Leigh's rollcage guy is one Tho Chung of Time Machine Racecraft in Oceanside, CA. Tho fabbed up a ten-point chromoly cage complete with the most perfectly scalloped TIG-welded beads. While he had the car, Tho also fabricated the tubular radiator and intercooler support that doubles as a mount for the custom traction rods, stitch welded the entire chassis, and covered the fuel cell enclosure, rear door panels and shifter console with aluminum sheet. While the front door panels may look stock, David Nguyen at VIP Motorsports actually added black Gucci inserts proclaiming Leigh's flamboyance for all the world to see. The fabulous Gucci fabric is repeated on the inserts of the blue Status Racing seats which are touched off nicely by the Takata green of the, uh, Takata four-point harnesses.
Check out the dash. Much like everything else Leigh went slightly overboard in the diagnostics department. We're not sure but we think there's a gauge in Leigh's Fit that displays the barometric pressure of the cabin. There are no less than 12 gauges in this Fit and Leigh probably would have added more but this was all Auto Meter had in it's Cobalt line. If you like the way the gauges look you can thank Leigh's mommy-seriously.
"I actually put the dash together with my mom and my dad," Leigh told us. "At 3:00 in the morning we cut all of the holes. Leave it to my 60 year-old mom to tell me, 'It would look better over here. Put this gauge here.' She did the center console. She took five coffee cups and taped them together and said put it there and we spray-painted templates and that's how we cut the holes."
Even wilder still is the rear suspension that looks as if it was dreamed up by a bunch of MIT engineering students after scarfing down those funny brownies or whatever it is those wacky MITers eat. The rear suspension is actually a cantilever set-up, designed by Greg Leone at Big Brother Racing that even has our Time Attack rulebook regulators at NASA scratching their heads. This configuration allows Leigh to run shorter stroke shocks. So true to his Honda roots he chose Showa/Honda CBR 600rr motorcycle monoshocks.
The cage, the gauges, the traction bars and the cantilever set-up are all intense bits of kit, but they're merely bit players to what lurks beneath the Carbon Creations carbon fiber hood. The L15A is a good motor, a dependable motor, dare we say, a cute motor, but with a 115hp rating it just doesn't throw down like a K-Series mill. Instead of stopping short at a garden variety 2.0 liter K, Leigh put the call into his Honda homies to supply a K24 from a TSX. But again, this still wasn't enough for Leigh.
The specs on Leigh's motor are downright frightening. First he sent the long block to Sean Ragains and his entourage at ERL Performance. In case you didn't know ERL is known for building fast motors and they have been doing some ludicrous things with the Honda variety. Even the NHRA All Motor champ, Jeremy Lookofsky counts on ERL for his record-breaking K motors. Leigh's K24 ERL started with a BC Industries 2.6-liter stroker kit with custom JE pistons wedged into Darton sleeves, balanced and blueprinted rotating assembly and a dumped compression ratio of 9.0:1. Up top, Jim Stewart at Stewart Racing Engines ported the head which also received BC cams and Ferrea valves, springs and retainers.
By Wesley Allison
Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!