Whisper the words "Time Attack" somewhere-it doesn't matter where-and everyone will be there. The jaded old fogies and weekend racers you never even knew existed come out of the closet; they want to see action on the track and they know that a Time Attack is a good place to find it. Indoor car shows-you can leave that for the youngsters. JDM catalog and Euro-tuned cars pile in-from the weekend amateur to the rich guy who makes it totally obvious that he's loaded by duct-taping the entire front end of a Gallardo-they all clamor for a respectable lap time, one that can be bragged about for weeks. Time Attack's basically the new kid and hottest game in town all rolled into one.
In Japan, however, this is nothing new. Aside from D1, anyone who's anyone builds cars to represent at Time Attack and they consider it serious business; rarely will you see amateurs on the board. Down in Osaka, J's Racing has played the Time Attack game many times (Need a reminder? Grab an April '06 issue and read up on the S2000 cover car.), turning over ultra-quick Hondas time and time again. This year they're back, but they've gone from a RWD S2K to their FF roots, taking this Fit to every Time Attack across the globe to prove that this will be the fastest Fit in the world. So far they're hitting Japanese circuits to break as many records as they can, then they'll be aiming for ours. J's Racing's confidence is bold, but it makes sense considering the painstaking labor that went into the car.
For J's to pull off what they call "an unbelievably fast car," they pulled tons of weight from the chassis, spotwelding it at various points, and went super-size with the K24 engine. Every modification was done in-house and every part used is designed by J's R&D team, making it an extra special project to complete. The short block was disassembled to make way for higher compression 11:8 pistons and was then tuned to pump out 324hp at 8,200rpm with 220lb-ft at 5,850rpm. On the intake side, a massive set of 66mm bore individual throttle bodies sucks in air to feed the K24, and on the exhaust J's used one of its SPL mufflers. A J's aluminum radiator and SPL low temp thermostat allows the engine to cool down more efficiently and is an important component for circuit racing. A DC5 Integra Type R six-speed transmission was mated to the K24, but the J's staff swapped in a 5.1 final gear and an upgraded 1.5-way limited-slip differential with a Hyper single clutch to keep the power at the front wheels.
After gutting the interior down to its bare necessities, J's prepared the chassis for rigid racing. Although it's been spotwelded, a 16-point chromoly rollcage was added, too. The factory hood and rear hatch were replaced with lighter carbon pieces and the glass removed to make room for acrylic windows. J's took a set of CRUX SPL coilovers and adjusted damping to custom specs, then slipped in 670lb (front) and 560lb (rear) springs for more precise handling. With deep connections to RAYS Engineering, J's worked in 17x7.5 and 18x8.5 bronze Volk RE30s and wrapped them with A048 rubber from Advan. Except for the custom-mounted battery and ECU set up on the passenger side floorboard, the only pieces left to make up the interior are a lone Recaro TS-G carbon bucket and a J's meter cluster on the dashboard.
As the race season begins to pick up, it'll be interesting to see how well the J's Racing Fit fares against the supercars of Japan. If it can master every circuit with broken records, is it possible that J's could even claim the title of fastest Time Attack car in America? Only time will tell.