Happy to have the Fit as a track car, and Thunderhill is a fantastic track.

NCRC racing is a great way to get into this.




Not really . This was a yellow flag moment.

The most obvious weakness is the braking system. Had heard that Spoon was happy with the Fit brakes, but mine were toast by the 2nd lap of the 3rd session...


What I got so far:
Skunk2 suspension
Skunk2 short shifter w/ knob
Konig Circuit8 wheels
Toyo R compounds (shaved)

Up next:
Stainless lines
Rear swaybar
Skunk2 K20
My own custom flares and spoiler
Advan RS-D wheels


How it went?

Wasn't really sure how the fit would do at Thunderhill in almost stock form. As it was my first go, I was in the driving school with the noobs. NCRC were a nice group, and you get a couple slow laps to learn the course and try passing, flags, etc.

Third session out they set us free, and everybody was pretty quick with the point-by's. Honestly, I thought I'd be a rolling chicane, as there were vettes and vipers in the group. But all the faster cars were being cautious, and my only point-by, was for a modded vette at the end of turn one.

I could only manage 90-91mph on the front straight with a clean line and WOT, where the s2000's were easily over 110.

I didn't bother with renting a lap-timer yet, as I just wanted to get a feel for it and have fun.

The track day really helped me make up my mind, to focus on building up this car, rather than getting the FD3S. Just gotta make sure I get the K20 mounts and axles, before they stop selling them.

I'm going to sketch up the car before I finish it, and I'll post them here.

 

Welcome to the forums and nice to see another TW fit around my neck of the wood.

 

Welcome to FF! It's nice to see another fellow motorsports enthusiast. Do you have the Skunk2 Pro-C? What kind of brakes are you running? How many track days do you have under your belt?

 

Thanks Guys! Glad to be here.

First day on a track, and barely had time to throw together what's there. Going to Laguna Seca next, and I'll be prepping the car better for that. I'll also bring a video camera next time.

Brakes were stock, still rear drum. I'm trying to research the best method of upgrading. I'm thinking it shouldn't be too much fabrication to fit 4x100 integra rotors? Big brake kits usually seem overpriced, without the performance to back them up.

I'm trying springs first. It seems a lot of people run coils for stance, but I'm interested to know of actual lap time reduction from them? I've heard from a few people that I'd do better to use the money for Kraftwerks or swap.

 

Nice to see another guy taking the fit out to do some lapping events here.

I've been doing quite some events at Pacific Raceway up in WA and Mission raceway in Mission BC, Canada. I'm using motul brake fluid, power slot brake rotors(they're the same size as Integra 4x100 rotors btw), and Ferodo DS2500 pads for street & track at the moment. Rear drums' have been adjusted to get a little better braking also. So far this setup works great for me and never had trouble hard braking lap after lap at Mission raceway, track that's known to kill brakes.

I am using Showa sport shocks that I bought from Asia with Eibach pro kit front spring & T1R spring rear. The T1R rear spring have less coils at the back & they're quite a bit more responsive compare with the pro-kit rear. That's why I swapped them so my car rotate better around turns. I personally wont get coilovers just because I drive around rough road surface sometimes and no point to have such a "racey" setup on street. If I'm getting coilovers I will get something like Ohlins DFV/Koni 2812. But the fit is my DD also.

 

The GD3 uses the same size rotors as the Civic and Integra. I suggest upgrading the rotors, pads, lines (stainless), and brake fluid (Endless or Motul).

As for the suspension, you're probably experience a significant amount of nose dive and roll out on the track. I would recommend saving up for full coilovers.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I try never to turn away free advice. I'll definitely swap out the braking system, and take a look at coilovers in the threads here. I still don't feel right leaving a drum brake on it. Someone has to have swapped over rear discs from an older Si?

In my limited time on the track, the brakes just got too hot on turn 9, and then on 10 it's coming down so fast downhill, almost into ABS, the brakes over-heated. Not just on my car either. An Audi S4 went uber-stinky, as well as a civic (who spun at 11), and a couple others.

 

I don't really think u need rear disc conversion for lapping. I think with good pads/rotors/good tires & alignment setup u will do fine at a LOT of tracks. The Fit is pretty much gutless anyway. That's just me though. Even u do, I think u can upgrade the fronts to 1715 caliper & rotors size(11" Integra R/CRV/Prelude size)first.

Man I hope I can either go to Thunderhill/Oregon Raceway in 2011. I just started a new job so can't go for a longer trip with my vacation time this season. Argh....

I strongly recommend the Ferodo DS2500 pads. Very well known in Europe and very good choice for dd/autocross/lapping events. I don't even have to warm up my brakes at sub-zero temperature. However brakes still hold up very well when I keep on hard braking from 170kph-ish on a day with 35c+ outside on the track. If u're still worry, u can try to make a couple of brake ducts/take out the rear seat to shave some weight.

 

I think i may just finish my engine work, and then see how much brake i need. Stock it's gutless, but I don't plan to leave the L15 there. If I decide not to go fitswap k20, I'll just sell the fit and get an RX7, or wait for the FT86. But I'd prefer a Kfit over most cars, as I like small fast cars, the swap kits are already made, and motors are getting cheaper day by day.

Ive memorized the .pdf instructions, and have the shop space, tools, and 3 qualified friends. Blacktrax is local and can probably do the startup & tuning. Just working now on having the spare $7k, to get the motor, axles, piggyback EC, mounts all at once so the car won't sit. Coilovers and big brake kits would cut into the engine fund a bit too much.

 

U should find out about brake distribution with the Fit if u really wanna get bbk front & rear disc conversion. I think the 1st gen fit runs EBD also? So I'm not sure if that's as easy as changing a proportional valve like the civics. And I would try to find a bigger master cylinder too.

If u gonna do a K swap then I will recommend spoon 4pot w/typeR size pads & rotors for front & typeR size "914" rear calipers,pads & rotors in rear.

 

I personally won't go Kswap in my fit just because it runs torsion beam at the back. U can adjust the rear alignment angle with shims but that's a whole lot of work to make it perfect. So the cornering potential is hardly as close as the civic/integras. This is the reason why I'm not doing any engine mod to mine. Only tranny, suspension & brakes. The rest of the $ I'm gonna save it for a NB Miata or a E30 M3 as my track car.

And another sad thing I know is even with a swap/FI'd setup, my car still not gonna worth all that much when I need to sell it/claim insurance for it.

 

Glad to see more people hitting the track with their Fits...and in relatively stock condition too!

I've had first-hand experience with overheated brakes. Sometimes it takes just a few seconds off your lap time to get them too hot.

Case in point: in my last trackday at Batangas Racing Circuit (Google it if you like), after running all day my best time was a 2:20.8. I got my instructor to drive the nuts out of my car for curiosity's sake, and he was consistently in the 2:17-2:18 range, topping out at 2:17.2 after three laps. He had to abort a fourth hot lap though, because my tires and brakes were clearly too hot. Worse, my DOT4 brake fluid (ATE SL) had boiled, leaving a soft, long pedal that instills very little confidence.

My GD1 still has its stock brake system (front discs, rear drums), just different pads. I've experimented with the stock Honda/Nissin pads and Tanabe's orange aftermarket pads and both are pretty good. However I'd still recommend upgrading to a higher-temperature pad for trackday jaunts. Stuff that can handle 400 degC should be enough - Endless, Project Mu and Winmax are top Japanese-made choices. Good luck!

 

When it comes to outright potential of the Fit chassis, the Top Fuel civic worked really hard to barely break the 1:00 mark, and become the fastest FWD at Tsukuba. The J's Kfit pulled a 1:00.459 on the same track. I doubt anybody on this forum could make up that difference with the civic (or a bmw).

That 1:00.459 is quicker than many S2000's, EVO's, etc. Genuinely quick.

I'm pretty certain that a Fit brought to it's full potential, will be faster than I'd be capable of driving it.

And chasing z06's in a clown car sounds a lot more fun to me, than having the same old E30/mx5/vette/z/Porsche that everyone else at the track has.

I'm not worried about resale value on a car I track. I accepted total loss, the minute I got into the hot pits.

 

@Type 100, thanks for the info. The miata guys had good things to say about Hawk pads too. I'm thinking I'll run endless pads on race days, and swap in hawk pads for street use.

 

Yep I've heard nothing but praise for Endless' pads. I got a few hardcore track addict friends who swear by them as the best pad you can buy.

The Winmax pads meanwhile were recommended by my race driving instructor. He's more of a Toyota guy admittedly, and he used to be a pro touring car driver so I bet he'd know his stuff! I'm sure Winmax also makes pads for our cars - I took a gander at their website and found 'em, it's just a matter of finding someone who'd resell them in North America.

 

Really glad to see more Fits Racing... 1st off I am an avid racer, I Autocross regularly at the SCCA Houston Region ST Class, I got 2nd place @ last weekends event. only 0.150 seconds off the 1st place in a RSX Type S Running 225 Advans AD08's and all the suspension bits and that dude can drive!

http://www.houscca.com/solo/results/10REG05R.TXT

Now before I get too off topic, I did take my '07 GD3 to New Jersery Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ (Lighting course) last year and I can truly say that Hawk HP+, cryo treated powerslot rotors, T1R SS brake lines, and Motul RBF600 are more then enough braking for a basic bolt-on'd Fit. The Fit is gutless in almost stock form but still MAD FUN!! I was doing about 6 x 30 min sessions per day for two days, non-stop lapping and not much of fade after they warmed up. I was doing about 95mph at the end of the straight away (getting passed by about everything on the track... but hang in and catching up on the slower corners)... Tracking is Awesome. But my advice don't go crazy with the mods unless you have another car to drive daily. There is just so much headache to get a car done right and the pressure of having to get it done so you can go to work the next day.

I have been through a few sets of pads. Hawk HPS, Hawk HP+, and now I'm running EBC Yellowstuff... The EBC's are about 8.5/10 the stopping power of the HP+ warm but they don't sequel like pigs on normal driving (hence why I switched). I might go back to HP+ or Project Mu if I go back to a full sized track.

Here I go off topic, but here is a question I'm planning on buying a diffrent set of rims to put full racing tires on.. any suggestions? My Choices on tires in 205/50 15:
-BFGoodrich G-Force R1
-Toyo R888
-Hankook Ventus Z214 C51 medium compound
-Kumho Ecsta V710
staying away from Hoosier because I hear they don't last more then 1 or 2 events... I would like to at least get 3 or 4 events out of the tires.

 

Thanks for the reply and advice. Great to hear real track guys owning Fits. Seems I'll have a hard time deciding on brakes, but choice is a good thing.

Awesome autocross placing!

I agree with having 2 cars. My last car was an AE86, built to N2 spec (copy of a car I saw in Kagoshima). It became a real pain on the street, and I had to sell it when I had my kid. The constant fuel/oil smell wasn't mom-approved.

My backup street car this time will be easy- a 1992 corolla 4dr 5speed. Only $400 for a rebuilt 4ag, super easy to swap in, 200k between engine rebuilds, and I like the look when it's clean. Cheapest car in the world over the long haul.

The way finances are working though, I still have a bit of time before the Fit gets angry.

 

I will be running both 15x7 +38offset Kosei K1 with 225/45R15 Nitto NT01 AND my 15x6.5 +45offset regamaster evo rims with 205/50R15 Bridgestone RE11 this season. The NT01 are slightly used at autocross events & the RE11 are brand new. I hope I can try them out at Pacific Raceway soon and hopefully get some lap times this season.

I will let u guys know after I try them out.

 

Whoa N2 spec AE86 that's pretty much straight out road race setup? I always wanted an old starlet or celica since I was a kid. But after I started working I just don't have that kinda fund & patience to rebuild one. More & more responsibility & bills to pay.

 

OP, I suggest that you practice running on street tires first. Running on R-Compounds will only hide your mistakes and you won't get any faster. Practice with street tires until you can no longer improve your times, then move onto R-Compounds.