To the casual observer, racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats looks easy. There's plenty of room to go fast. Seemingly plenty of time since Speed Week is just that, a week, and there are 358 days to get the car ready for the next event. No problem, right?
Wrong. Reality is a bitch.
Don't let the accomplishments of Jeff Cheechov and team Progress Group fool you. Sure, Progress took two '99 Honda Civic Sis to Bonneville and set two records their first time on the salt. But trust us, it wasn't easy.
It's 610 miles from Anaheim, Calif. to the salt. It seems like a million. The day before they planned to leave, neither car had an engine in it. After three all-night thrashes, with after-hours help from the crews from Holeshot, Area 51 and Killer Bee Racing, both cars were dyno'd and loaded on the trailers. Everyone and everything arrived in Wendover, Utah Monday evening. Two days of competition missed. Four to go. Chew the Tums.
Progress ran one car at El Mirage and Muroc dry lakes in the Southern California desert the previous year. The short course lengths merely whet their appetites for more room, time and shorts-staining speed. Cheechov and crew planned a trip to the salt for Speedweek. Run with the big guys; see what they know. Then they thought, "Why not take two cars and set two records?"
The Progress/Vortech Civics are not twins. The blue car runs in G/Production. "G" indicates a piston-type engine sized up to 2000cc. That's a normally aspirated engine on race gas, only. No blower, no turbo, no nitrous.
Aerodynamic changes are limited to removing the wiper arms and side mirrors. Other than that, lowering the car's ride height to reduce turbulence is the only thing allowed to tweak the car's aero.
Every bit of displacement counts when running 4000 feet above sea level, so the B16 was replaced with a B20 block from a '97 Honda CR-V. Holeshot Racing converted it to VTEC by mating a ported B16 head to the bigger block. Bottom-end tricks include Eagle rods with custom Arias pistons.
The engine is kept alive by RC Engineering injectors fed through a Vortech fuel rail and managed by a Hondata-modified ECU. A Meziere electric water pump, which pumps 20 gallons a minute, keeps things cool. A Crane ignition fires Denso Iridium plugs, lighting a charge that exits through one of Hi-Tech Exhaust's beautiful stainless-steel headers.
A black air dam/nose combo and long rear spoiler keep the green Civic from running in the Production Class. This car runs as an "Altered." F/BGALT to be precise. Same engine size, but with additional class code "BG," which is Bonneville-speak for Blown Gas-thus, the huge vinyl Vortech Engineering stickers.
Driver Richard Holdener is responsible for the supercharged engine. As time ran out, Holdener pieced together a strong B16A. Despite lacking 400cc, the Vortech supercharger more than makes up for its displacement handicap. Air density is a premium at the high elevation of the salt flats, favoring blown and turbo-equipped cars even more than at lower elevations.
Beyond raising combustion pressure to the brink of insanity, the blown car is also equipped with an air-to-water intercooler big enough to swim in. Twenty gallons of ice water flow through the Vortech Aftercooler from a tank in the trunk. Despite its short lifespan, it's well spent, keeping intake temperatures downright chilly through the entire run. This allows for maximum boost and timing advance without the worry of picking one's engine off the salt piece by piece.
The chassis on both cars are right on the money. The cars' straight-line stability at speed is amazing, according to Holdener. Progress coil-overs were re-valved for competition at the salt. Goodyear Frontrunner funny car tires are standard fare at Bonneville, as they're one of the few narrow tires rated for the insane speeds these cars run. Mounted to matching sets of 15x6.5-inch Axis Sport Touring rims, the crew had two different rolling diameters from which to choose.
Taller tires produce a higher effective final drive ratio and are easier to install than a different gear set. The catch-22 on a front-drive Land Speed Racing car is the taller tire raises the car's ride height and increases drag beneath the car. Such are the compromises of racing.
Despite all good preparations, the week was not without mishap. An unnoticed temperature spike scored the pistons on the normally aspirated car and took it out for two days until UPS could deliver an extra set. The Blown Gas car had electrical gremlins, causing the ignition to quit at irregular intervals in top gear. Switching the ignition on and off would bring the engine back to life. Thus, Holdener had no choice but to drive one-handed on his record runs just to keep the engine lit.
Still, they went home with two new records. The blue car averaged 153.415 mph between two runs and bumped the existing record set last year by an 11.5 mph. The green car ran 172.961 mph in one direction, and averaged 164.995 mph, which put it past the 1996 record of 163.223 mph. Outstanding for the team's first time at Bonneville.
But it wasn't enough. Cheechov knows the team can get 200 mph out of the blown car. They won't rest until they do.
InterviewWe took a few minutes with Jeff Cheechov at Progress Group to learn more about the Progress/Vortech Civics and racing with the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA)
There aren't any turns at Bonneville. Why would a suspension manufacturer choose Land Speed Racing as a forum for competition?
Suspension is still an important part of the equation. Progress developed specific damping, spring rates, alignment settings and ride heights for this application over the two years we've been SCTA racing. We corner weight the cars before every event, just like we do for road racing. We also dial in the chassis settings to compensate for aerodynamic loads and poor traction on the salt. Our current set-up has incredible straight-line stability, even above 175 mph. Wheel and tire selection is an important consideration for handling, gearing, rolling resistance and aerodynamics as well. It's quite a challenge.
Seems like there are plenty of cars with more ultimate speed potential. Why a Civic?
A lot of reasons. The '99 Si made the potent B-series powertrain eligible for SCTA production class competition, and making power is very important. The strong drivetrain and high specific output of the Honda twin-cam engines are ideal. The Civic platform is popular with enthusiasts and has good aerodynamic features. Front-wheel drive is also a benefit on the salt, improving high-speed stability and traction issues. Plus, we really like Civics.
What safety devices are required for LSR competition?
At speeds more than 175 mph, the mandatory SCTA requirements get pretty serious. A stout roll cage, window straps, drag-style parachute, 10- lb fire system, arm and neck restraints, etc. We're working with Deist Safety to develop a ballistic fabric scatter shield for Honda gearboxes. Clutch containment has been an issue with the SCTA technical inspectors, as more FWD cars are showing up at events. The SCTA takes an experienced and very conservative approach to safety and have seen a lot of mishaps in the past. By the way, they're older than the NHRA, so they're serious about safety.
Has it been a challenge for your team?
Very much so. We took a look at existing records and thought "this stuff looks easy." Yeah, right. Progress has been challenged to build and tune a complete vehicle. Not just making horsepower and "standing on it." With only 2.0-liters, every detail has to be thought through. I've gone racing on paper and crunched a lot of numbers lately... like bore/stroke, rod angle, piston speed and fuel calibration with some help from RC. We wrote a real handy gear ratio/final drive/tire height spreadsheet graphing the speed and rpm in each gear.
The aerodynamic tuning is fun stuff for me. I used to work on Indy cars, where every team member is a "freelance" aerodynamicist. Much of my knowledge was gained empirically; build and test. We're again building and testing. Fun stuff and learning how to go faster is what this is all about, right? Our team at Progress revisited its racing roots. We have a talented staff of people, many with racing experience, that work well together. We continue to enjoy the challenge of this top speed project. Our sponsors have also been enthusiastic and supportive, calling in for frequent updates and progress reports.
Sounds like everything's gone as planned.
That's not what I was thinking when I was lying on the salt, pulling four scored pistons out of the normally aspirated car. We're very fortunate everything worked out. Make no mistake, Bonneville is a very humbling place.
Hondas must seem a little out of place amongst all the hot rod, pushrod-types.
Most SCTA racecars are older V8 based vehicles, from Ford roadsters to Firebirds. This crowd has a following of power-crazy, blown-fuel gearheads. A production-bodied Firebird went 292 mph this year. You have to see it to believe it. The SCTA also races motorcycles and special regulation lakesters and streamliners, with some vehicles running more than 400 mph. Serious business with pistons. No rocket cars here.
Running Honda Civics is kind of novel, and we got some interesting looks at first. With four records on the books, the Progress/Vortech Civics are taken more seriously, now. A lot of other imports have gone fast there too. Air-cooled VWs, RX7s, Z cars and JUN's wild 260-mph Nissan. There's even an Infiniti Q45 with an IRL engine that ran 216 mph.
The diversity of racers and machines makes these events a lot of fun. I like to see the careful thought and effort that goes into developing these vehicles. We've also found the SCTA racers to be fun and helpful to beginners like us. I go racing to have a good time, and these events are low-key and lots of fun.