2008 Honda Civic SI

This 2008 Honda Civic SI is a perfect example of an practical, economical 4 door car that you can also have fun with at the track. 

MODS - Updated 7-1-16

• Skunk2 Cold air intake
• P2R Throttle body spacer with thermal gaskets
• Skunk2 Alpha Race Header
• Skunk2 Megapower R exhaust
• SPC rear camber arms
• Eibach sportline lowering springs
• Eibach front and rear sway bars
• Koni yellow sport struts
• Hybrid Racing EM1 clutch master cylinder
• Centric cryotreated blank rotors
• Hawk streetrace pads
• Hondata FlashPro tuned by Tracy at
• Tuners Inc.
• Sparco Assetto Gara 17x7.5 wheels
• Bridgestone RE71R 225/25 tires
• ASR front camber plates
• Ground Control coilovers
• Eibach race springs 450F/430R

Owners notes:

The Skunk2 race header eliminates the catalytic converter which bumps the car into DSP. However with a weld or bolt on cat it will drop back to STX. I choose to not cut into the exhaust and run in SMF as I take the rear interior out on autocross days and have similar competition in that class.

Fathers Day 700hp GT-R Fun

Scott lets his dad drive the 700hp Alpha 7 Nissan GT-R for Fathers Day. He gives it the beans in track mode and was speechless!

Beard vs EPIC Beard - Subaru STI - HUGE Autocross at Daytona Speedway

Grant takes on Ben's American Civil War General Era Beard at Daytona International Speedway for Autocross. Grant usually drives a Mustang but was helping Ben dial in his coil-overs. 

Preview of the Picture album by Philip Petrie. Full album on the Event photos page.

[BLOG] Going from a Mustang to a Subaru in Autocross

Once a year the Central Florida Autocross Region hosts an event at Daytona International Speedway. Though this year instead of being on the tiny gokart track it was in the gigantic guest parking lot. 

My competitor and good friend Ben had just bought a very nice set of adjustable coil over suspension. One of the best ways to dial it in is to simply get more seat time in the car. 

Holding on tight in this bumpy course

Some background. I have only driven one all wheel drive car before. a 2007 Subaru Forester converted to STI specs. Though I did do one run in Ben's car in December of 2015 but back when he was on Pirelli Super-Sport tires. I have about ~4 years of competitive driving experience.

The car is now on 265/35/18 Bridgestone RE-71R tires, with full bolt ons, a turbo swap, and a MCS coilover suspension (more detail below).

This car was just stupid amounts of fun to drive. Ben says its putting down around 340(wheel HP) and 360 (wheel TQ). We were running the car on a lower boost tune due to the excessive heat that day and to be honest it still felt more powerful than my Mustang which makes about the same to the wheels. The power just SURGES on with minimal turbo lag. I still had to slightly change the way in which i drive. Was a bit strange going into a turn and putting my foot to the floor in order to spool up the turbo for the exit. In the Mustang this would be very bad and result in massive amounts of over-steer (running into crowds of people). My strategy seemed to work pretty well and I became very attuned to the car quickly. I placed 1st out of 6 competitors that day, and a ~20th raw time out of 120.

Back to the suspension and the whole reason I was co-driving. Ben's new adjustable suspension was made out of some kind of dark unicorn-magic. The course at Daytona was very bumpy and I actually managed to slightly sprain my arm that day from the ultra death grip i put on the steering wheel when I drive. After that first run though we dialed down the stiffness and the bumps just went away. Really goes to show you that a very expensive suspension system won't necessarily make you faster but can make you more consistent. This particular suspension was a Motion Control System (MCS). They usually run in the upper 4k-5K ranges and are very high quality. 

We managed to each bring down our times and clean up our runs by the end of the day. Mission success and I hope I helped out Ben by showing him a different driving style and giving him more runs to dial in the suspension! See Ben's build page on our site and follow us on YouTube to see how the competition goes this year against him!

Grant - Spectro Racing Staff

How to Make Great Sounding Car Videos

Grant goes over how to make a great sounding car video with a GoPro or Handicam

Track Battle: 700hp GT-R vs Track Prepped Mustang @ FIRM

Grant takes on Scott in a David vs "Godzilla" challenge. Grants 405hp Mustang w/Autocross Aero vs Scott's 700HP Alpha 7 Nissan GT-R . The Mustang has more grip and aero but is down on power. See if he can keep up!