We have all read the glossy magazines touting the latest 11 second Honda. Unfortunately many of these magazines don't tell the whole story on these cars and many younger readers think that it is totally possible to build and drive an 11 second Honda on the street every day on pump gas and street tires. Let's qualify what makes an 11 second second street car:
It can consistently run mid 11s (not 11.99s) while running on 92-94 octane pump fuel, DOT approved rubber, with a full interior and with a sound level of under 95 dB outside. It does not mean that you have run these times by adding a tank of race gas, drag slicks and removed the muffler to run these times. This is no longer street legal.
Let's examine the hard facts. Most of the really fast Hondas are totally stripped down with Saran Wrap for windows, have no interiors, use severely beefed up drive train parts and ridiculous looking drag slicks and have a $10,000 engine. Does any of this sound practical for the street?
Hondas are front wheel drive cars and as such have limited traction for drag racing. It is incredible that some people go to such lengths to make a front drive drag car which really isn't that fast in the scheme of 4 cylinder cars. There have been 9 second VW's and turbo Pinto's around for 20 years. Today there are some Japanese 4 cylinder rear drive cars running even into the 7's if you include the latest lightweight Toyotas and Mazdas. How does all this relate to performance street use? It doesn't really.
Street and race cars are not as far apart as they once were but a true race car still makes a poor street car and vice versa.
For younger readers, dreaming of big horsepower on the street, be prepared to lower your expectations a lot. You cannot make 400 hp on pump gas out of your 1.6 liter Honda engine. While some full race drag engines might produce this power for a short period of time on 112 octane race gas, you can be sure that this engine costs a minimum of $10,000 with a vast array of custom parts and specialized preparation within. Even if you had such an engine in your car and a supply of race fuel, the tires would totally go up in smoke all of the time, the torque steer would be ferocious and you would be puking out clutches, CV joints, transaxles and engine block parts onto the road all of the time.
A reasonable expectation would be a 12 or 13 second car that will beat most anything you run into on the street and that you don't have to spend an hour repairing for every hour that you get to drive it. With modern materials, turbo technology and electronics, this is a practical level for a street driven Honda.
If you want to really go fast on the drag strip a better and cheaper choice would be rear drive Nissan or Toyota. Not only do these cars have more traction potential, their engines are considerably stronger and larger than most Hondas so they will be faster with less money spent.
The 11 second drag Honda is treated as a magical revelation in some car magazines. Sorry guys, this is old news in the rest of the import world. Don't get me wrong. Honda builds excellent cars with probably the highest tech production engines in the world but this Honda worship has to be put in proper perspective. Hondas are just cars like Toyotas, Mazdas, Nissans and Mitsus. Got it?
Let me be clear, we don't "hate" Hondas, we just object to the neglect and lack of recognition that other marques receive in the press. Honda/Acura makes some of the best front wheel drive cars in the world and if that is your bag, by all means, enjoy driving them.
06/22/01 Update
Oh no! The chat groups have got hold of this one again! This article talks about Hondas, not DSMs. It talks about 1.6 liter engines running on pump gas NOT making 400hp. It talks about stock transaxles and halfshafts blowing up on a regular basis with 400 hp behind them. It talks about running these times on DOT rubber, not slicks.
Bottom line here: Bolting a turbo kit onto your 1.6 Civic running pump gas and street rubber will not give you an 11 second car. Build up a trick engine with all the right parts, run it on 118 octane, do some suspension work, install a stronger transaxle and halfshafts and a set of slicks along with some weight reduction and you can have an 8 or 9 second FWD car. This ain't a street car any more boys and you just dropped 10-15K plus the car.
Honda guys get so bitter! We're not attacking the cars, we're attacking the mentality of naive people who believe all the hype in the glossy mags without question. News flash! You can't defy the laws of physics, even with a Honda. Triple the power through the stock drivetrain and it will break. Triple the hp requires triple the brake mean effective cylinder pressure. It's going to detonate on pump gas and grenade. Educate yourself a bit:
Pushing it Too Far
Airflow, Fuel Flow, HP Formulae
Ignition and Combustion
Fuel Octane vs. Horsepower
Dyno Thoughts and HP Losses
Intelligent Engine Modifications
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