lift up your shirt/pull down your skirt/it couldn’t hurt” :D

 

 

Pennsylvania may be ****ty but damn is it pretty :laugh:

 

 

 

 

We left the track around 1:30 PM, got home at 11 PM.

 

 

Something like 5+ people went off just on Day 2, compared to the 2 on Day 1. Mid-Ohio bites back HARD :cool:

 

That’s the end of Expo 12. It was a great success as always, infinite gratitude goes out to the sponsors and the track and Honda, but no amount of thanks can be given to the organizers of the event that work hard year after year to make sure we get our own 2 day shenanigans fest :thumbup: :heart:

[/hide]

That’s the end of my coverage for Expo 12, when other guys on the ITRCA forum post up their pictures, I’ll also post them here for your viewing pleasure!

 

- Tom

Edited August 26, 2012 by Quyneax
Added hide tags!

[Mr_Muto]

Hola pictures! Quite a few nice looking cars.

 

At the moment I currently drive a '97 Ford f150, body is in pretty rough shape but mechanically it's good minus one of the front springs is pretty well toast. Currently has 197k km's on it which isn't too bad considering the winter beating it takes for the better part of 8 months. Looking at buying a new dodge challenger in the Spring around April/May. Does anyone here own one or know how decent they are? I love the look and I've heard they're nice cars but I'd like to know from somebody who actually owns one.

[obfuscator]

Dead thread is dead, so I bought a car.

 

Nothing fancy, 2003 Toyota matrix, standard (learning to drive atm).

[Jeffwilson99]

Auto/manual? Never heard of it, so I looked it up, sounds like a Corolla...

[obfuscator]

Standard means manual, at least here. It's basically a corolla with a different shape..nothing fancy..