Shooting Past 911s in a Modified CRX
A CRX That Smokes 911s? It’s true. Here’s the story.
Early Days
The CRX has always been a popular tuner car and for all the best reasons: they are affordable, readily available, have a huge aftermarket following and they are incredibly lightweight. All of this makes them way more than a simple commuter car, so when a man named Kenny phoned me up and asked me if I wanted to ride in a home built version, my first thought was “How good can a CRX really be?” The answer slapped me in the face the first time he dropped the clutch on the 6-speed transmission: these things are incredible.
Gone with the Wind
My love affair with the CRX started from the moment Kenny—the owner of this car—opened the door. I couldn’t believe how empty the interior looked with seats and dashboard removed. These cars are light with their interiors completely intact—around 2,300 to 2,500 lbs to ballpark it. Reason number 1 behind smoking the stable of brand new 911s that sparkled in the California track day sun is lightweight. If this car was any lighter, a gust of wind would likely have blown it off the Auto Club banking that day. Fully gutted these things can weigh anywhere from 1,500 lbs to 1,700 lbs which is ridiculously light. It’s actually so light it’s hard to explain what driving something as this feels like. It does everything you ask of it and absolutely assaulted every corner Kenny threw at it. It also meant that our minimum cornering speed was much higher than the competition. We even blew by a few GT-Rs in the corners.
Super Power
Weighing less than three feathers means you don’t need massive power to haul serious ass into turn 1. Packing the legendary 2 liter K-series under the hood was a smart decision on Kenny’s part and with a Hondata ECU and stand-alone wiring harness the CRX had reliable power that felt on par with an M3 or 991 Carrera S. 4-2-1 headers could be felt in the mid-range which gave the car a huge advantage in constant radius corners. All of this required an aftermarket radiator in order to keep temperatures cool—but that was no problem. We had zero issues with overheating. Again, lightweight cars don’t require big engines or boost which means cooling isn’t as big of an issue. This car felt like something in the neighborhood of 240whp, but it accelerated as fast as a brand new Porsche for sure.
Footloose
K-sport coilovers with polyurethane bushings all the way around helped the 16x8 XXR wheels put all of the power down while a Quaife differential sorted out which wheel to get the power to in order to rocket us out of whatever corner the Fontana infield threw at us. Bridgestone RE71R were the weapon of choice on this vehicle which didn’t break traction at any point in time. This car put all of its power down all of the time which is a solid testament to what you are trying to do with a race car: prevent wheel spin. Having such lightweight with great suspension dynamics really allowed this car to annihilate everything in its path that wasn’t a supercar driven by the most experienced drivers. I was blown away and reminded instantly how far great suspension setup and lightweight can go when a competent driver is behind the wheel.
Image courtesy of Ksport
Small Budget Production
Kenny explained to me that he built this car on a budget which was incredibly impressive given the speeds we were traveling. Because of this, he’s had to figure out how to make all his parts work together which is important even if you can afford high-quality parts. Slapping on 3-way adjustable Sachs coilovers means very little if you don’t know how to adjust rebound or figure out the correct balance of spring rates front to rear. This has all been dialed in on the yellow CRX you see before you which had the effect of embarrassing quite a few owners of “better cars” on this track day. Notice how flat the car is in this photo at speed?
Image courtesy of Apexjunky.com
You Only Drive Twice
On our second outing to try and improve lap times the owner informed me that this car was going to be parted out and sold to fund another project. It was a sad moment as I really wished I had the money to buy it from him right then and there. This car really did handle that well and left my awestruck at how such an affordable car could go so quick. When asked what amount he would take for it he simply answered “$10,000.” Deals like this are common in the Honda world and truly make you wonder why anyone would choose to race anything else. If you just want to go fast there isn’t really anything better. In terms of dollars spent to speed attained, this car has to be the best I’ve ever experienced.
Image courtesy of apexjunky.com
Fast and Curious
Other than learning how ridiculously cool these cars can be when tuned correctly, the take away for me was how good they handle given how much owners put into these vehicles. Honda is one of the only brands that can accomplish this type of value for money and the CRX is a vehicle everyone should own at some point in their life. They’re classic JDM rockets that can cut very impressive laps without breaking the bank and that is why guys like Kenny continue to modify them. Honda’s CRX: a certified supercar killer.
Image courtesy of modernracer.com
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