JDM Yard Civic now a serious contender for WTAC 2015
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JDM Yard’s Civic is a no-nonsense, purpose-built, hardcore time attack racer.
Sydney Honda tuning house, JDM Yard have a long history of competing at WTAC. The guys originally campaigned a heavily modified DC5 Integra that stopped the clocks at a credible 1.37.77 in 2013 and from there on you could say things got kind of serious. Realizing they were fighting an uphill battle in the weight department the Integra was retired and the hunt was on for a lightweight EG Civic on which to base a proper, competitive time attack race car.
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The changes from the 2014 spec car are obvious and the car has moved ahead in leaps and bounds.
By WTAC 2014 JDM Yard had completed first stage of the build and the car, with only very minimal testing, rolled off the trailer and with local rally ace Adam Casmiri behind the wheel stopped the clocks at 1.33.03 ahead of many more fancied AWD rivals. Needless to say the talk up and down pit lane was: “if it is going that fast now, it will be a real threat when it is sorted!”
Fast forward 12 months and the car is indeed sorted and dare we say it will, indeed, be a real threat!
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A full house K24, supercharged Honda motor provides more than adequate power. The team certainly left no stone unturned in this build and the engine bay now sports a full house K24 Honda engine complete with a big ROTREX supercharger hanging low down in front of the engine. The power is fed to an LSD via a PPG straight cut dog engagement transmission.
The guys told us the setup makes “just enough” power and that it “should do the job”. As is so often the case these days, the teams that have invested so much in the development of their car tend to be hesitant about giving out too much information especially if it could potentially give the edge to their competition.
Knowing how easy these engines make power, we would have to assume the power output would be somewhere between 550hp and 600hp.
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The aero package has been thoroughly updated for 2015 and will provide the car with much greater downforce.
The car now wears a heavily revised aero package that includes a trick new rear wing with enclosed sides that are designed to aid in lateral stability and much more intricate side skirt arrangement. Most of this was made possible through a partnership with Melbourne based aero manufacturer Topstage Composites who have been instrumental in both the design and manufacture of the carbon fibre components.
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Cleverly designed deflector plates can be spotted all around the car.
“Even though the Open Class is restricted in aero size and the fact that flat floors are banned, there are still massive gains to be had in getting the aero package right and we have spent the past year doing just that.” said Fred Souergino from Top Stage Composites “We have put a lot of time and effort into this one and we are starting to see the results.”
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The front end now features a custom nose cone and splitter designed to work in harmony with the rear.
“The front of the car is one area we have paid a lot of attention to and we designed it to the absolute limit of the Open Class rule book” said team principle Zie Yap. “When we bolted the whole thing together I went and ran the tape measure over everything and suddenly the bottom of the front bumper was a few millimetres over the 150mm allowed.”
“So not wanting to take any chances I pulled it apart, boxed it up and shipped it back to Freddy and had him modify it. After spending this much time and money I would rather get to sleep at night knowing we are 100% legal.”
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The interior is sparse and all business with a full steel roll cage and race seat protecting the occupant.
Occupant safety was high on JMD Yard’s priorities, which is understandable when you realise this little Honda is going flat out into the daunting Turn One at Sydney Motorsport Park at well over 220km/h.
The build quality is exceptional and is a reflection of the incredibly high standard to which many of the new WTAC cars are now being built to.
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JDM Yard is the Australian dealer for HARDRACE products so not surprisingly the car was wrapped in a stunning HARDRACE livery.
Having witnessed this little car run a lap time on a damp track that two years ago would have put it on the podium we can only imagine what they have in store for game day. This is one serious Honda and we can’t wait to see it run with the big boys at WTAC next week!
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