It's a sunny Sunday afternoon at the LACR--this is the IDRC's closing race for the '02 season, but my motivation this weekend is to visit Signal Auto. I'm standing in the staging lanes and to my left is their pit area. Understandably, the entire crew--Kousuke Kida, Man-chan (Tsunaeki Mankumo), and most of the U.S. staff--look extremely exhausted, taking long drags on their Marlboros. Even Eiji "Tarzan" Yamada, one of Japan's most revered drivers, is here (driving the S15 Silvia) enjoying the warmth of the afternoon--no, scratch that--his sunglasses deceive me because he's actually out for a nap and nobody could possibly enjoy being at Palmdale. This is more than just another race event for Signal--this particular weekend marks the U.S. debut for Chop Top 3 (CT3), Signal's latest addition to its ever-growing collection of race cars and bragging rights. They've actually been taken out of competition early on since CT3 couldn't advance out of the preliminaries, but Kousuke isn't satisfied. He wants us to see it run and we're not planning to stop him.
It took a little coercing, but the IDRC staff has agreed to let Man-chan go for an exhibition pass during the bracket class competition. This is comedy in its own right, especially when you see a track-prepped dragster lining up with a group of 16-18-second Civics and Integras. Right off the bat, everyone's pointing, talking amongst themselves and some you can tell are, how can we say this, scared s%$#less. CT3's aggressive demeanor is certainly intimidating and it isn't long until we creep up to the starting line. Kousuke has forewarned us that CT3 hasn't been run at its full potential--it tends to break a lot of axles. Nonetheless, Man-chan nails a smooth 12-second pass and leaves his opponent, a red Civic, in the dust (and in awe). It's not as smooth as we had hoped it would be, but we're still impressed.
Back at Signal's pit area, CT3 takes a small break. Crowds are starting to gather, as if this had suddenly become a wet bikini contest and the hottest chick has just pulled her top off. Shutterbugs are snapping, flashes are flashing, yet Kousuke remains calm and collected, as if nothing were happening at all. His only movements come about when I ask him to remove the front half of the car, which reveals an NSX changeover including the factory drivetrain. The crowds remain, levitating around both the Civic and the Silvia--everyone at Signal is aware of this, but they continue as they were before: relaxed, sunglasses on, and cigarettes lit.
It's not until almost a week later that John and I sit down with Kousuke back at their Torrance office, where we strip down to our bros and panties to talk shop about CT3. As far as we know, this is probably the first successful version of a front-wheel-drive (FWD) Civic with an NSX powerplant. Most other tuners have not even completed theirs; some have never even left the drawing board. When asked if this was a first for any Japanese tuner, Kousuke replies enthusiastically, "Yes. We've surprised everyone at how little we spent to get it running. It's always been popular to take a small engine and make it fast--we wanted to take a bigger engine and make it do the same thing. We just wanted to do something different." Different it is, but just how exactly do you get an NSX engine to work in a FWD Civic chassis? "It was very hard because the NSX transmission is a lot longer [than a Civic's]. We didn't want to build a tube frame and decided to use as much of the stock chassis as possible. The shift linkage has been our biggest problem, next to the driveshafts--particularly the angle at which they sit. What we're going to have to do eventually is just go with custom driveshafts."
As far as the engine itself is concerned, the pistons, camshafts (Toda), and valvesprings have all been upgraded. It's still hard to fathom that an engine originally intended for a mid-chassis design is actually sitting within the engine compartment of a FWD Civic hatchback. The individual throttle body configuration was equally difficult and required a great deal of modification to the wiring harness in order to make it functional. Using the NSX platform also brings us to a bit of controversy--how is it able to compete in a field composed of primarily four-cylinder race cars? For now, Signal will have to take a weight penalty, but the short-term goal will be redesigning the driveshafts, stroking the engine to 3.5 liters with the Toda components used in GT300 race engines, and an overall power figure of 400hp to the wheels. The current base engine is from a 3.0L NSX Type R.
To help ensure that success is achieved, Kousuke plans to visit the U.S. more often to oversee R&D throughout the 2003 season. "Our goal is to hit 10 seconds, but we would love to be the first to pull off anything in the 9s," beams an ecstatic Kousuke. We can't really blame them; we're just as eager to see if they can pull it off. Kousuke pulls out a cigarette and lights it. As he takes his first drag, you can see the anticipation in his eyes. He's ready for the challenge.