It looks like we're going to be selling our SSB / T4 Civic soon. That leaves a hole in our track vehicle stable. We were planning on using the '11 WRX and F-mod for Autox (for convenience, really) and the turbo S2000 for social track days. Upgrading the tow vehicle / daily driver from the V6 Q7 to a Cayenne Diesel.

Which leaves the CR. Just sitting there. I don't really daily drive it (we're in Minnesota). And I don't see myself autocrossing it much in the future. The hassle to enjoyment ratio is higher for the CR than with either the WRX (which can haul its own tires) or F-mod (which tires last forever, tows easy and feels like a go-kart).

Driving COTA in an HPDE with the turbo car was fun, but racing there in a CR in T3 would be awesome!

So I guess I've already made up my mind. But I'm having a little hard time pulling the trigger and irreversibly sending the CR down the full race car path. My wife asked, "What would you ideally like to club race?" I think this is it. A good balance of relatively cheap parts and a known chassis for me.

Any words of wisdom? Just rip the scab off rather than picking at it?

 

would it be competitive? do you want to compete for series wins?

If it's not a competitive car, no reason spending the money building a fresh, race only car if you can't win with it. Not to mention, taking a limited edition car down an irreversable path.

What classes are well populated around there?

 

Is that T3 CR still for sale in Ohio? The one with the racelabz cage? That seems to be the better option if it is.

 

It's only a couple thousand to cage a car. I think their price was way high for what it was. My Civic was a Lipperini (Racelabz) car.

T3 CRs have done well at SCCA Runoffs. But it could be used for NASA TT or Honda Challenge.

I have too much self preservation to eek out the last few 10ths on track. I'll never be the fastest one on track. But I find that being around similar speed cars helps me work on my lines and driving. Also, there are so many SCCA races at great tracks across the nation that I'd be doing it for the access to events / tracks more than the competition.

 

Isn't t3 pretty much dead? They've been trying to kill it for years from what I heard.

Check results for Honda Challenge H2. That car fits well there. You have the only legal wing and lip for the class and you can leave the motor alone. A set of shocks and you're ready to rock. Good contingency and HPD support too.

-Paddy

 

From what I recall, the H2 classing for the s2000 is the same specs as the T3 cars (NASA wanted to give the T3 S2k guys a place to race with no modifications). IMO, its not a very competitive car in H2 due to the weight restrictions, etc.

If you want to be competitive in H2 or NASA TT, I don't think the T3 spec CR is the way to go. But if you just want to have fun and get as much W2W action as you can, I don't think a T3 spec car will be a bad thing. You could always upgrade it to run H1, PT, or some other SCCA class as well.

 

Yup they are pretty darn close so i guess it makes no difference!

You are correct. May not win H2 in a competitive region. H1 is tough to win too!

In my region an s2000 dominates h2 because the h2 civics are so unreliable.

 

The potential long term plan is to move all the turbo parts over to the caged chassis in a few years. If the CR tranny or engine go boom, it'd be a no-brainer.

 

I feel like it would take years and years and years of abuse for a stock CR motor or trans to crap out. (knock on wood).

 

I guess for my motorsport goals, I could always just rent rides and do an "arrive and drive" at different tracks for SCCA club races. That might work out better in getting to East and West coast tracks.