FLICK's Super Lap Wining EG Civic
FLICK (Andrew), thanks for being part of the latest Ozhonda feature car. Before we begin, can you tell us what's the reasoning behind your username?
Thanks for the invitation. FLICK is one of many nicknames I have but this one has seem to have stuck with me. I guess it's better than the other ones i have been given in the past so i wont complain. I'm a Pest Controller and have been for 6 years. I first started with a Pest Control Company called FLICK Pest Control. So my bored mates decided to call me FLICK from then on (Lucky i don't work for DICK SMITH).
Can you give us a bit of history about you, your first Honda and what made you get into Honda vehicles.
Well i wont bore you about me so i will tell you about my first Honda. This was when i was 16 or 17. I met a bloke who had made a living from buying cars and selling them in the comfort of his home. It's amazing how much more you can sell a car with just a detail. He had 7 cars in front of his house ranging from 3000gt's, a couple R34 skylines, 180sx's and what not. All those cars were way out of my price range at the time. I only had a couple of grand to spend at most.
One day i get a phone call from him telling me he had a Honda Accord 1985 3 door with 17 inch rims and it was lowered (it was fully sick at the time). You know what though, this car was a surprise I tell you. Suspension wise it had Monroe shocks, Sparco rims, painted calipers and an oil leak!
The car was slow but it handled great. it actually felt like a sports car and I was pretty proud of my purchase. Back then (I don't know if it still exists now) but there was a meet, a quite exclusive meet which really only saw the same cars, same quantity and some fairly upmarket models ranging from European to Japanese. The meet was what we referred to as "Mt White". This was when Long Street and Newton Road outings were on some time back.
Mt White was our Australian version of Initial D. Two sections of mountain runs which end up on the old freeway finished of with some drag racing. This was the best meet that existed. Anyway, when my car had literally no oil left, let's just say it freakn' ripped! So fast I was keeping up with a WRX around the mountains. People would come up and ask what mods were done to the car and I would say " no oil bro".
The car ran out of rego and I left it for too long and umm...the council came and collected the car. The seats are still on my balcony though!
So that was my first Honda and it wouldn't be until 8 years later I ended up with this Yellow Civic you see before you.
How did you go about getting the car to where it is? Did you build it / work on it yourself or were you after a semi-worked package that you could tweak to your liking?
Well i wish I could answer that question. All I knew at the time was that i wanted a weekend warrior K20 EG CIVIC. I made a few inquiries around and some shops wanted 20k+ just for the conversion and this and that. Rang my good friend Hassan (Hookitup.co) and he just said to give Dr. Honda a call. I gave him a call and next thing you know the following day I ended up with a fully built k24 (183kw). Now I had to look for a car. Yes i bought the engine before I bought the car! At this time I still didn't know what I wanted. The first car I looked at I ended up buying! It was love at first sight. This yellow beast that Nelson Lee use to own was immaculate. It was a properly built street/track car. It was perfect for what i wanted at the time.
Time passed and 6 months later I ended up with some beast which I had never expected. Two seats, no interior, ridiculously loud and fast! What happened to my weekend K20 cruiser? Hmm I dunno. The car was fast, faster than I had imagined. Louder than I could have imagined. The only thing I could visualise now is losing my license or killing myself. As a daily, its not friendly. Needed to be on the track where it belonged. I waited till rego ran out and just went all out on it as you can see. But again the only thing difference is presentation of the car and a few aerodynamic components and stickers that makes it go faster. So not much had changed apart from appearance.
It might sound like a silly question, but why NA and not turbo?
Because I love Honda's. For a 4 cylinder to do what it does without a hairdryer is truly remarkable. Superlap was a fine example that you don't need a turbo or "Supercharger" to do ridiculous times. You don't need 500hp to do 140's at Eastern Creek. NA? Its the Honda way. You wouldn't eat Sashimi with BBQ sauce now would you?
You have a strong following from readers regarding your car and its achievements in the thread "Official Fastest FWD in Australia. Eastern Creek". What made you make the thread and keep people updated on your build?
It's not a build thread. It was just one afternoon I came back from a track day and thought I'd share the experiences of my first day at the track. Next thing you know my first day at the track led to a victory at Superlap some 9 months later. Pretty uncanny when you think about it. Monstrous things can be achieved in a short period of time if you put your mind to it. Don't let people tell you that you need to be racing for X amount of years to get anywhere.
When it comes to competition, should details of a build and modifications be kept a secret from other competitors?
You see, workshops invest a lot of money and time into Research and Development and it is that that gives you that slight edge over your competitor. Some things should be shared and some things you just don't. As selfish as they may sound, to be the fastest that's is what you have to do. You have to protect the foundation of the businesses involved. So yes, there is a level of secrecy.
Do you feel you might be losing a competitive advantage by revealing what is done to your car?
No not at all. What i have revealed is that you don't have to have all the N1 full race spec components to do times that only the usual race car would do. Look at my spec sheet, cars out there I know of have more serious gear on there car than mine. I just knew how to make it all work and work well. My team and I have managed to maximize each and every component on the car. I managed to unite the best in the business and watch them do there work in there respective areas and it was a treat to be apart of it. How often do you see Australia's best K- SERIES engine developer (Dr Honda) team up with one of the best tuners (Insight Motorsport), working along side IPRA Champion Greg Hartnett as the Chassis developer and then strapping John Boston in the seat and watch everything just evolve? Not often, not here in Australia anyway.
There's been a few other drivers who have driven your car and got good times. Given this is your car, do you have any issues with other people getting good times in your car?
There's only ever been John Boston in the hot seat. Its good to get a benchmark for your car instead of finding out the hard way. That way, you don't spend more money on your car until you do those times that driver did.
There is some friendly competition (both offline and online) with other competitors. Does this help or hinder your motivation (the online competition part)?
Depends who your competing with. If they're absolute pricks then it helps motivate you to go faster. In competition I only respect good sportsmanship. Win or lose, you should be graceful!
SUPERLAP 2010 - It's been almost 2 months since then. Now that you've had a chance for the results to sink in, what did you learn and what are some of your afterthoughts?
Two months already? It hasn't really sunk in yet. It still shocks me to think that we went there hoping to do 1min 43's. It wasn't long ago (6 months) that a 146-147 was blistering fast for a FWD N/A. I remember joking around with Professional Driver / Driver trainer John Boston saying " Imagine we do a 1min 42 " He would reply with " your dreaming mate". So that lap time of 140.9 hasn't sunken in yet and I don't think it ever will. You know, I do 1min 48's around there and I feel like I'm flying. I can't imagine what a 1:40 feels like.
What did I learn? Listen to the experts, especially if they're there to help. If they say everything is going to be okay then it will most likely be okay. I had a habit of stressing out because for some reason. Whether that be a normal track day or Superlap, my car seems to be ready the night before. You see with Superlap, I was just happy to even make the event. My car was not even ready 24hrs prior to the event and it still wasn't 100% where I wanted it be. So to pull off what we did was unexpected and that made all the stress well worth it. It just goes to show if the car was 100% where it should have been I wonder what lap times we could have done. Nonetheless still very proud of the result.
You've just recently put your car up for sale on Ozhonda!? Oh no! Why did you do that?
The car was suppose to be sold 6 months ago, but when I put John Boston in the seat to see what lap times it would do, I sort of change my mind and decided to keep it. I said to the wife and kids let daddy win Superlap first then I will sell it. My wife remembers what I said. Plus it comes at a time where I just can't afford to keep it. It's unfortunate but that's life. Next year I will be building another car. Probably a USDM inspired street car. Maybe an K-swapped EK with all that bling! When I do this I will be sharing it in a build thread.
What advice do you have to others who are thinking of getting into track racing?
Work hard! Overtime! and be extremely nice to the the other half. That's step 1!
Do your research, get some driver training (John_boston@bigpond.com). Driver training will allow you to learn what you would learn by yourself in 1 year, to be able to learn it in 1 day. It will save you time, a s--tload of money and possibly some panel damage. Driver training is worth every penny.
Finally, if you could do it all again how would you do it differently?
Well, I built a street car then weeks later I decided I'm gonna build a race car. So I doubled up my cost. Next time before I do anything I will make sure I know what direction I want to head in. It will save me a tonne of money, time and headaches. Oh, and get rid of the Mrs. ;)
Andrew, thank you for taking the time to complete this feature and also a big thanks to Albert (Berty) for taking the pictures. You can check out more of Albert's work at http://albertnghiem.com
Additional Resources and Further Reading:
Special Thanks:
- DR HONDA for the incredible engine and for taking the time and effort to do what you have done.
- MTA APPRENTENCESHIP PLUS for the development fund.
- INSIGHT MOTORSPORTS For the awesome tune.
- SHIFT PERFORMANCE for your friendly service and parts.
- John Boston - Pro Driver / Driver Trainer / Superlap Trophy Hauler
- Greg Hartnett - 2009 IPRA Champion / Chassis Developer - Fabricator
- Westside Mufflers - Fabricator ( Brad can make anything !!! )
- Chris Digler - Awesome young mechanic with a bright future ahead of him.
- Chris - PROTUNE Engineering
- Vsport - John and Gary for there expert advice and parts all things Chassis.
Engine Modification List:
BRIAN CROWER 2.6L STROKER KIT
DR HONDA PORTED CYLINDER HEAD
RODS
PISTON
CAMSHAFTS
TODA CAM GEAR
VALVE SPRINGS
RETAINERS
BRONZE VALVE GUIDES
CHAIN TENSIONER
INJECTOR DYNAMICS 1000cc
6PSD DC5R 4.7FD ( ONLY NEO OIL USED)
OS GIKEN 1.5 WAY LSD
SSR/DTR BIG TUBE HEADERS
KOYO FULL SIZE RADIATOR
SKUNK 2 74MM THROTTLE BODY ( THE NEW HECTIC BLACK ONE!!!)
EARLS SS FUEL LINES AND FUEL FILTER
RCREW FUEL RAIL
RCREW STRAIGHT PIPE EXHAUST ( REAR BUMPER EXIT)
AEROMOTIVE FPR
OIL COOLER
HASPORT MOUNTS
CUSTOM CAI
OMNI CLUTCH MASTER CYLINDER
EXEDY 3 PUK RACE CLUTCH
PORTED MATCH RBC MANIFOLD
Suspension / Chassis Modification list:
BONDS ROLL BARS 10PT ROLL CAGE ( CAMS / FIA APPROVED) CERTIFICATE.
BUDDYCLUB RACING SPECS DAMPERS
BUDDYCLUB FRONT CAMBER KIT
BUDDYCLUB REAR CAMBER KIT
DC2R FRONT SWAY
DC2R REAR SUBFRAME
ASR BRACE
MUGEN REAR TRAILING ARM BUSHING
SPOON FRONT BUSHING
CASTER KIT (HEASMAN STEERING)
Braking Modification List:
AP RACING CALIPER
AP RACING 295MM ROTORS
WESTSIDE MUFFLERS CUSTOM ALUMINIUM 4X100 HATS AND BRACKETS
FERODO DS2500'S will also throw in HAWK DTC-60 PADS
STANDARD EK4 BRAKES with PMU PADS ( no kidding )
GOODRIDGE BRAIDED BRAKE LINES
Wheels / Tyres Modification List:
949 RACING 6UL'S
15X9 FRONTS WITH 225/50/15 A050'S
15X8 REAR WITH 225/50/15 A050'S
Exterior / Aerodynamic Modification List:
VOLTEX 3D GT WING. CUSTOM MADE BRACKETS BY WESTIDE MUFFLERS
ALUMINIUM FRONT SPLITTER CUSTOM MADE BY WESTSIDE MUFFLERS
ALUMINIUM CANARDS CUSTOM MADE MY WESTSIDE MUFFLERS
ALUMINIUM REAR DIFFUSER CUSTOM MADE BY WESTSIDE MUFFLERS
ALUMINIUM DOOR TRIMS BY WESTSIDE MUFFLERS
ALUMINIUM HEADLIGHT REPLACEMENT AIR INTAKE
CARBON FIBRE BONNET
LEXAN DRIVER SIDE WITH SLIDER KIT
LEXAN PASSENGER WINDOW
LEXAN REAR QUARTER WINDOWS
LEXAN REAR WINDOW
LEXAN PURCHASED FROM PLASTICS FOR PERFORMANCE IN THE UK
GENUINE SPOON MIRRORS
Interior Modification List:
BRIDE VIOS III
SPARCO RAIL
SPARCO 6X6 HARNESS
DEFI-LINK DISPLAY ( OIL TEMP, WATER TEMP AND OIL PRESSURE)
DEFI-LINK CONTROL UNIT 2
MOMO LIMITED EDITION STEERING WHEEL
AIM LAP TIMER
FIRE EXTINGUISHER
HONDATA KPRO
